We are well into the 2nd month of 2018 and I still haven't gotten around to posting any of last year! And there was a lot last year but nothing to compared to what we have already done this year and have coming up in a couple of months....Yes that is a BIG teaser. So, I guess I better get the blog up to date in a pictorial re-cap of 2017.

Last year started off with the kids visiting. Kurt and Courtney together to Ushuaia where we met them with Karma.



Kurt was with us for three weeks and Courtney for six.



It was truly special to be able to share this area with them. We had some great times and as a family we were able to Round Cape Horn; something truly special! We were not the first boat around in 2017 but we were the first American flagged boat and Duke was the first dog. We rounded The Horn on the afternoon of January 2nd.



After rounding The Horn we spent the remainder of our time showing them the magical beauty of the northwest and southwest arms of The Beagle.



We enjoyed picnics.



Wet beach bar-b-que's.



Kayaking.



Drinking.



More drinking with champagne ice luge shots.



The kid's "Pizza Night".







And even a celebratory "Around The Horn" piercing!





About the only thing we didn't do was get Kurt up close and personal with some penguins. SO this guy had to do...



I think a good time was had by all!



In May we left Karma at the Micalvi in Puerto Williams.



We flew to the US to visit with family. This was Clint's first trip back to the US in over two years! Way too long.

Our time back in the states was a real whirlwind! I am not sure how we managed to get it all in or even to be in the right place at the right time!

We flew from Puerto Williams to Florida where we visited with Clint's parents for a couple of weeks. It was a real shock to the system to go from winter at the bottom of the southern hemisphere to 90 degree temps in Florida. We adapted quickly.

We even got to see Kurt while he was there on an unexpected visit to his mom's.



In June we flew to Texas to visit with my family. We based out of Dallas in June and July. Over the Fourth of July weekend my whole family visited my brother Robert and his wife Chloe in San Antonio.



We celebrated my niece Emma's 1st birthday.



While in Dallas we had a chance to catch up with old friends from our West Palm Beach days, Nicki and Richard s/v Hello Texas. We visited them at their land base just north of Dallas.



At the end of July we flew to Rhode Island to visit Kurt for the weekend and help him relocate to Lubbock, Texas.



Kurt has spent the last two years in New Port attending the University of Rhode Island. It was great to be able to see where he had been living and meet all of his friends; not to mention New Port is a really cool town. Lots of sailboats and posh living.



We saw Ireland v USA at The New Port International Polo Grounds. Ohh Laa Wee....



Kurt arranged a sunset booze cruise on the Rum Runner II.





After two days of serious partying we peeled Kurt off the carpet, packed up all of his crap and hit the road for Lubbock. We only had one small snafu...the truck only had two seats. I got to ride the whole way in the middle, on a lawn chair! I think it was intentional so I could not drive.



On our road trip back to Texas we decided to take a detour and surprise Courtney and her fiancé, Ian, in Norfolk, Virginia.



Ian was on duty and not able to join in all the fun.

Courtney was completely surprised and it was great to visit her for the night. We got to see where she would be starting school in the fall, Old Dominion; and she got to host us in her very first house. Most importantly, it gave Ian the chance to ask Clint's permission to marry Courtney!

A week later Courtney flew to Dallas and met up with us and my family and we all drove to Santa Fe. On the way we stopped off in Lubbock to see Texas Tech and leave all of Kurt's stuff.



(Cruising on the sailboat has come at a price and we miss out on a lot small family events. It was really special to be able to share in the lives of the kids' and see where they live and go to school.)

My mom and dad rented a beautiful house on the outskirts of Santa Fe for the whole family.





The view was spectacular.



During the day we did the tourist thing visiting historic Santa Fe, hiking, and site seeing.



We visited The Bandelier National Park where the Indians lived in caves.





In the evenings we took turns cooking while the rest sat around and enjoyed each other's company and the beautiful Santa Fe nights.







A couple of days after returning to Dallas we packed up, said good bye to the kids and my family and headed to Michigan for two months.

Our first stop was to our friend Tom's boat, Pumalin, on St. Clare Shores, near Detroit. Tom purchased Pumalin the summer before and other than relocating her, he had not had much time to get to know her before putting her away for the winter. For a year we had been planning her maiden voyage; a three week trip to The North Channel, a spectacular cursing ground in Canada on the north shore of Lake Huron.



It was not only the maiden voyage but a "shakedown" cruise. It was 100% successful; lots of shaking down and a long list of things to do. Unfortunately this is only fun when it is someone else's boat, sorry Tom. For once the shoe was on the other foot.



Due to some mechanical failures we cut our trip short and only spent about a week exploring the North Channel. It is beautiful. It reminded us very much of the channels of Chile. We even got to tie off with shore lines!



We enjoyed beautiful hikes.



Like all trips it was riddled with adventure....

On our return trip to Pumalin's home port we decided to spend the night in the marina at Grand Bend, on the east shore of Lake Huron. The port was unfamiliar to all of us and the information we had on it was very limited. We had great sailing conditions 30+ kts on the stern but were concerned about the entrance to the marina. The charts showed that we would need to turn beam to (the side) the waves and the entrance was very shallow with a sandbar. We contacted the marina for local knowledge and was told it was a bit rough but a boat had just come in with "no problem". It is very hard to appreciate from the pictures, the channel into the marina is very narrow with barely enough room for two boats to pass. The waves were in fact breaking in the channel and it was a very hairy entrance. What the port captain failed to consider was the boat that had entered previously with "no problem" was a power boat with much more POWER. Captain Tom put the big boy pants on and did great!







After our Pumalin adventure we headed up to Charlevoix and Clint's parent's cottage on Holy Island.



We were there a month, two weeks with Clint's mom and dad and two weeks on our own. Between lots of projects around the cottage we were able to squeeze in a couple of rounds of golf with Clint's dad and a day trip to Harbor Springs for our traditional tailgate in the park.





We even had a very special visitor.



Tracy Trace all the way from Grenada. She was back in the states on her own family Howdy Doody tour. She took time out of her super busy schedule to visit us in Charlevoix. Apparently we were so busy having fun I took absolutely no pictures....well, she was only with us for 36 hours. WE had to make the most of it.

It was a great way to end our US tour.

In the middle of October we flew back to Karma and the amazing beauty of The Beagle Channel.



We spent November in the channels on Karma. A lot of the time was spent buddy boating with our friends Dominique and Carole, s/v Hippo's Camp.


Caleta Caracoles, Brazo Sudoeste Canal Beagle


Caleta Ferrari, Bahia Yendegaia

We celebrated birthdays.



Thanksgiving.



We fished.







And fished.



Enjoyed many a beach BBQ.





Hiked.



Observed the very rare wildlife.


The Andean Fox.


The rarely seen wild horse of Patagonia, the Bagual.

Played in the snow.



And sailed.


Hippo's Camp

In December we returned to The Micalvi tucked Karma away and got ready for our next adventure.....

Antarctica!