Patagonia part 1: Ushuaia-Puerto Williams-Canal Magdalena
It was with high spirits and great eagerness that we went on board SY Anne-Margaretha in Ushuaia. Of course, sailors and explorers of previous centuries used to stay away from home for months and years, heading into the completely unknown and facing a return that was uncertain at best. That was obviously all different for us, but today, 25 days are almost a little Odyssey 🙂
After leaving the former mission and prison settlement of Ushuaia and hence Argentina behind, Puerto Williams was to be our first destination. That meant a couple of miles sailing the “wrong direction”, if something such exists on a voyage which was all about exploring and not about getting somewhere (other than to Puerto Montt in the end). We had to go through formal procedures of entering Chile with a boat and all of us. That brought the collateral advantage that we got to see Puerto Williams, something I had really been looking forward to after sailing past it many dozen times!
The Beagle Channel gave us a very pleasant day then on the way to the west. A Humpback whale waved us goodbye close to Ushuaia, a lovely farewell as we were about to move into “unknown” waters from there on. We enjoyed an incredible night sky the first evening, missed the opportunity from a photographic perspective, however, as some clouds had mostly covered the sky when we were ready with the tripods on solid ground – it did not matter, in the end it was all about the experience, and that was just beautiful!
The next celestial (in a wider sense!) experience that was to follow ashore next morning was that of a lot of water falling from the sky. But we were the more lucky with the weather later in Caleta Beaulieu, a stunning place with this great glacier and definitely one of the scenic highlights of the whole trip! This combination of trees and glaciers is pretty bizarre for an old polar fox like me.
Canal Brecknock (maybe misspelt for “breakneck”? 🙂 ) was the first bottleneck kind of passage regarding weather and sea. The Pacific Ocean, which is not very pacific at all in these latitudes, is just a few small islands and rocks away. We made it well though these waters and headed northeast again, for the Strait of Magellan. Then, it was great to get to the well-sheltered natural harbour of Puerto King, where we could literally park in the forest!
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To the Gallery: → Ushuaia-Canal Magdalena → Estrecho Magellanes-Puerto Edén → Canal Messier bis Golfo de Penas → Bahía Anna Pink bis Puerto Montt
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last modification: 2018-06-26 ·
copyright: Rolf Stange