Location 45° 49S, 74° 54W
Sunday 11.25.2007

At noon on November 25th, the Maggie B was at 45° 49S, 074° 54W. We are just on the south side of Bahia Anna Pink, making for open water. We finally have our sails up, but are still motoring as the NW’erly hasn’t come in yet. (As I write this at 1500, the wind is NW at 10-12 and we are almost ready to shut off the engine).

We have come 381 NM from Puerto Montt and the Horn is 674 NM away. The skies are clear and it is warm and sunny (for 46 degrees south in Chilean Patagonia).

We expect to reach south at good speed, passing Cape Rapier at about sundown and crossing the Gulf of Penas during the night to arrive at the mouth of the Messier Canal (Bahia Tarn) at about dawn. We plan to push on the the Seno Glacier for the night of the 26th, which should be spectacular (Position 48° 42.3S, 073° 59.3W. We are not sure where we will be able to anchor as it depends on the ice and the wind.

But spectacular €“ we are running out of adjectives. We came into Puerto Millabu about 1700 yesterday and were all just gob smacked. The hills are steep on either side - perhaps 1000-1500 feet, with the inlet fairly narrow. The fjord is about two miles long and has a wide sand beach at the end. The base of the fjord is highlighted by the Salmon river which cascades down the hill in a series of stair-step waterfalls from lakes up the side of the mountain, which is almost 3000 feet high, closing the North end of the fjord.

Our arrival was further highlighted by a swarm of small (3 inch) red crustaceans that rushed about under the boat. They looked like crayfish and traveled by snapping their tails, but the red color surprised us — it was as if they were lobsters that had already been boiled. If we had had a dip net, I believe we would have had a feast. As it was we ate marvelously: Carrot ginger soup with a garnish of cream, balsamic vinegar and spicy pepper; chicken marinated in garlic, morel mushrooms, heavy cream and red wine (Chicken Millabu); potato pancakes with lemon zest. Dessert was “After Eights.”

The generator isn’t working. It is a problem with the fuel supply which we think we have licked. Curtis is on the hunt. We suspect a physical break or kink in the supply hose. I guess that there always has to be something deviling us.

All is well.