14/5/2/08 15:00
Gabriele, Steve and Paulo were the first
shore party exploring for a couple of hours in the dinghy. When they came back they dropped the
mainsail and Paulo began the repair.
Nik and I went off in the dinghy and were frequently absolutely
dumbstruck by the sheer beauty of what we were seeing. At times we agreed is was
better not to attempt to say anything, but simply to try and take it all in, in
silence. I would turn off the outboard and we sat quietly lost in our
thoughts.
The light is continuously changing;
colours, hues, shadows and reflections ever shifting…one lighting cue after
another …a lighting designer’s ultimate fantasy.
My new bi-focal sunglasses from Ushuaia make
all the blues look even richer than they really are, so it was a disappointment
when I took them off. It’s like looking at the world through a piece of full
colour correction gel.
There is a family of seals and chin strap
penguins and an assortment of birds. One of the little adjacent islands has
several ancient wrecked whaling boats lying forlornly on the rocks in the
snow.
The sun lasted until midday
when the clouds reappeared. There is no wind
whatsoever.
It is very still and beautiful. Actually as I
type this, the sun returns.
Briefly.
The mainsail took several hours of patient
stitching by Paolo, and of course dropping and re-rigging it with the 5 vertical
battens is no small chore, however by mid-afternoon all was
well.
When we were in Rio, our Brazilian friend, the
other Paulo, gave us some “Antarctica Beer” which we brought all the way down
here and today we thought it appropriate to break it out. Steve fancied a game of golf and took
his clubs and caddy to the nearest iceberg. And afterwards Nik had an attack of
Finnism.
15/2/08 10:00AM
Easterly wind this morning and the mist is
back, yesterday’s glorious sun already seems a distant memory. We are planning to, move on later
to the next stop although it’s very cozy here.
