May 20, 2003
We got up very early, for us, anyway, at 7:30am or so. We got everything ready and headed down for breakfast. I was worried about being late so we left at about 8:30 to make the boat by 9am. Did I mention it was raining? And not quite cold enough to be snowing. It was still dark when we arrived at the dock at about 8:45am. And our boat, the Manutara, was nowhere to be found. Nor was the captain, Marcos - or anybody else for that matter. We checked our receipt - 9am, it said. We waited...and waited...and waited. We decided to leave at 9:30 if nobody had arrived.
At 9:20, a car drove up. A man stepped out. Marcos? I asked. No. Sergio. But he was our captain. Then Margarita laid into him. Why had he kept us waiting with our daughter out in the cold morning? His apologized and kept saying that he had been told 10am. He asked why we hadnīt gone into the yacht club area, where it was warm, but of course, had we even known we could go there, it had been locked. So in there we waited after he told us it would be another 30 minutes while he got the boat and the Argentine immigration officials came out. Margarita again laid into him and it was about this time that he indicated that this was an overnight trip. We had been told it would be a day trip - leaving for Puerto Williams in the morning and returning at night. Things were not starting off well. At least Michaela, who had been complaining while in the backpack while we were waiting at the dock was now happily crawling around on the warm floor.
After clearing immigration, we saw the 24 to 25-foot sailboat that would be our home for the next few hours. The bay was extremely calm - no wind, so we would be motoring for a while, possibly all the way. At about this time, we learned that it would be a 5-hour trip, not a 4-hour trip as we had been told. Grrr....
The beginning of the trip was nice, but began to get bumpy as we entered the Beagle Channel. "The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed....." It wasnīt that bad, but Margarita and I were both grateful to have downed some dramamine. Michaela didnīt seem to notice at all. We figured it was good practice for her trying to balance while the boat rocked back and forth. We watched the city of Ushuaia as we moved farther and farther away.
Before too long, I spotted sea lions in the water and Sergio moved us closer to two big groups of them swimming in the water. He noted that it was unusual to encouter them in this area of the Channel, but we enjoyed watching them jump and frolic around us and they seemed to enjoy chasing the boat. Both sides of the channel were obscured by clouds as it was raining, so there wasnīt too much to see. Finally, we began to approach the Isla de los Lobos. At first, it was the smell that you noticed.
To be continued.....
Posted by mike at May 21, 2003 07:16 PM