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January 21, 2010 – Puerto Williams, Chile
By Herb McCormick
Deep in the far, remote, southern reaches of the vast continent of South America is a winding, snakelike, 150-nautical mile waterway that links the Atlantic Ocean, to the east, with the Pacific Ocean, to the west. The so-called Beagle Channel was named after the HMS Beagle during its first hydrographic survey of the coasts and islands of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego from 1826 to 1830.
It was the Beagle’s second voyage, however, that etched its name into the annals of history, science and exploration. For it was on this return journey that Captain Robert FitzRoy employed the services of a “gentleman’s companion” and amateur naturalist called Charles Darwin, whose meticulous eye and careful observations of the natural world around him bore the foundation of his considered thoughts on natural selection and the theory of evolution, ideas and pronouncements that literally changed the world.
Plus, without Darwin, we wouldn’t have the Darwin Awards, the annual, ironic celebration of fate, folly and the tenuousness of existence.
On the 29th of January in 1833, Darwin himself sailed into the Beagle Channel for the very first time and in his own brand of shorthand jotted this in his field notebook: “Many glaciers beryl blue most beautiful contrasted with snow.”
And today, on the 21st of January some 177 years later, skipper Mark Schrader and his ward of “gentleman’s companions” aboard Ocean Watch followed Darwin into the Beagle for the first time on this journey Around the Americas. If Darwin were with us, this is what he might’ve penned: “Snow-capped mountains birds a-flutter as lovely a day as you’ll see.”
Our own ongoing voyage of discovery recommenced today at precisely 0500 when the Ocean Watch crew left their mooring in the sheltered waters of Bahia Aguirre, Argentina, in the lee of Patagonia and resumed a westward course. After a journey of just over three days from the Falkland Islands – including yesterday’s transit of the Strait of Le Maire and a return landfall to South America – the skipper called for an overnight stop before continuing on for the final 60-miles to the next scheduled port-of-call in Puerto Williams, Chile.
Puerto Williams, to the south of the Beagle Channel, and Ushuaia, Argentina, to the north, are two of the world’s southernmost settlements; in fact, the lighthouse marking the entrance to Ushuaia has been dubbed “the end of the world.” For Ocean Watch, however, Puerto Williams will serve not as the conclusion to anything, but as the staging area and launching pad for our imminent “summit” of Cape Horn.
Last night’s sunset in Bahia Aguirre was a microcosm of the day that proceeded it: In the space of a couple of hours, we experienced rain, wind, calms, more rain, sunshine, a rainbow, and finally, a series of astounding cloud formations as changeable and hypnotizing in their own way as the Northern Lights. When it comes to arresting, jaw-dropping atmospherics, you can’t beat Patagonia.
The visual treats continued all day long, starting with the leaping dolphins that accompanied us out of the bay, moving on to the blazing sunrise a short while later, continuing on with the flock of cormorants that signaled our entrance to the Beagle a few miles down the track, and punctuated by the snowy mountaintops and stark, unforgiving terrain as we slid down the channel’s well-defined corridor en route to Puerto Williams.
Once in the Beagle – actually, from here to the Horn, and onward to Chile through the famed Chilean channels – the movements of small boats like Ocean Watch are closely monitored by the Chilean Armada, or Navy, who tend to the many navigation markers and lights, and man small coastwise lookout stations at strategic locations all along the coast. We were hailed on the VHF-radio several times today and are lucky that our current crew complement continues to enjoy the presence of Argentine native Horacio Rosell, who has handled communications flawlessly in his native tongue. Horacio reports that one reason for the multiple calls is to keep us abreast of swimmers in the Channel, hearty souls braving the 50º waters. In any event, by day’s end, Ocean Watch’s presence in the vicinity had been firmly established.
As the afternoon progressed, a solid westerly breeze just this side of 30-knots filled in, sending spray flying and offering a preview of coming attractions. But it faltered in the final miles and when we sailed into Puerto Williams, we were well and truly out of the westerly blow.
Big westerly breezes, of course, are the prevailing winds in this part of the world, and the next order of business and number-one priority will be watching the weather carefully for a window to round Cape Horn, one of the last places on the planet one wants to visit in a staunch westerly gale. Yes, we may be sailing in Darwin’s wake, but we’re certainly not seeking one of his awards.
- Herb McCormick with photographs by David Thoreson
*This crew log submitted by Iridium OpenPort and Stratos
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I enjoyed your blog and will keep watch on your travels ahead. Thank you.