Puerto Williams
16 December 2019
Mike Reed
We have arrived in Puerto Williams, the southernmost town in the world and our turning around point. The town is mostly an Armada outpost with a few shops. We are moored at the Club Yates Micalvi, which consists of a retired Chilean Navy vessel, the Micalvi, which was scuttled in a small estuary and turned into a place for passing cruising boats to gather. While, until recently, there was a bar, laundry and showers, the local administration has pretty much lost interest in the place and it is now just a place to tie up. Boats simply tie alongside the Micalvi and, since space is limited, raft together up to 8 or 9 deep in 3 rows with lines running to the opposite shore to keep the whole mess from shifting in the wind that blows down the estuary.
Having not seen another sailboat since leaving Valdivia over 2 months ago it is a bit of a change for us. There are about 22 boats here with some arriving and some leaving every day. This is the season for trips to Antarctica and it seems like most of the crews we have met are planning on heading down there in the next couple weeks. That trip is beyond our pay grade, though, as ice makes us nervous and we are already as cold as we want to be. The boats here run the gamut from 25' budget cruisers to 65' luxury charters. There are a lot of Chilean boats and Europeans, mostly German and French, but we were surprised to find the majority were American. We ran into some friends from Valdivia and even one who we met in Thailand years ago. Talking with the crews it always amazes us how often we know the same people, often from the other side of the world, a reminder of what a small world the cruising community is.
Yesterday we hiked to the top of a hill, 2000' above the Canal Beagle, with views up and down the channel and of the mountains of Tierra del Fuego and Isla Navarino. It was hard to believe that just over the ridge was Cape Horn, and beyond that, Antarctica, but then the sun would go behind a cloud and a gust of wind would hit and suddenly it was easy. As we approach the summer solstice the weather hasn't gotten any better, but the long days are a bit of compensation. We don't know what time sunrise and sunset are as we haven't seen either for a couple of months, but there is still a little light at midnight and first light is around 3:00 am.
Southern Patagonia pictures have been added to the Gallery. To find them go to the top of the home page on the blue bar highlight Gallery.