Blog

We made it to Ushuaia a day earlier than we expected!! The wind was light today and stayed light. We could see our reflections at times, yachts had their motors on and sails down, and we had some tide with us and even a gentle tailwind for a while! So against our expectations, we arrived in Ushuaia at about 1pm after 8 hours on the water. we havent measured the distance, but thought it was about 30 miles. It may have been a bit less than that as due to the light wind we dared to cut across the bays, instead of hugging the coast. We are both happy to be off the water for a while. 13 days paddling in a row and a lot of 4am starts is tiring. The last 2 days my shoulders have groaned at me for the first hour of paddling to let me know that they would like a rest, please!

Moni & Marcelo picked us up from the canoe club in Ushuaia and brought us to their home for some hot food and some relaxation. I will write more later and post a few photos.

Day 13 – Thursday 2 February.

4.26 am: The same story as the last few days! Up at 4 am in the dark, porridge and a cup of tea for breakfast and a launch around 5 am. The Prefectura came to our tent and woke us up last night.

Day 12 – Wednesday 1 February.

4.13 am: It is cold, grey and overcast this morning but not too windy yet. We hope to be on the water by five o’clock, at first light.

1.57 pm: 54.51.94 W67.31.7. A tiring day for us. We paddled for seven and a half hours covering 23 nautical miles into winds  from force 2 in the first two hours  increasing to force 7 by the end. 12 days paddling = sore muscles but it is sunny and warm now and we are pleasantly tired and happy.
We have our sights set on Ushuaia and might make it in 2 days if the wind is on our side.

Day 11 – Tuesday 31 January.

4.16 am: The wind calmed last night as we ate meat with the gauchos. We were up at 4 am once again, hoping to get a few miles in before the wind gets up.

12.10 pm: We have had lots of practice paddling against head winds and through kelp beds! We avoided the whitecaps in the Beagle Channel by hugging the north shore where the waves were smaller and we had occasional shelter. We covered 17 nautical miles in 6 hours – hard work but we are recovering with cheese and salami toasties. We are 50 miles away from Ushuaia but more head winds are due. We may paddle this evening if the wind drops. 

7.07 pm: Our position is 54.55.0 W66.57.4. The wind is much the same so we will stay here and get another early start tomorrow. We are camped in a pretty wood close to the shore and can see lots of islands.