Winter In Puerto Williams

Puerto Williams, the old Yamana settlement of Uspashun on Isla Navarino, is the southernmost town in the world and the main urban center or the borough of Cape Horn. The government owns 99% of the land and 2,000 of the town's 2,500 inhabitants are Chilean Armada servicemen and their families.

We are now into our second extended stay in Puerto Williams. Our first stay, March 19th to May 20th was during the austral autumn, with pleasant crisp weather and beautiful fall colors. There were still numerous charter yachts working around Cape Horn and into the glacier region of Isla Gordon.

One way we try to get to know the community better is to participate in community events. The end of May was Chile's Memorial Day, and the Chilean Armada began the weekend by hosting a regatta and inviting the Argentine Navy and Prefecture Naval, the Argentine coast guard.

Although from time to time tensions still flare between Chile and Argentina, they seem to be more prevalent among the civilian leadership. The respective navies of the two nations coexist reasonably well, perhaps cognizant of the reality that it would be they who would be most affected by any military conflict. So the naval forces stationed along both sides of the Beagle Channel exchange visits quite frequently, often honoring each other's holidays and celebrations.

On this occasion Armada Chile hosted a sailing regatta, with civilian and military entrants invited to race. In addition to an open class, there is a hotly contested one-design class featuring entrants from the naval and coast guard forces of both nations. Perhaps fittingly, this class was won by an Argentine civilian entrant, the Armada Chile entrant second, and the Argentine coast guard third. All the foreign cruising yachts were yachts were invited to participate in the regatta and the awards ceremony afterwards. The following day the Armada began the festivities at 8:00 am with a twenty-one-gun salute, repeated again at noon and 8:00 pm. Finally a memorial service was held in the gym.

Tamara returned to Ushuaia, Argentina the end of May while Nancy visited her mother in California and Mark stayed onboard re-provisioning, fueling and preparing for our winter trip to the Isla Gordon glacier region. Before leaving Puerto Williams, we had been approached by the Armada, and asked to teach English classes to the personnel of the Capitania de Puerto, Chile's coast guard. With the increase in foreign traffic, the Capitan would like his people to be able to speak better English while dealing with all foreign boats that pass through Puerto Williams.

Approval for the classes had to come from Valpraiso, Armada headquarters, and took two months. We would have to wait until our return to PuertoWilliams in mid-June to learn that the funding had been approved, and that we would indeed being teaching English. The Commandante of the Armada also approached us and asked us if we would give private English lessons to his two teenage sons. So now we find ourselves teaching English four nights a week. The small amount we will earn will see us through our stay in Puerto Williams. But of greater value is the friends we're making and we are becoming much more intimately a part of the village, particularly as it is composed largely of Armada personnel.

Soon after our return to Puerto Williams there was a special church service to bless the fishing fleet, after which a statue of a saint is carried down to a boat in the fishing harbor and taken aboard. The boat then proceeded out into the harbor, followed by other fishing boats full of fishermen and their families. The priest then blessed the fleet, all the boats returned to port and the statue was carried back to the church. We observed a similar service in Horta, Fialal in the Azores during their Sea Week.

Our good friends Chris and Anni Law from Cape Breton arrived on July 9th to join us for four weeks and cruise the fjords in the Chilean channels west of Puerto Williams. Fortunately, the Armada and the local schools take a four week winter holiday at the time Chris and Anni are here, corresponding exactly with the break in our English lessons. We are currently on our way, circumnavigating Isla Gordon and the heavily glaciated region for the next three weeks. We will return to Puerto Williams the first week of August.