Dear friends,
Shortly we will write an update of our adventures. Since
the trip to the glaciers we are in Ushuaia and you would be surprised how quickly
the days are going. We must admit that we sleep till 09.00 or 09.30 because it is
still dark then because we are in the far west of Argentina. It is not that we are
working very hard but we keep busy with all kinds of things. Like, I made double
glazing under the hatches and outside over the windows with double-sided tape, so
that condensation on the frames is practically zero. And it gives better insulation.
I cut Poly-carbonate with the angle-grinder into the right shape. I made a mould
out of steel for all the rounded corners. I just had to slide the angel grinder
along the steel plate to cut of the plexiglas. I had to buy a sheet of more than
6 m2 for € 100,00, but today I sold more than 3,5 m2 for half the price I paid.
So that's fine.
We also bought a small RIB. It not very good but "only" € 700,00.
It's good to have a spare when you're completely self reliant in this area. The
Zodiac we cleaned and I painted the stern and the row-bench nicely in Zodiac-grey
and it is now stowed away. Further we made a film and a storybook for Dio's second
birthday with stories and songs and birds around the boat and presents and so on.
There will be a link on our website called "kindermeel" with stories from Paula
about a granddad that went sailing. Unfortunately only in Dutch for the moment.
We went skiing twice already and I am now enjoying it. I finally found my balance.
We have some Austrian friends here and they teach me. And Paula a bit as well. It
is a nice group here.
There is Erich (ex downhill racer on skis) with his 28 year
old daughter Claudia (She teaches me skiing). Erich's Wife Erica is in Europe for
a while. Then there is Erich's other daughter Alexandra with her husband (and Erich's
friend) Carl and two little kids.
We have Stephen Wilkins on the ex British Steel
67 "Xplore. He skippered a British Telecom 72 in 2000. After that he used to be
chartering around here and around Spitsbergen on Skip Novak's Pelagic Australis
and now charters with Xplore. Have a look on his website www.xplore-expeditions.com
. It is really a beautiful site. Pelagic Australis is now skippered by Stewart but
is back to South-Africa for servicing. This week another ex-British Steel 67 named
"Podorange" arrived with a young french couple. They bought our Plexiglas and borrowed
my grinder.
We have Australian Clive and Danish wife Laila skippering an Italian
Oyster 72 called Billy Bud. They also came skiing with us. The owners will be here
next week. Clive ordered eight 200 liter drums of diesel to fill up the Oyster.
You have to do that on the dock here with a fuel pump. I do it with jerrycans normally
by dinghy. Clive miscalculated so we bought a drum for 35 euro-cents per liter (350
pesos a drum). We are full up now.
There is "Hawk", a van der Stad 47, with Americans
Evans and Beth. And we have the Dutch Giebateau and Nije Faam of course. There are
some more boats around like in Puerto Williams. A dutch (charter)boat "Abel Tasman"
with Jack and Gerda is along the Chilean canals with some dutch mountain climbers
(Ronald Naar and company). They are following old Tillman in his tracks. And further
there are about five french yachts around.
We had a great party at the longest night
on Xplore. We are really enjoying ourselves. People in town start to know us and
are very friendly. We'll send you some pictures via the mail.
It looks like we are
going back into Chili next week. Between Ushuaia and the glaciers there is a big
fjord called Yendegaia. That is about 20 miles away but we first must go to Puerto
Williams into the other direction for 25 miles and back of course to clear into
Chili again. In this fjord is an estancia where Annemie (Belgian) and Jose (Chilean)
are living. It is very remote. No road connection. They handle the estancia "Ferrari"
and a vast area of land around it as a nature reserve. We can go horse-riding and
trekking in the area with Jose and help him on the farm. There are some trekking
huts as well. They shoot cows, bulls and horses and slaughter them for food etc.
etc. It is not a tourist attraction. Just work for them. The Austrians know them
personally. We go there and bring necessary goods and food for them as a counter
gesture.
At the moment it is blowing 35 knots but we are on the right (good) side
of the pontoon. It is very open here. This evening the pontoon flooded with a very
high tide. Then your fenders are not very effective anymore. I already mounted a
heavy beam of wood on top of the pontoon but since we are on the leeward side there
is no problem now. Until now it never blew from the south or east. But we keep an
eye on the weather
Love to all,
Peter and Paula