Even more photos

Erik and Samuel have posted their photos from the cruise. Check them out here:

http://picasaweb.google.se/erik.hedborg/PatagoniaMagellan

And their panoramic compositions here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/erik.hedborg/Panorama

Lunch in front of the glacier

Here we are in front of the glacier. You see roughly how cold it was. This was yesterday on our way to Puerto Williams. I will upload more images in Ushuaia where we sail tomorrow.

Lat S 54 56,1°/ long W 067 37,1°

Puerto Williams

Here we are, a milestone on our journey. I felt really good to
moor at the Club de Yates Miclavi yesterday. The club is on an old boat
settled on the bottom, you moor on the outside and go to the bar on
inside of the boat. Practical.
Today we walked around the city which mostly consists of houses exactly alike;
which apparently is due to all the people living here belong to the Armada, employment
including free accommodation.
The weather was perfect today, sunny and calm. Tomorrow we sail to
Argentina, Ushuaia, where the guests are to leave us, for further transport to
Buenos Aires.

Lat S 54 59 / long W 068 53

Soon we are in the world's southernmost town, Puerto Williams. Arrival in a
few hours. Right now we are sailing for a Westerly breeze in the Beagle Channel. We are
making good speed 9 knots, the sun is shining on the fabulous landscape. Snowy
mountain tops, the wind biting our cheeks.
Captain is preparing a Chile Con Carne for dinner, the bread is rising
life is pretty good for the crew.

Lat S 54 54 / long W 069 47°

Caleta Julia

We are now in a bay just south of the Darwin Cordillera mountains. Along
the entire Braso Noroeste, you can see glacier arms running down towards the channel. Some
go all the way down where we sail, and some are viewed only from a distance. Today
the weather was gray and rainy, which naturally diminishes the effect of the scenery. In all
photos in the books, there is sunshine, so we hope for sun
tomorrow.

Lat S 54 40° / long W 071 53°

Last night we anchored in a small Caleta in full storm. Anchor out;
rubber boat darting from edge to edge, we drew lines in all directions possible.
Good work done, it felt really good to sit inside the boat,
listen to the howling wind, eating dinner, playing cards. By chance
S looked out and said: "Seriously now, here comes another yacht."
We offered two windswept French people to tie down next to us and join in on our
ropes, even pulled out another prow line. It's so grim out here when the winds
rise so when you see another boat you offer all the help you can give.
During the night the wind subsided, and on our morning walk we saw two whales.
They blew a couple of times and then dived with the magnificent
caudal fin high up in the sky. A fabulous sight

Lat S 53 53°/ long W 071 40,3°

Magellan

We have just passed the Isla Rupert, home to 20 000 penguins or so.
Of this number on paper, we are surprised to have seen just a
handful. However, the wildlife was rich, with seals, dolphins and
waterfowl of all varieties. Also spotted two whales.

Otherwise, it becomes colder and colder every day. The writer
(Erik) carries about four layers on the legs (longjohns, trousers, jeans
and rubber gear) and six layers on the upper body (underwear, vest,
shirt, thick sweater, thick sweater 2, rubber gear). Socks, I have only
two pairs on top of each other, as no more can fit in my boots.

It's like in Scotland. The heat is defined by "one sweater day", "two
sweater day "or" three sweater day ".
guest blogger Erik

Lat S 52 57°/ long W 073 50,3°

Estrecho de Magellanes
Here we are, the wind blowing hard as usual. Magellan, the strait, which makes
it possible toto round South America without having to round Cape Horn . We will
sail as far as where it begins to turn to the north to Punta Arenas. There
we will instead go further south through some other channels to enter the
Beagle Channel. That is where you find Puerto Williams, Chile's southernmost city, where
we are clearing out. Then we go to Ushuaia 25 NM away, clearing in
to Argentina. We leave off rounding the Horn, this time. Our taste
for adventure is satisfied just by sailing here.
We are now leaving Patagonia, reaching Tierra del Fuego,
the Land of Fire.

Lat S 52 00 / long W 073 43

Puerto Prefundo, windbound.

Now we have sailed in gale winds for several days, okay so long as it is
NW-ly. But already last night when the barometer fell to bottom level and I
took home the weather files, we knew that we would remain here for one more night;

EVANGELISTAS TO LAT 56 DGS SOUTH: OVC VIS 4/10 KMS RAIN/SHOWERS
WIND N/NW 25/35 KT SHIFTING AND INCREASING SW/S 35/45 KT (GALE),GUSTY 90
KT SEA STATE 5.0/8.0 MTS INNER WATER SLIGHT TO MODERATE.

We are only 15 NM from the Estrecho de Magellan, and once we are there
SW or NW doesn't matter. But today, we used the day at anchor
for various projects: airing, cleaning, patching and mending.

Lat S 52 36,3° / W 073 40°

Canal Smyth
Today, we have encountered some vessels and also seen a big wreck. The
ships passing through the Strait of Magellan and wanting to continue a bit inshore
are going the same way as we do.
We had a perfect night port yesterday. A small pool where we anchored and
pulled the ropes to the shore. We were welcomed by four small dolphins
jumping around the boat and also around the dinghy when the guys went with
the mooring ropes. We even had a little evening sun, it was a
perfect conclusion to an otherwise very windy day.

