Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Snow in Los Dientes

Club Naval de Micalvi, Puerto Williams.

This morning at was clear, sunny and crisp. Since we arrived on Saturday morning we have been working on Windarra, testing systems and cleaning after the six months of cold weather in the Southern Hemisphere. We are glad that there was much less mildew than we expected but still requires a wipe down with diluted bleach. Today was a bit of a setback with the heater, as it decided to stop working, but Rich persevered, got out the vacuum cleaner and cleaned the burner can - a sooty job, replaced the injector and did some other magic and we are back being toasty again. The time is perfect as the winds have piped up to the 20 knot range and there are raindrops too.

The ferry ride was comfortable as we were in Cama class, meaning the seats fully reclined to flat horizontal. The movies were the exact same as the trip we made last April but not a loud. The weather was perfect and great daylight views of the glaciers in the Beagle Channel. The ferry skipper even diverted to provide a closer view. After dropping off a few passengers, the ferry anchored in the flat, calm harbor and we enjoyed a good night of sleep. Saturday morning was busy, offloading our luggage - 4 suitcases, 2 backpacks and 4 boxes of food from Punta Arenas. Later in the morning Rich went with Francesco to pick up our 3 AGM batteries.

Still plenty to do.....

Above is a photo of Los Dientes from Windarra's bow and then looking astern at SV La Cardinale and the mountains of Tierra del Fuego in the distance.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Passing through Punta Arenas

53 10.021 S, 070 54.785 W Punta Arenas

After almost six months in the United States, it was time to return to Windarra and cruising.

Monday afternoon we left Seattle and Tuesday evening we arrived at Punta Arenas after stops in Dallas, Santiago and Puerto Montt. James of SV Anasazi Girl met us at the airport with his friend, Dan, who lives in Punta Arenas and has a truck to help us get our 4 suitcases and 2 backpacks to our hostel, Rentahome.

James and his wife, Somira plus kids Tormentina, Raivol and Pearl have been taking care of Windarra in Puerto Williams and are visiting Punta Arenas. They are a big help to us. Today James helped us coordinate having our new AGM batteries transferred to the Yaghan, the ferry we will take on Thursday to Puerto Williams.

This afternoon we went to the Hiper Lidor, one of the large supermarkets here in Punta Arenas. We stocked up on items that we can not get in Puerto Williams, like Heinz ketchup, cream of mushroom soup, peanut butter and dry salami. Now in addition to our luggage we have 4 boxes of food to take along.

Even though the calendar indicates it is spring time in the Southern Hemisphere, the air is nippy, wind and whitecaps on the straits of Magellan and snow on the mountains of Tierra deal Fuego. Tomorrow we will board the ferry for our two night journey through the canals.

Sent from SV Windarra iPad