I returned to Puerto Natales at the end of January. Soon after Clint and I took off so that he could show me the areas he and Tom had explored in December. We were blessed with much better weather than they had. Summer had finally decided to show up.

Below are some the pictures from our excursion. For a good visual reference of where exactly we went you can refer to the maps in the previous blog.

Our first stop was to refuel.



Refueling here in Puerto Natales can be a challenge. Visiting vessels are permitted to tie off to the end of the fishing vessel docks. This is certainly easier than schlepping fuel by jerry jug but the position of the dock can make it very challenging, if not impossible, with the predominantly strong north winds. It is also not as simple as waiting for some calm weather and pulling up to the dock. First, you have to get permission from the dockmaster ahead of time. You are given an official form with date and time (better hope that your crystal ball for the forecast is accurate) that has to be signed by the gas station and then approved by the Armada. Other than requiring a bit of running around and some good luck that the weather holds out it is not that big of a deal. The gas truck drives right down to the end of the dock and personally delivers your fuel. They even drove me back to the gas station so that I could pay by credit card. Like most things, it just requires time, patience, and some luck.


The local catch of congria (conger eel) getting ready to be transported to Punta Arenas. Interestingly, there is very little fresh fish available for purchase in Puerto Natales. It is all sent to Punta Arenas then exported.


When Clint and Tom were in Estéro Última Esperanza they did some exploring looking for a possible better spot for anchoring and tying off. They found a great little sandy nook where we could do a secure four point tie off and Duke could run.


We are that tiny dot in the bottom third of the picture.


A closer look at Karma through the tree.

Like Tom and Clint, we were here to visit the O'Higgins Park and Glacier Serrano. Also like Tom and Clint, the wind was making the five mile dinghy ride a real challenge. Fortunately for us, we had beautiful sunshine but we also had gusty winds. The real challenge is the waves. In this estéro the wind funnels from the west and the north causing very confused waves. It took us three attempts to get to the park.

Our first attempt came to a quick end when we were soaked by waves breaking on the port side of the dinghy. We decided to bail at the peninsula below and go for a long hike.




From the ridge of the peninsula you can see across to where we were tied off. You can also see just a sliver of Lago Azul in the distance.


On our second attempt we made it half way and then bailed when "we" realized that the increasing wind at our back would be on our bow for our return trip; making the 3 foot chop we were currently dealing with that much worse. So, we settled for a nice tranquil day of fishing at Lago Azul.



Hardly a bad compromise and Duke got to come along.



Finally on our third attempt we made it all the way to the park. Part of the planning to get to the park involves getting there before the tourist boats arrive so that we have the park all to ourselves. Our patience paid off, we had the park all to ourselves for over an hour. We were further rewarded with some great calving.



We were so busy trying to capture the ice calving that we failed to consider the wave generated by the huge chunk of ice that had fallen in the water. Fortunately, we spotted the mini tidal wave at the last second and we were able to run for higher ground.



After a week in Estéro Última Esperanza we decided it was time to move on and take advantage of the calm weather to get up Estéro Las Montañas.


One of several glaciers flowing into the estéro.



A closer look. Where the glacier meets the water a cave has formed in the center.

We knew from our weather forecast that we only had two days before our beautiful calm sunny days were to turn rainy and very windy. Since there was no wind we were able to kayak up the small fjord behind our caleta to the hidden glacier. It was a spectacular day.



We stopped about half way up and had a picnic lunch and waited for the sun to shine down on the glacier.



From the picture above you can see that when we stopped for lunch the head of the fjord was completely blocked by flow ice. The ice tends to move in a circular motion. You can see from the other pictures that it actually moves quite a bit.

While we waited Clint was able to climb up to a high ledge above some condors. The condor is the largest flying bird in the world and the national symbol of the Andean Region.







From his vantage point he was able to capture some great shots of the birds soaring.

After our break we continued up the fjord, taking it all in.






The glacier at the head of the fjord.



With the warmer weather and sun there had been a lot more calving and we were not able to get all the way to the face of the glacier with all the ice in the water.

Here is a short video of our trip:


The following day we hiked to the glacier south of us that Tom and Clint named The Blue Lagoon. Unfortunately our weather had turned overcast and rainy and our pictures did not turn out very well. There are some beautiful pictures of the place in the previous post.

We were able to capture this beautiful kingfisher who was standing watch over our dinghy.



The rain also brought a beautiful rainbow.



We had a great trip and the pictures really tell the story best. We re-visited these areas again when Petr and Tracy visited us for the month of April. There will be even more spectacular pictures and lots of stories when I eventually get around to that post.....

Stay Tuned.