Articles Tagged ‘South America’

Mollymawk arrives in Puerto Eden

Mollymawk has just arrived in Puerto Eden after a journey of six weeks in the Chilean channels. Puerto Eden is actually only about 300 miles from Puerto Natales, which was the last place where we had contact with the outside world, and many yachts make this passage in a fortnight; in fact, some friends recently made the same trip in just four days! But Mollymawk is not in any hurry. We’re on a voyage of exploration – we want to…

Ushuaia – a town in denial?

The prettiest thing about Ushuaia is its setting. But there are actually lots of beautiful mountains and bays all throughout the Beagle Channel, so how did this place come to be ‘the chosen one’? Why is there a city here? Ushuaia means something like East-facing Bay. The Yaghan indians who once lived on the shores of the Beagle Channel named most of the coast in this same manner; pretty much all of their place-names end in waia (bay) because their…

50 Years Ago…

A few weeks ago we published an article about Puerto Williams, and on the following day we heard from Clare Allcard, wife of the centenarian Edward Allcard. Allcard was the first person to sail single-handed both to and fro across the Atlantic – or at least, he would have been if a young Azorean girl hadn’t stowed away in his forepeak on the last leg of that return voyage… The year was 1950, and at that time a young Portuguese…

A Postcard from Ushuaia

Oosh-why-a – that’s how you pronounce it; and just the name is enough to excite curiosity. Amongst Argentinians, Ushuaia has connotations of extreme travel and grand adventure. They come here to ski and snowboard, but more than anything they come here to stand at the End of the World. Still, if it were called Martinsville or Buenas Nieves I doubt if this place would be so popular. Even before we came south, I was already eager to visit Ushuaia; but…

The Yacht Club at the End of the World

Several times over the course of the past year I’ve made reference to the Micalvi, and if you’ve been paying attention, O’ Best Beloved, you will have gathered that it’s the name of the place where we moor in Puerto Williams. You could be forgiven for thinking that Micalvi is just another of the irrelevant appellations which have been attached to this region. The Straits of Magellan, Monte Sarmiento, Adventure Bay, the Beagle Channel… these places were named for the…

A Postcard from Puerto Williams

We’ve just realised that despite having arrived more than a year ago in this neck of the woods we’ve never told you much about our latest HQ, Puerto Williams. Today the sunrise was golden, and the ground sparkled. The still waters of the creek were marbled with the colours of brightly painted yachts. It’s true that the nip in the air froze my fingers so that after five minutes I could no longer work the shutter button on the camera……

Cape Horn or bust!

Once upon a time, almost 27 years ago, a young and ridiculously carefree artist set out across the Atlantic Ocean. Skippering the brand-new, tupperware yacht which carried this maiden was a carefree Master Mariner – also young, but with a six year circumnavigation of the globe in his wake. The vessel had barely crossed Biscay before these two young and carefree hearts began to beat as one, but she was about half way across the pond by the time the…

Missionary Massacre – Part Five of a Tale of Exploration and Indians

This article is the last in our series of five about the first European interactions with the people of Tierra del Fuego. If you haven’t been following along you may want to start at the beginning. The Allen Gardiner set out from the Falklands, and on reaching Tierra del Fuego she sailed around the bottom of Isla Navarino and beat up into the bay at Wulaia. Aboard the boat, the missionaries must have been feeling a mixture of excitement and…

Wulaia and the Missionaries – Part Four of a Tale of Exploration and Indians

Somewhat belatedly… the fourth in our series of articles about missionary encounters with the Yaghan. If you haven’t been following along, check out the first, second, and third articles. The final instalment will follow shortly! The days being short during the southern winter, by the time we reached Wulaia the sun was already low in the sky. We had planned to spend some time exploring the Yaghan ‘hut circles’, but as we approached the bay, wending our way amongst the…

Fitzroy has a Dream – Part Three of a Tale of Exploration and Indians

This is the third article in our series about Western encounters with the Yaghan natives of Tierra del Fuego. If you haven’t been following along, check out the first and second articles. It being only a week or two before the solstice, and the shortest day of the year in the south, the time available to us for sailing in the Beagle Canal was limited. Not that it’s impossible to travel at night, but one certainly can’t make harbour under…