Day 2 Santa Rosa to Puerto Borracho

Caramor - sailing around the world
Franco Ferrero / Kath Mcnulty
Fri 24 Jun 2016 01:56
54:56.8S 68:40.9W

The wind picked up over night and it rained a little. We were snug in the shelter of Santa Rosa, yet we were still a little twitchy, we aren’t used to Caramor dancing around anymore, three months tied to the Micalvi is not good for sea legs.

This morning was overcast, no wind and warmer than it has been at eight degrees. By 8:30 it was light enough for us to see what we were doing and we set off.

The reality is that we are travelling through the channels the ‘wrong way’, against the predominant westerlies. In winter, however, there is less wind, fewer storms and even, occasionally, winds from the east. It is also a lot drier. Our philosophy is to sail as much as we can, if there is enough wind to sail at two knots, then we will sail. If our speed drops below, we have enough fuel to motor. If there is too much wind, we will remain in the shelter of our overnight anchorage. Today, we were able to sail 8 nautical miles out of the 19 we travelled.

We passed Canal Murray which heads south down the side of Isla Navarino. It is closed to foreign boats to prevent the Argentinians heading down to Cape Horn from Ushuaia without signing into Chile at Puerto Williams. Mr Murray was the officer of the Beagle who ‘discovered’ the Beagle Channel.

The entrance to Canal Murray

A few miles on we caught a glimpse of the summits of the Cordillera Darwin on Tierra del Fuego. A mountain chain where few have been. Just a few miles short of Puerto Borracho, the border between Chile and Argentina turns sharp right and heads inland, from here on, the Beagle Channel is entirely within Chile.

Puerto Borracho (Port Drunk) on Isla Hoste is a lovely cove lined with tall evergreen Nothofagus betuloides trees. We have no idea how it got its name, there are no signs of debauchery. This is the first time we have put out our shorelines. The water was so still we could see our reflexions and rowing ashore with the ropes was no hardship. Franco’s system of using a block to feed the line worked very effectively.

Caramor with lines ashore (not sure how the ‘smurf’ got onboard)


Over coffee we drunk (not the ‘drunk’ of Puerto Borracho) in the stunning view and discussed the EU vote. We wondered how people in the UK had voted. We were able to arrange proxy votes and are very grateful to our friend who voted on our behalf. No doubt there will be news in the morning.

View from Puerto Borracho

Kath