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Hola amigos!  It was so nice to get away from the busy marina over the weekend, and very peaceful.  The weather beyond the beagle was not in our favor for going to cape horn, so we stayed safe and snug in some cool anchorages.  We sailed thursday afternoon from here to Puerto Toro (4 hours), arriving late evening.  The waters were super calm on the way, like black glass, so I was able to get dinner going en route.  We arrived, dropped anchor, and had a delicious homemade veggie curry!  At Puerto Toro, we did some walking and met the 2 people who are currently living there, both Armada.  Victor was particularly friendly (I think he was happy to have people to chat with!) and he even let us use the showers in one of the offices.  It was awesome, as the Polo Flat shower is rather make-shift and, while manageable and hot, it isnt the most comfortable.  We pulled anchor Saturday and headed over to Isla Picton.  Isla Picton is a tiny place, but its strategic position in the canal has made it a battleground for Argentina and Chile in the past.  It belongs to Chile since a war in '74 (I think?).  Due to its war-filled past, it is unfortunately covered in land mines so we weren't able to do any trekking!  There is an Armada station on island, a very nice house actually, where a family of three currently resides.  The armada officer, his wife (Marcella) and their 8 yr old son (Marcello).  We had coffee with them Saturday afternoon and managed a few hours of conversation in spite of their lack of English and our lack of Spanish.  They are a really lovely family, but they are feeling a bit isolated there at Picton (they are stationed there for one year).  On Monday morning, we had a good window of weather to get to Caleta Marguerita, a small and very protected anchorage on the way back toward Puerto Williams.  What a gorgeous spot.  quiet, untouched, and very calm.  We we able to get ashore easily and did some discovering for a few days.  We got back to Williams Wednesday night.  It was a great test for the boat and everything is in great shape for our longer trip.  Matt fixed the wind generator and the solar panel, and the desalinator (water maker) is working well.

We'll be here for at least the next 10 days or so (unless there is great weather to move) and I will update before we head out more permanently.  For now,  we are provisioning, provisioning (lots of beans and rice!) and we are filling up on lots of extra fuel.   I'm looking forward to the glaciers and the mountains!

hasta luego.

Penguins on the way to Puerto Toro

Puerto Toro

Puerto Toro

It's cold!

Secret bunkers in Puerto Toro

Jetty at Puerto Toro

Looking off into the Beagle

A guy and a lighthouse

Isla Picton

Some pretty boat in Cta Marguerita

Cta Marguerita

Wolski's in Williams

well, a few days of work and one night of drinking at the Micalvi bar and we're off to Puerto Toro and maybe a round about Cape Horn if the weather's good. Not much new, definitely getting colder every day, and I did find a Wolski's sticker outside the bathroom in the Micalvi. small world - Milwaukee is never far from where I am :)

Looking forward to an adventure outside of the marina over the next few days.  more to come...

no caption necessary!

Our German mate Thomas and Matthew looking pretty cool.

Hola from Tierra del Fuego

After close to 40 hours sitting on flights, we made it last Monday to Ushuaia. Hopped on “Commitment”, Matthew's buddy Jordan's boat. We spent a few days on Commitment with Jordan  and his crew (Matt and Kareese) catching up on sleep, adjusting to the cold, and grabbing a few supplies in Ushuaia. Pretty cool city, but definitely run-over by the cruise ships taking people to and from Antarctica. Every other store front is a hostel or a tourist-trap.

We motor-sailed over to Puerto Williams Chile on Friday – 4 hours, easy. The Commitment crew had customers, so promptly went out on a trip through the channels. We got to work on Polo Flat. Surprisingly, there was very little mold and even a clean head! So far, Puerto Williams is a gorgeous place, much nicer than Ushuaia likely due to the lack of tourism and no cruise ships. The marina here is quite small with an old ship that has been turned into the clubhouse. All of the boats raft off of the main “ship”. It's rad looking. Many characters around – lots of French, an American family of 5 who broke their mast rounding the horn a few months back, a notorious Norwegian (google “Berserk”), us and our tiny green boat, among others. Polo Flat is certainly one of the smallest between here and Ushuaia. I can see even more now the incredible feat it was for only two people to take such a small boat down south.

For now, we continue to clean, stock, and fix. And of course dabble in delicious (and cheap!) regional reds and the local beer called Austral. We'll head back to Ushuaia end of this week to fully stock up at the bigger supermarket and load up on fuel.  

Jordan and Matt

Matt and Kareese

View of Ushuaia as we left, aboard Commitment

Puerto Williams (Polo Flat is just in front)

Micalvi Boat Harbor, Puerto Williams