After these two public holidays for carnival (quite inactive in Puerto Madryn), we decided on Wednesday, March 1st, to visit the Ecocentro, a small museum dedicated to the marine ecosystem of the region. Although we were a bit disappointed by the simplistic exhibition, still suitable for our daughters, we enjoyed a beautiful view of Golfo Nuevo on this sunny day. The next morning, we left the city with Mathilde for a wilder anchorage at the entrance of the bay, at Bahia Cracker, where we stayed for two nights. Lovely walks on the long beach with sandy cliffs, fishing, and sea bathing despite the dropping water temperature... As the rather arid vegetation shows, it doesn’t rain much here, the sun shines and warms us during the day. In the evening, the stove becomes welcome again, and we light the oven once more for cakes and homemade bread that we had stopped making under
les
tropiques.
Saturday, March 4th, we weighed anchor in the morning for a 24-hour sail heading to Puerto Santa Elena, 120 miles south. The favorable current helped us easily exit the gulf, then the NE wind at 20 knots boosted our speed. However, we were shaken by a steep SE swell due to the 1.5-knot tidal current, which made Nina sick for the rest of the crossing, while Diane, as usual, seemed completely unfazed by Libertaire’s movements. We were very glad to have an extra crew member in such cases! We arrived for breakfast in this magnificent anchorage, welcomed by numerous Commerson’s dolphins, typical of Patagonia.
After the nap, a lovely walk ashore on this rocky and desert-like coast, except for a few Patagonian sheep. The forecasted SW wind forced us to stay one more night in this beautiful little bay and gave us a somewhat rough night with gusts of 40-45 knots on the anemometer. We weighed anchor the following night to reach the small port of Camarones, 25 miles south, with the favorable tidal current.
It was in this peaceful little village that we dropped off Mathilde, who continued her South American backpacking journey. Mooring at the fishermen’s dock was tricky, but the port was well sheltered. We stayed one night and enjoyed a hot shower at the municipal campground, as our solar shower was becoming less and less effective... Wednesday, March 8th, we dined on a delicious mushroom risotto with a good Argentine Malbec, anchored in one of the most beautiful (if not the most beautiful) caletas of Argentine Patagonia, Caleta Horno, a highly protected natural harbor. The very small swinging radius and the predicted strong wind (again!) forced us to moor with four lines tied to the rocks from the boat. It was good practice for future anchorages in the Patagonian channels. Damien had installed a storage system for our 4x110 meters of 20 mm polypropylene rope with stainless steel rollers, mounted
on, au
above the keel box. This system proved effective, and the quick deployment of the mooring lines made anchoring much easier. Our walks in this stunning landscape allowed us to spot some guanacos, a type of llama, quite shy. Depending on the weather, we plan to continue our journey south to Isla de los Estados before heading to Ushuaia.
Internet connections being very limited or very slow on the coast, you’ll have to wait a bit for the photos!