16.01.2013

At anchor at Isla de los Estados

We safely arrived at Isla de los Estados, we're at 54 degrees 45,8'S. That's only 1 degree 10' north of the southernmost land (Cape Horn) of the world!!! So exciting. We saw Tierra del Fuego saiing by. We had an incredible calm and good sail all the way down here. We made it in 4 days. Only for the last 7 hours Rassmus or whoever is the god of weathers down here let us feel that we're in the roaring 50ies, meaning south of 50 degrees with knowingly very uncomfortable sailing weather and high waves. Between the mainland of Tierra del Fuego (Feuerland) and the Island of Isla de los Estados lies one of the, if not THE world's most dangerous passage, where strong winds, high waves and a current of up to 6 knots meet each other and cause very dangerous cross seas. We got a little taste of it when we crossed that passage today from west to southeast to get from close to tierra del fuego to the entry of the bay we're in now. We had 35 knots wind, about 2m wave from the wind plus a 3m cross sea. Some waves hit us very hard on the side, but Alita does not really care. I was glad my bowl of soup was almost empty when the hardest one hit us. Otherwise I would have been full of soup...Well, all went well and we are more than happy to have had such a mostly comforable ride in an area I have great respect of. But, we still have to manage the about 200nm from here to Ushuaia. We in a beautiful mountain by here, looks as if we have anchored in an alpine lake, surrounded by mountains almost 900m high. Very beautiful, but freezing cold. We just turned ozr heater on for the first time...Thank god it WORKS. Yes. Lots of rain here, too. My fingers froze when I was driving Alita in here from the rough sea and holding her in one spot with the stern (Heck) to the wind while Marcus was preparing the landlines with the Dinghy. We notified the Argentinan Army, who is stationed here on the island, about our arrival and planned stay. The real anchorage is farther into the bay. As we came in at low tide there was no way of getting there. We have to pass a rock, the passage is very small, maybe 3 feet wider than Alita! We'll try tomorrow morning. Happy wednesday from a happy crew in good health. No seasickness!

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