[password] rachel25
[position] 53 36.815s 072 19.106w
[status] Anchored in Bahia Mussel, Isla Carlos III, Estrecho de Magallanes.
Today has been one of those unforgettable days that we will remember for the rest of our lives. It drizzled lightly though the night but we emerged into a bright dawn and a light wind from the west. There were three boats moored side by side in the caleta, Beduin, a fishing boat and Ithaka. A surge of activity; ropes, anchors, dinghies, fenders, engines, windlasses, and then we were separated and all underway. Beduin and Ithaka blew South East through Paso Tortuoso which brought us to the junction with Canal Jeronimo where we saw tell-tale puffs of vapour. We rounded up onto a reach and soon came amongst three humpback whales feeding together with a multitude of birds; Penguins, Black Browed Albatross, Giant Petrels, too many to count, too many to identify. Then on, in the brightening sunshine and into this caleta at the head of a broad bay. In the afternoon we climbed a peak to the North of the anchorage and were rewarded with a stunning panorama, the Magellan Strait blue and sparkling, snow capped mountains to the North and South and Beduin and Ithaka in a deep red lagoon far below us. Out in the strait there were a thousand seabirds and the regular blows and occasional tail flukes of humpback whales. The churning, upwelling currents made ever changing grey-blue patterns in the smooth sea. The sun hot on our backs, wind virtually non-existent, and no sign of humans or signs that any had ever been in this place before us. A truly unspoilt wilderness.
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