Author: Justine

One of the reasons I wanted to kayak around Tierra del Fuego was to challenge myself. I never imagined that the challenge would be ¨not kayaking¨. In January we paddled 4 days, less than I would paddle at home. In February we have yet to hit the water.  

I have found the inactivity more challenging than the paddling, including kayaking 25 miles across the entrance to the Magellan Straits at night. I suppose I should be pleased that I have got what I wanted!  I certainly think that I grow as a person when I meet and overcome difficulties, and we never know what shape those difficulties will take.

There are positives in everything.  We are getting to know Monica and Marcelo, who are wonderful people and have helped us in so many ways. This is our 17th day staying in their house – how many people would welcome strangers so warmly and unselfishly? We are well rested, well fed, warm & dry & we laugh alot. We have experienced things and met people we would never have known if we were kayaking every day.

We had intended to start paddling this week but on Monday Barry´s wrist was still sore at times. Now it is feeling a lot better and we hope to start kayaking early next week. There are a few things the navy require us to do before we can get on the water.  2 days before we start paddling we have to visit a doctor to get a new medical certificate to say that we are in good health to paddle ( we will do that tomorrow). We also need to tell them exactly when we will drive 2.5 hours north to where we left the water. The navy will be driving there with us to inspect our kit and make sure we have everything that they require. We hope to drive there on Monday afternoon, have everything inspected, and paddle as soon as conditions are good.

At times over the last 17 days I have felt very sad in case we are not able to complete this paddle this year. Today I feel much more positive, not just becuase I am optimistic that we will be able to continue but also because I realise that I am lucky to be in Tierra del Fuego at all. I have a good life with the opportunity to chase my dreams. To kayak and camp in wild & challenging places makes me feel deliciously alive and I really value doing what makes me feel good.  But this time off the water has also reminded me to keep things in perspective. My kayaking adventures are a selfish pleasure & not a given right. If some of my dreams are hard to achieve then I will be a better person for it. As they say, s**t happens!

 Wow! I can see why so many people want to visit Ushuaia. It´s marketed as the “city at the end of the world” and its in an incredibly beautiful setting with snowy peaks rising up around it in all directions. Photos don´t do it justice (well, mine dont anyway!), the scale of the peaks is quite overwhelming and the contrasting flatness of the Beagle Channel somehow adds to the power of the place. We had a great weekend, being tourists, looking around the shops, eating out, driving around and walking up towards the glacier behind the city. We also met up with Carlos again and met some friends of his and Monica & Marcelo´s. We briefly called in at the 2 kayak clubs in Ushuaia and met a few of the local paddlers. Now we are back in Rio Grande. We have had 12 days off paddling and tomorrow Barry will try having a paddle here to see how his wrist feels.  

 The weather is unusually calm in Rio Grande at the moment, this is the 3rd day without much wind. Yesterday we took the opportunity to walk up to Cabo Domingo, the large cape 10 km north of Rio Grande. It a lovely spot and we could get a good view of the coast we will be paddling along. I think  it´s very similar along the whole of the east coast, long stretches of beach, intersperced with cliffs. There is always some surf, even after 2 good weather days, but it is sometimes small.

Today, we drive south to spend the weekend in Ushuaia…  billed as the city at the end of the world! We are looking forward to it!

Having lots of time off in Rio Grande is giving us a chance to get to know more about Argentinian culture. A couple of nights ago we were treated to an asado, a traditional way of cooking meat, a bit like a BBQ on a grand scale. The asado is a feature inside the house that takes up part of a room! It’s huge and the size of the meat that you cook is also massive! We did have a few sausages, but everything else that was cooked was a slab from a cow. It was cooked slowly over an hour and a half and it was delicious.

Yesterday we took a drive down the coast to the south of here to look at the coast we will be kayaking past later on. It is neap tides at the moment and the tide still goes out a very very long way!

On Friday we will drive down to Ushuaia with Monica & Marcelo and spend the weekend looking around. We hope to start kayaking early next week, depending on how Barry´s wrist feels. By then we will have had almost 2 weeks off kayaking. Its a long time but Barrys wrist needs time to repair fully. When we start kayaking again, it will be our last chance  to continue with the trip this year, and Barry is anxious not to do any lasting damage to his wrist.