Isla de los Estados

Two days ago we arrived here on Isla de los Estados (Staten Island), in the bay of Puerto Hoppner. Yesterday morning we changed our anchor position to inside Puerto Hoppner, an incredible anchorage, where however we are not anchoring but we are tied to trees on land with 4 lines. We're alone in this mountainlake-like environment, in the middle of many mountains up to almost 900m high, with 3 little rivers from waterfalls coming into the basin. We also found two real mountain lakes. If I didn't know better I would say we anchored in the alps. It's very humid here, rain every day. Today we were lucky to catch some sunrays, which we used to walk a bit through the bushes and up the hill behind our boat. It was a cool hike. Almost vertical uphill, so it was more climbing than just hiking. In total we were on our way (including taking the Dinghy across to where we first went, go back to boat, change clothes and hike up the hill) for almost 6 hours. With all the cool fresh air we were quite tired afterwards, but happy. It is so beautiful here. A complete contrast to the desert (Steppe) we had been to before (which I still loved a lot), more like home here. Up at about 700m there is still snow in the mountains around us. Hard to beleive that a week ago I went into the water in Puerto Deseado on that day with the hot summer desert wind and now we have snow around us. The water temperature dropped from about 14°C in Puerto Deseado to prbably about 8°C here. Hanno was very brave yesterday, put a wet suit on and all the neoprene appliances we could find and went into the water to check our Bow Thruster (Bugstrahlruder). Thank god it was a quiet moment without wind, so it was really not that cold outside (I still wore 3 sweaters). Talking about wind. I still can't believe we have been so lucky with the weather coming down here. Besides the strong wind for the last 6 hrs down here there was really nothing. Yesterday half the day and all day today there is no wind at all. I have a feeling as if we were at land, cause there is no movement wahtsoever in the boat. Strange, so different from what I had expected. Well, the place we're in right now protects us from all sides. Once I post the pictures you'll see what I mean.

Tomorrow afternoon we'll use the high tide to get out of this bay, we only have a passage of about 5m width to go through with a boat width of 4,36m! Then off to the Beagle channel. After about 100nm we'll anchor in a bay, take a short break and then do the remaining 50nm to Ushuaia. How exciting, we'll be there shortly!!! I plan to rent a car to drive around the parks and glaciers a bit. Marcus says it's sooo beautiful, breathtaking views. I can't wait.

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At anchor at Isla de los Estados

We safely arrived at Isla de los Estados, we're at 54 degrees 45,8'S. That's only 1 degree 10' north of the southernmost land (Cape Horn) of the world!!! So exciting. We saw Tierra del Fuego saiing by. We had an incredible calm and good sail all the way down here. We made it in 4 days. Only for the last 7 hours Rassmus or whoever is the god of weathers down here let us feel that we're in the roaring 50ies, meaning south of 50 degrees with knowingly very uncomfortable sailing weather and high waves. Between the mainland of Tierra del Fuego (Feuerland) and the Island of Isla de los Estados lies one of the, if not THE world's most dangerous passage, where strong winds, high waves and a current of up to 6 knots meet each other and cause very dangerous cross seas. We got a little taste of it when we crossed that passage today from west to southeast to get from close to tierra del fuego to the entry of the bay we're in now. We had 35 knots wind, about 2m wave from the wind plus a 3m cross sea. Some waves hit us very hard on the side, but Alita does not really care. I was glad my bowl of soup was almost empty when the hardest one hit us. Otherwise I would have been full of soup...Well, all went well and we are more than happy to have had such a mostly comforable ride in an area I have great respect of. But, we still have to manage the about 200nm from here to Ushuaia. We in a beautiful mountain by here, looks as if we have anchored in an alpine lake, surrounded by mountains almost 900m high. Very beautiful, but freezing cold. We just turned ozr heater on for the first time...Thank god it WORKS. Yes. Lots of rain here, too. My fingers froze when I was driving Alita in here from the rough sea and holding her in one spot with the stern (Heck) to the wind while Marcus was preparing the landlines with the Dinghy. We notified the Argentinan Army, who is stationed here on the island, about our arrival and planned stay. The real anchorage is farther into the bay. As we came in at low tide there was no way of getting there. We have to pass a rock, the passage is very small, maybe 3 feet wider than Alita! We'll try tomorrow morning. Happy wednesday from a happy crew in good health. No seasickness!

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Magellan Street

We're at the hight of the Magellan Street now. That means, the weather has changed, no more blus skies and sunshine, which makes the area even colder. 13°C in the boat right now, at night even less because the humidity makes it very uncomfortable. The wind comes and goes, we had to motor a lot. We should arrive at Staten Island sometime tomorrow evening. What is quite neat here is that it is dark only for about 3hours at night. Sunset and sunrise take forever, they last about 3hrs (until no light from the sun can be ssen anymore).Toninas and dolphins once in a while show up at night for a short time. Getting closer to land there should be more. We are waiting to see Orcas. Our current oosition is 52°58,9'S and 067° 31,8'W.

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Sailing in Patagonia with Parasailor

We have such a calm day, we had to motor most of the night and morning. Now we have a light wind from behind, just enough to sail with our Parasailor (a type of Spinnaker). A very, very large sail with characteristics of Parasailors (like parachutes) which is mounted in the front of the boat. You can sail it only up to 20knots wind. So I guess it is VERY rare that here in Patagonia, an area with super strong winds, you would see a sailboat with a Spinnaker out. ;-)
OUr currernt position is 50° 57,8' S and 067° 32,2'W.

P.S. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Sven, wünschen Dir Alita, Marcus und Micha! Ich habe gestern was durcheinander gebracht.

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On our way to Ushuaia

Yesterday in the afternoon we left Porto Deseado to the music of "Conquest of Paradise". We could not leave earlier because of strong southerly wind in the morning which forced us to anchor on the other side of town again, thus not being able to do our check-out with the Prefectura. About an hour out, toninas (the black/white dolphins) came to play with Alita. They stayed for a long time. The water and light was good enough that I was able to take some better pictures than in Ría Deseado. So another beautiful sunny day ended with our super cool friends. They even came to visit us during my night shift.
Today not much happening. No wind, no friends ;-( But we enjoy the clam relaxing day. Our current position is 49°39' S and 066°45'W. We're sailing (or right now even motoring) down near the coast, if possible. Destination: Ushuaia.
Have a good week everyone.

P.S. Christian, if you see this: happy birthday from Alitania.

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