Day 3: The Beagle Channel

We are not on the watch system yet so we, the voyage crew, enjoy the luxury of a long night to sleep. Last night (Monday) we were sailing, the engine off at last, and I could hear the water rushing past the hull.

Around 0300, I woke up, and realised I couldn’t hear the water any more, as if we had anchored. I pulled on shoes and a fleece and went on deck to find us still sailing, but slowly as the wind had dropped. Below five knots, I don’t hear the chuckle of our speed from my bunk. All part of learning the sounds of a new ship.

It was raining and pitch black, so I couldn’t see the stars.

Today we have sailed and motored along the Beagle Channel in calm waters. The magnificent Garibaldi fjord and glacier, and the smaller, cuter Pia fjord were both gloriously photogenic. We sailed on eastwards beneath the Darwin cordillera, where glaciers tumble directly from the mountains into the main channel.

We will continue overnight hoping for enough wind to keep the engine off, before arriving in Puerto Williams tomorrow, for a day ashore.

The big news of today: I got to the first platform, called the fighting top, on the mainmast. It’s about 12m above the deck, and involves climbing around the edge of the platform both to get up and to get down.

The scary bit, to me, is clambering out to get down from the platform. There is a point where you are leaning backwards, your feet nearer the mast than your head, and you must really (really trust) that your hands and shoulders are strong enough so that you can let go with one hand, move it lower down and start the descent.

The younger crew members (one of whom is a base-jumper) were soon reaching the heights. I left it too long and it started raining again. Rain makes everything slippery so that gave me an excuse to wait till tomorrow for the next attempt.

The view was magnificent even from that first stage. I didn’t have a camera, but eventually there will be pictures.