Location 51° 46S, 73° 52W
Friday 11.30.2007

At noon on November 30th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 51° 46S, 73° 52W. We were motorsailing with just the fore up, in a 15-20 knot Northerly, which is right on our stern as we continue south. We have come 851 NM from Puerto Montt and have 344 to go to the Horn. The day is overcast with occasional light rain. While the wind baffles back and forth down the channels, there have not been any significant gusts. The barometer is up a bit to 997. According to the weather maps, it is continuing to blow 40 knots from the NW offshore.

Happily, the day has been peaceful.

Last night we were in a totally lovely spot up the end of a two mile reach. We carried 50 feet of water almost the whole way in, with the width sometimes being barely 60 feet. There were many wild ducks and geese, with some of the ducks in molt so they couldn’t fly, and they would splash away from us in a tizzy. Our anchorage was about 50 feet wide and 100 feet long — lines from the stern to shore and the anchor outside the notch in 30 feet of water, dug into thick mud. Nothing could have moved us.

Tonight we hope to be down near the end of Canal Smyth, just before it opens up into the Boca Ocidental of the Estrecho de Magallanes. It will be very exciting to see the straits. We may get as far as Caleta Teokita at 52° 41.2S, 073° 45.2W. Still no sign of the SW’erly shift.

It has been wonderful to see lots of Arctic Terns in the channels. We see - literally_ - the same birds in Maine in the Northern Summer. They travel 10,000 NM from the Bay of Fundy to Patagonia, an astonishing distance for what seems to be a very delicate bird.

In making the watch lists, Alden is using new nicknames like “blushiest” and “lawyeriest.” I wonder why he calls me “Dear Leader?”

All is well.