Everyone jokes about talking about the weather, but it’s just about all sailors can talk about down here where the weather is everything. We spent last night in a cove solely due to the weather forecast. We stayed in a cove that we felt was a safe place and we shared the cove with the yacht, Polarwind, a charter sailboat that does trips in the fjords. We first met Oswaldo, Captain of Polarwind, last year while we were in Ushuaia and as crossed paths in Puerto Williams. When we were set to leave on this trip Polarwind was in Puerto Williams at the same time and leaving the same morning. Fede and Oswaldo chatted and decided to meet up a few times during our respective trips. We decided on last night’s cove based on the recommendation from Oswaldo. We planned and entered the cove at the same time so we could help each other pass lines. Once all boats were in their position for the night, Oswaldo came over to discuss the weather 🙂 Most boats have some sort of set up to download the weather from the internet. Once downloaded, each boat usually spends a significant amount of time looking at each 3 hour update, and then if another boat is around, they start chatting with the other boats about the weather and their plans. It sounds silly, but so much is dependent on the weather. You want to be in a cove that will protect you from the expected winds. You also want to make sure you are in that cove with all lines in place before the strong winds come. And as a bonus its great if the place where you need to hunker down for a while is a nice place with hikes to do. The way our lines and Quijote and Polarwind were set up, we did not have to start the engine on the dinghy to get from one boat to the other. The shore lines crossed, so we were able to just pull ourselves along. After Oswaldo’s visit, we left Quijote for a hike that he recommended. Here there are no trails to follow just bushwhacking and it’s dense and there are quite a few cliffs (glacial carved valley). So our first attempt took us to a dead end where we got cliffed out. We went down 30 meters and tried again and we were successful finding in a clearing with an excellent view of the fjords and boats. Plus we got a bonus of a waterfall. 2 or 3 days of bad weather are approaching, so together with Polarwind, we are moving to Caleta Olla where there is a nice wind beach to walk on and a few good hikes, including one up to a glacier. Dad – thanks for your messages. Anyone and everyone is welcome to send messages – ***You can send FREE text messages to us at http://messaging.iridium.com number: 881631529272
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