Justine’s Blog

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.

Day 10 – Monday 30 January.

4.27 am: The alarm was set for 4 am this morning as we will try to get some miles in before the west wind starts to blow. We are aiming for Punta Moat today. However . . .

12.25 pm: The wind was up early too! We made 10 miles into a strong headwind and then stopped and went ashore, where we saw a ranch and the gauchos who rode past us last night. 
It is cold today and the gauchos kindly invited us into their cosy hut to warm up, which was very nice.
If the white caps on the waves disappear we may continue but, at the moment, it looks like we are here to stay for today.

7.25 pm: The wind increased to 30 knots so there were lots of white caps. We spent the rest of the day trying to talk to the gauchos in broken Spanish, resting and walking along the beach – holding on to our hats!

Day 9 – Sunday 29 January.

5.00 am: Another early start under a red sky. It is drizzling but not windy.We are aiming for Bahia Sloggett.

12.23 pm: A rare north easterly wind helped us for the first 3 hours. Then a westerly head wind started as we reached Bahia Sloggett so we decided to stop here, at an old gold mining camp. We covered 20 miles before 11 am!

5.51 pm: We looked round the old mine works. Although we are 20 miles from the road here, three guys on horses and a hiker panning for gold just walked past! We have been treated to sun, hail and rain.