Ushuaia, Argentina

We left Mar del Plata on 11 November for Caleta Horno, a very secure and isolated anchorage about 500nm south along the Argentine coast. The voyage took us 6.5 days and we had to hove-to during a SW gale for 36 hours but otherwise easy sailing.

We saw our first Magellan penguins off Puerto Madryn, a very large bay that is a major breeding grounds for the southern right whale.

We departed Caleta Horno on the 29th of November with a good weather window straight for the Straits of Le Maire at the southern end of Tierra del Fuego. This last stretch can be the nastiest along the coast. The winds were mostly from the north and often light, requiring us to motor half the distance. We hit the Straits of Le Maire at the right time of the tide and with a light north wind. As we made our approach a pod of Peale's dolphins appeared as if to lead us through the Straits. If one tries to transit the Straits with the tides and the winds opposing hugh overfalls of standing waves up to 10 meters can occur living up to the name Straits of Nightmare. In our case, we had a good passage and anchored in Bahia Aguirre on the SW coast of Tierra del Fuego.

Our plan was to spend a day resting before continuing on into the Beagle Canal. But the day we planned to leave the winds were 20-25k outside the anchorage, on our bow, and after spending an hour moving at 3k we decided to turn around knowing that we would not make the next anchorage before a forecast gale was to hit. As it turned out, the gale arrived early, and a British yacht, Sadko, single-handed by it's owner Noel, beat its way into the anchorage under sail in 40-45k winds. The next day was not a good travel day so we relaxed and spent the evening getting to know Noel, listening to stories of his voyages. The two boats tried to leave the anchorage two days later but once outside we were encountering 30-35k northerlies, right on our bow, and again, after two hours of bashing decided it best to turn around.

Finally after we had been in Bahia Aguirre for a week the two boats had light favorable winds and we were able to proceed to Cambaceras Interior, 55nm into the Beagle Canal. The anchorage, once inside, is a completely protected inlet that is reached by zig zagging round a sandspit. Noel left for Ushuaia the next morning at 6:30am and at 8:30am Six Pack arrived, an Australian boat we first met in Piriapolis. After catching up on our voyages south we all hiked the 45 min. walk through forest and meadows to Estancia Harberton, the first estancia (ranch) on Tierra del Fuego. It's not longer run as an esancia but provides tours of the facilities, has a cafe for refreshments and has a nice cetacean museum.

The next morning both boats left for the 36 nm trip to Ushuaia, Argentine's claim to the southern most city in the world. It's a rapidly growing hub for tourism in Tierra del Fuego and cruises to the Antarctic Peninsula. There is a very small marina that most boats tie to upon arrival, sometimes 5 deep. Our plan is to stay here through Christmas and then continue onto to an anchorage at Lapataia inside the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego. There are several boats here that we have met along the way and we expect several more before Christmas. We're hoping to all get together for a big Christmas feast.

More later.