Author: Justine

12 January: Coordinates 52.53.66 70.42.42
Finally on our way with an unexpectedly good five hour paddle.
The headwind died then went north east. It was nice to kayak near to the shore and we saw penguins, lots of other birds and even a seal!
We have heavy rain now but have found a good, flat place to camp and are happy.

Gas prices are going up in the Magallenes region and a lot of people in Punta Arenas are on strike! The main road to where we were planning to launch is closed and the port is closed. It’s also windy from a NW/ NNW direction so it’s not an ideal day for starting. However, it looks like it is POSSIBLE to launch today at a different place, and with the authorization of the navy. So we plan to launch in a few hours. We probably won’t go far because of the wind but if we do manage to leave, it will be great to be on the water, no matter how small our first few steps are! If we do go, you should start to see us moving on the map at the top of the blog. www.cackletv.com/justines-blog

I think the first stages of madness are setting in!

Today started well as we passed the kit inspection & got our passports stamped by the police so we can kayak across the Chile/ Argentine border. Just when we thought we were ready

to leave we were told that we don’t have permission to start kayaking until the Armada (navy) considers the weather forecast is good enough. There is a force 4/5 headwind which is due to increase so we probably wouldn’t have gone anyway but it’s day 11 and we’re anxious to get going soon. It would be nice to be able to make the judgement and decision about when we launch ourselves so we could react quickly & jump on the water if the wind drops or swings round to be  more behind us. The first stretch of coast has lots of landing options and is very close to a road so we could get off the water quickly if we wanted or needed to.

I shouldn’t really be surprised at this decision as it’s becoming a pattern that just when you think all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, it turns out that the j’s need to be dotted aswell!

I’m mostly succeeding in seeing this as all part of the adventure, but we would both like to get kayaking pretty soon. Tomorrow may be too windy aswell, but we’ll see.

Por fin! Finally! We got our kayaks this afternoon. We turned up at the port at midday, as arranged but were told there weren’t enough people there to open the container that the kayaks were in so we had to come back that afternoon. When we returned we had to wait for an hour in an office, but at 4pm we were shown to the wooden crate that Barry made back in November at Valley seakayaks. The sturdy box had done it’s job well and we were relieved and excited to open the crate and reveal two spotless Nordkapps. Kiko, Barry and I spent the next 2 hours dismantling the 6 metre long box, unscrewing the screws with little screwdrivers and crowbarring the plywood and pallets off it! My hands and wrists still feel a bit weird. We had to pay extra fees because the port released the kayaks ‘quickly’ for us! I guess I shouldn’t complain – it only took 3 and a half days from when the boat arrived in Punta Arenas.

We’ve spent the last 3 hours customizing the kayaks a bit; for example putting foam pads by my knees, lengthening the cord that ties the hatches onto the kayak, glueing in under deck bags and securing our kayak trolley on the cockpit floor. It’s the first time we’ve used a Nordkapp on a trip so Barry is out there now working out how he’ll pack his boat. I should go and do the same.

Tomorrow at 9am we have an inspection from the Chilean navy. If they are happy with our kit then we’ll get permission to kayak around Tierra del Fuego and off we can go! I’m not sure if the weather will allow that though. We measured the wind at 63 knots this afternoon, about 120km/hour, from a northerly direction. If it’s still like that tomorrow – or even half the strength, we won’t be going anywhere just yet.

Overall we are very excited to have the kayaks here & it won’t be too long before we’re on the water.