Lat S 51 46 / long W 073 42

Guest Blogger Erik
Anchoring here in Patagonia is generally not done asway, although we have
our secure 50 kgs patent anchor.
No. Samuel and I am the vanguard - "Avant Garde". We launch the dinghy
and travel in advance, sometimes with the sinker on hand so we can find good
places to cast an anchor. Then we fix some ropes and go back up
to the boat, this way you can sew her up on the spot.
We spent last night next to two northbound French yachts.
(Moreover, two out of the five other yachts we have seen since we left
Puerto Montt). They must have had several hundred meters of line out in addition to their
anchors - firmly determined to sleep well.
For it is needed. The night peace, as everyone knows, is entirely dependent on how well
you are secured against the elements.
Now we are going to Canal Smyth, and must find a night port before we get there,
Magellan will have to wait until a bit later.

Lat S 50 54 / long W 074 17,8

Rough Sailing
Today, we have had tough sailing. We've had the wind from the back, so far so good.
We started the day with the big jib, now as I write this, we
arrive at today's anchorage in about an hour, we have five yards rolled out on the little jib. The
has been getting up quite thoroughly for a while, the kind of tough sailing which the one
minute is breathtaking fun when you see the speed increase and increase, the next moment
the fall winds come roaring down to make you believe the jib will burst in two
and rip away the entire rig. Now we begin to understand what
the old foxes in Puerto Montt were talking about, concerning sailing in the
southernmost end of Patagonia. ...
Tomorrow we hope to reach the Magellan.

Lat S 49 40° / long W 074 23°

The mountains on the sides of the Canal Wide which we are sailing now
remind us of scenes from Lord of the Rings. A little while ago, in a very narrow passage,
we were joined by several dolphins that hung in with us for a long time. As usual
we are travelling through a magnificent nature. The weather varies from
brilliant sunshine to angry rain. It shifts quickly. It was good to get
our fuel delivery this morning and get away from Puerto Eden. Friendly
people are nice, but when the walk around the town is made in 10
minutes, then it quickly starts to get a little stuffy to remain for several days.

Puerto Eden

Yesterday I posted to the blog via a slow connection at the
Conservation Association, and was even able to upload a photo, as you saw. Today
we have been looking for Senora Internet all day. We think she should be
available in the library at school as everyone says, but she does not think so.
We have asked so many people that we even got a personal description, purple
trousers .... We have been looking for purple trousers all day. Have reflected
that it is very strange in outposts like this one, they open for
Internet, advertising outside the school and modern they are, internet free,
posters of the children sitting in front of a computer looking happy. Then
let a Senora hold the key to the library. ... and she just refuses
to appear.
You must simply make do without more pictures before we get to Puerto
Williams, for tomorrow when we have refuelled and refilled our gas supply we are sailing
south. We have over 500 NM left there and prevailing winds are NW
at the moment. I will of course keep updating over the
satellite blog.

Puerto Eden and Internet

Three times we have been ashore, gone to school and met a closed door to the library, where they're supposed to have internet access. Eventually, I went around and knocked on doors a bit here and there, found the Society for Nature Conservation where they promised 15 minutes of Internet. It's a bit nerve-racking, I must try to upload a couple of photos to the slide show as well. We are waiting for our fuel and take the opportunity to wander around looking at all the dogs. Today we had a whole brace after us. I do not understand what they want, they just trail after us. Moreover, the village is pretty dead. Some people chopping wood, otherwise, most are indoors.

Lat S 49 07,8 / long W 074 25,6

Puerto Eden
Yesterday the weather was great, the sun was shining all over Puerto Eden. We started with
our projects, in the supermercado we found eggs and some packages of cookies. We went
home to the man who is in charge of fuel, he had a small hostel where we
sat in the lounge and negotiated. We will have to wait till Wednesday,
but it feels ok. Everyone is very friendly here. There is also a school
which allegedly has Internet access, but we will not be able to check that until
Monday.

Lat S 48 36,5 / long W 074 25,3

On the way to Puerto Edén.
Yesterday we anchored in Caleta Connor. There is a special tree that many
long-distance sailors put their name boards up in. After our perilous stretch of gale
with subsequent intense rain all day, we had no more energy last night than
to eat, and try to get us and the clothes dry. But in the morning we made
a name board with name and year. The lack of time and paint, we carved
the name in a plank from an old banana box that we found as
driftwood. We filled the grooves with nail varnish. We got a bit of a kindergarten
feeling about it before we came to the tree. There wew discovered that our name board
was in good company. In comparison with the other creations the kindergarten feel
was quite appropriate.
One that, unfortunately, has succumbed to the challenges of time and weather
was Yaghan's etched brass plate, which was completely gray-green with verdigris.

Lat S 48 00 / W 074 43

Second post on January 14
I understand what my regular blogging does. As soon as the next post is a bit
late, the satellite phone starts beeping with anxious e-mails. It is
great to have so many who care about us back home, sometimes we do
feel lonely and helpless in this vast archipelago. We usually
joke on the way into the anchorage: - I wonder if the mooring place is taken?
So far, it has never been so.
As I wrote briefly last night, we are now inside a new
archipelago section. A good bit south of here is a village called Puerto
Eden, we're on our way there, hoping to refuel and change an LPG
cylinder. Maybe find some more vegetables.

Lat S 7 20,8 / W 075 30,5

No blogging yesterday, the weather was / is bad, we had gale strength winds
and a very irregular, rough and annoying sea. Some of the crew suffered from
seasickness. Now we are approaching the next island so in a few hours
we will pass Isla San Pedro and then we are in the next archipelago.
I'll be back.

Lat S 45 53 / long W 074 50

Right as it was raining we had a shower. Feeling a bit sorry for Chileans who are
having such a rainy summer. Made a valiant attempt to get out in the
wet weather this morning, got another 25 NM west. Located in a new bay,
biding our time. This was a big colony of seals, who welcomed us
before we again retreated down into the saloon.Vi are delighted to have all our books,
brought by friends who arrived in French Polynesia. The weather report says
NW again tomorrow, then we're off.