It�'s been a while since I have added to the blog. I think we were all ready to head north into the Chilean channels. We were, in fact, fully provisioned and ready to go in August. Mind you there were a few concerns which wouldn�'t go away. We finally decided that we would just have to deal with these problems- so instead of heading up the Channels in the Patagonian winter we packed the boat back up; took down the dodger, took the jib and staysail off, sealed her up and flew back home to the end of the Canadian summer. We hired Francisco, the yacht club manager to look after the boat and a friend of ours in town also kindly kept an eye on it. Before leaving though, I was busy using most of our perishable provisions. Of course we spread it around having people over and distributing cakes and pies, etc. But I�'m quite sure all that rich food went straight to my middle. Our concerns were easily dealt with, and it was great to be home. We feel so grateful we are able to enjoy both aspects of our life so much. When we were preparing to go cruising I listened to a few other cruisers saying that they felt differently about home when they returned- in some way alienated. It scared me a lot- why would I put myself in that position? Family has always, will always be most important to me. So glad that I have never felt alienated. It�'s always great to get together with family and old friends. In fact, the family got bigger when we were at home. We are now grandparents of of the most beautiful baby boy! ( okay I�'m a wee bit prejudiced!) Nothing like it- seeing your �"child�" so joyfully bring up a wonderful new human! The end of summer turned into, autumn, then full on winter, which meant full on summer in our other home in Pto Williams, Chile. Our friend sent pictures of summer hikes and t-shirts. We spent Christmas with Dave�'s family and flew back to that home on the 1st of January, 2018 , arriving on the 3rd with one overnight at our favourite place to stay in Punta Arenas, the Samarce House. Now we have the summer to go north in Patagonia. Stronger winds ( and predominantly against you) with more gusts, but longer days and of course not as cold!! It was great returning to friends. And of course meeting new cruisers arriving from east and west. We were surprised to meet up again with a fellow we had met in Ensenada, Mexico, in 2013, who will soon be finishing his around the world cruise. And Philip on Ness who is a single handler who took 8 months to get from Pto Montt . I had a great afternoon with him talking about bread and bagel making...Always fun at the Micalvi. We made good time getting boat put back together and all systems tested, then were off to Ushuaia, Argentina, to re-enter Chile in order to start the timer on our boat permit again and zero our 90 day tourist visas. Last provisioning again, last chances to get business done on internet, and last chances to say goodbye to our new friends and Puerto Williams which we had grown to love. We would really like to come back someday... We have untied and set off on our journey now, determined to enjoy the wonderful anchorages and taking our time going up.