Location 45° 10S, 73° 31W
Friday 11.23.2007

Happy Thanksgiving (yesterday). No Turkeys in Chile, but Curtis made us a lovely seafood stew with fresh salmon and abalone. At noon on November 23 we were just leaving the pier at Puerto Aguirre at 45° 10S, 073° 31W. The wind is calm and the sky is clear. It isn’t quite warm enough for shirtsleeves, but jackets are left hung up. A lovely early spring day…in the Roaring Forties.

We have come 287 NM from Puerto Montt and have 695 NM to go to the Horn.

We spent last night in a lovely cove just next to the town of Puerto Aguirre. We were totally comfortable with land all around us, and anchored in 10 meters of mud with a line ashore to a huge tree root. It was overkill for the calm conditions, but if we perfect the routine of anchoring and lines ashore now, we will be skilled when we need it.

We arrived at the pier at about 0900. Curtis had walked the 1/2 mile into town to aid our docking. It was a new cultural experience. No one had any English and our Spanish is only progressing slowly. A lieutenant from the Armada greeted us as we tied up and took me up to the Capitaneria. It was manned by the Lieutenant and a secretary. My zarpa (permission to navigate) covers us from Puerto Montt to the Horn, but the Lieutenant insisted on issuing another “updated” one. It was painful. First the secretary had to copy out by hand all the information on the Zarpa into a huge book. Then she typed out the same information into her computer, with some updates and minor clarifications of the route. Then she tried to print it, but it had to be on different paper stock than what was in her printer. She hand fed the special zarpa paper into the printer, one page at a time, having to restart the “print” on the computer between each page. Only then would the Lieutenant read it. Each mistake he found was marked and the zarpe had to be reprinted before he would read further. Then the next mistake would be found, reprinted, etc. You can imagine the incredible effort I put into being the cheerful American. Of course, once it was presented to me to sign, I found that they had laid out a geographically impossible route, and offered changes, back to what was on the original zarpa. Sigh. Three hours for what could have been done with a sixty second: “Let me look at your zarpa. Any changes? All OK? Have a nice trip!”

We left at noon from the dock, which was 20 meters from the Capitaneria. At 1300 we got a call on the radio asking for our ETD from Puerto Aguirre. We were told to report to them when and where we anchor tonight. I think that part of the problem was that we have been making our morning and evening reports of our position and intentions by email to the Armada Headquarters, but I did not radio the base at Puerto Aguirre that we were anchored in one of their coves (caletas).

We bought some minor supplies at the store in Puerto Aguirre, but were mostly interested in filling up on diesel. No diesel in town. There was a service station just 10 meters from the dock, but they had no diesel, only gasoline and kero. We were incredulous because there are many boats around that clearly had diesel engines. After a bit, a fisherman sidled up to us and said that he had diesel that he would sell at 500 pesos a liter (mainland prices!). We immediately emptied all our new jerry cans into our fuel tank and hopped in his truck with a fistful of dollars and pesos and got an additional 150 liters (enough for 150 miles) of lovely clean fuel.

According to the Armada Lieutenant in Puerto Aguirre, there is no reliable diesel between here and Puerto Willams. We’ll see. Puerto Eden supposedly has some, though generally at high prices and infrequent availability (delivery every four months). I suspect that if we are friendly with fishermen, we’ll find lots at reasonable prices. Reasonable given the situation, the compensation possibly assisted by cigarettes (we bought some Marlboros for this reason in Puerto Montt) or rum bottles. Curtis and Alden are very entrepreneurial in this way.

Tonight we will be in a tight little caleta called Jacqueline, named by a French yacht called Maris Stella. It is on Isla Humos at 45deg43.8S/073deg57.4W. Speaking of names, the Royal Cruising Club guide has the following engaging advice: “Many of the names used in this guide have been coined by yachtsmen and have no official status whatsoever. Hopefully some of the more historical ones will become recognized, as appears to be the tradition in Chile (Mischief Narrows and Tilman Island are excellent examples). The present editor has bestowed many names on anchorages: usually they have been called after vessels or people who provided information. Any users who are aware of a local name or official name for such anchorages are urged to report these for inclusion in future editions.” Perhaps we’ll discover a Caleta Maggie B?

All is well.