Author: Justine

Our kayaks arrived in Punta Arenas very early on Friday, which was very exciting. We had hoped we could collect them on Friday afternoon, have our kit inspection by the Chilean navy on Saturday and start our trip on Sunday….

Think again! On our first visit to the port on Friday morning, we were told “What kayaks?” After swapping our passports for visitors passes and going to 4 different offices, we at least got an acknowledgement that the kayaks were here – somewhere! After a few phone calls and a further visit to a 5th office on Friday afternoon we were told we can collect the kayaks on Monday at midday. If the kayaks really are ready at midday, then we need to take apart the wooden crate that Barry built, get through customs and return to Kiko’s house by 4pm for an inspection by the Navy! If that all happens without hitches then we hope to start kayaking on Tuesday.

Although we’d hoped to get away quicker, at least now we have a fixed time we can relax until Monday when the fun and games begin again! It has been really frustrating at times and we’ve spent many hours in various offices. I don’t know how we’d have done it without Kiko, who has driven us round between the Port, the Navy, the National Parks authority, Customs, the department in charge of making sure we don’t take vegetables or fruit to or from Argentina, a dried fruit shop, supermarkets, a fuel shop (for the MSR), 3 different outdoor shops to put together a fishing line and a different shop to buy lighters. All the time he is smiling and upbeat while I could tried not to get annoyed by all the delays.

We’re getting to know Punta Arenas which is a clean, orderly town by the sea. Kiko, his wife Vero, and his kids Coto & Maca are great hosts and make us feel very at home here with the added bonus that our Spanish is improving a lot.

The weather has been quite sunny most days, with different amounts of wind. The wind has been from the South or west which would give us a good push if we were paddling. Today the pressure is dropping fast and the trees are being blown all over the place. Let’s hope for a moderate following sea on Tuesday!

I’m used to launching my kayak wherever I like & until now have taken that for granted. But to paddle in Chile & Argentina we need permission from the 2 countries’ navies. Getting that rubber stamp is in some ways more tiring than the kayaking will be. We’ve been writing letters to the authorities for several months already, with the invaluable help of Kiko in Chile, and Monica Aramburu & Marcelo Rosado in Argentina. Today we spent over 2 hours at the Chilean Armada office in Punta Arenas, going over our planned route, finding out that we need to phone them every 3 days to report our position, & we need to contact certain lighthouses & Armada bases when we pass. When our kayaks arrive, members of the Armada will come and inspect all of our kit and make sure we have all the equipment in their mandatory list. If they are satisfied then we get the ‘ZARPE’, permission to navigate that we need. While it would be much easier for us to just get on the water, this is a very rough, windy and potentially dangerous place to kayak so I can understand why they want to make sure that the people who kayak here are experienced and well prepared. The officer we met stressed that the more information they know about where we are, the better they are able to help if we need them.

Also today we did some more shopping, looked around Punta Arenas, celebrated Kiko’s wife Veronica’s birthday, got permission from the customs office to temporarily import our kayaks, sampled ‘matte’ tea… and the day just went by without stops. It’s nearly midnight and Kiko is writing another letter for us…. I can’t wait to get kayaking!

We’re here! After a few months full of organising (and at times a bit of crisis management), we made it to Punta Arenas yesterday! We are very lucky that Kiko Quijada, a kayaker who we have never met, offered for us to stay with him in Punta Arenas while we prepare for our expedition. We are enjoying getting to know Kiko and his family and would like to thank them very much. Kiko runs a business organising kayaking, treking & sightseeing holidays in Patagonia. Please see his website and get in touch if you are interested in visiting this beautiful part of the world.

Unfortunately, due partly to a strike by port workers in San Antonio, our kayaks aren’t here yet. They are on their way and are expected on Friday 7th January. We were obviously disappointed when we found out, but actually it means we can relax a bit more in Punta Arenas. We are spending time with Kiko and his family instead of rushing around trying to do all our jobs and get on the water as quickly as possible. It’s also given me time to get to grips with using SPOT in Tierra del Fuego. According to SPOT’s own website, the satellite messenger doesn’t work down here, but actually it does.

For anyone who doesn’t want to know the nuts and bolts of our updates – check this blog for live tracking and daily updates! If you are interested in more detail, read the next paragraph.

You have probably noticed a map has appeared at the top of the blog! Thanks very much to Matt & the team at trackleaders.com for putting that together beautifully, and to Derrick Mayoleth for cleverly making it stay on the top of the blog for the duration of the trip. You’ll see a few pins in the map representing significant places on the journey, and a few photos taken by Marcus Demuth on his trip last year. If you look closely in Punta Arenas you’ll see a pin called ‘J’ – that’s us! You can even zoom in and see Kiko’s house. As we kayak round Tierra Del Fuego, SPOT will send back live updates on our position and the “J” pin will move around the map as we kayak ( don’t worry “B” will be there aswell). All being well, the map will update 2 or 3 times an hour when we are on the water. Once we land for the night, we’ll turn it off and send an “OK” message. That should appear on the map as an ‘OK’ message. The tracking seems to be working well here, but the OK messages aren’t getting through at the moment so please don’t panic if you don’t see one ( mum & Barry’s mum!). At the end of every day, we’ll also send an SMS to Karel Vissel using our satellite phone. We’ll send Karel our co-ordinates and a brief message about the day. Once Karel knows our position, he’ll send us a weather forecast for the next few days, and he’ll forward the message to my mum and a few other people. My mum will update this blog with the message, which will appear just below the map.

After a beautiful hot day yesterday, the weather today is more typical of this time of year here. It’s a bit colder with quite a bit of rain,although unusually there is still no wind. I expect the wind will return before our kayaks arrive!!  We’ve done half of our food shopping for the trip at the local supermarket & hope to do the rest at a bigger supermarket tomorrow.