Pos: here
Loc: Cabo Blanco
Acc: tent
Dist: 0 km

Unbelievable – my computer started today on the first try! There are still signs and wonders on this earth… 🙂 – let’s hope for the best for the next weeks.

No paddling today – it looked already last night like it, as it really started to *rain* – it hasn’t been really been raining for weeks now… you couldn’t really call it rain, just some nice drippings.

But this morning, the wind increased, it kept on raining and it made a lovely sound on my tent…no way I’d even think of paddling today. A quick look outside showed dark clouds all over, and though the wind went down around 9 am, the afternoon it started to blow like hell then! 20-25 kn with no problem, my tent was shaking, and it is still blowing…for sure, all day out of the southern direction.

So staying in was just perfect, thought around 9 am I was wondering for a while if  was doing the right thing…but the forecast for tomorrow were nice following winds, and probably for Wednesday strong headwinds again where I could nicely spend a day in Puerto Deseado.

I love turning around in my sleeping bag again when I decide I really want to stay in, and I’m sure my body appreciates the extra rest as well. On those mornings, I usually put a bandana around my eyes against keeping me awake in the day light, and as there were several cars around I put in my earplugs as well. Ah, nice and sound rest…until 9.30 am!

It didn’t mean I was getting up then…I was having breakfast, reading, kept on dozing for a while…and eventually at midday I started to rise and to stick my head into the sunshine out now. I was planning a walk up the lighthouse, and I didn’t even have to make up my mind – the two Armada guys were on the watch, saw me moving around the tent, and came down to invite me for a light house tour. Yes, thank you, now I’m ready!

Climbing the probably over 100 steep stairs was already an exercise I’m not really used to right now, and I pretended I had to take pictures to get a bit of a breath back 🙂

From the top, I saw a car used with a flying fox to get heavy items up and down. But it was not really made for people, and is operated with a car from the bottom.

Ceasar and Nicolas, two young Armada guys in their twenties, showed me the lonely light house post, where in ancient times families were living, including their workers on the 5 km distant salt pan. Not sure if the guys, living there for 20 days, and then getting turned around with a new crew, are really happy with their job here…

I assume there is not really much to do! I was probably one of the only “ships” passing by in their duty time, and they are mainly watching over the tourists sightseeing the place. I’d know a great job for them – collecting all the rubbish lying around on the area, left behind from all those tourists or getting flooded with the tide. A nature protected area should be more clean for my gut feeling…

The light house house was old, but all in working order. Some crews had obviously started to put in new wooden roofs in the rooms, and in one room more wood was piling up for more work…yes, this could be a great hotel! But lots of things to do though…

The house was quite spacious, and for sure the view from the rock was magnificent! The seals were playing below, making their noises, and you could see the tide moving between the rocks. But I assume they were rather into the gym equipment and the electronic keyboard…Ceasar gave me a try of his musical skills. Not bad for a spontaneous sing along!

They even opened the real light house tower for me to climb upstairs, and I kind of expected an old wooden half rotten gnarling stair case… but fortunately it was a solid metal one. Still rusty in some corners, though…

Reaching the top of the 26 m high tower the view was even more magnificent, with the salt pan shimmering in the distance.

I was quite surprised by the small light bulb which was the “heart” of the light house itself, but a huge “magnifying glass” surrounded the bulb. Still, when I looked outside last night, I didn’t see much of a light, though the guys said it was on…

I was happy to be on solid ground again, getting dizzy from the circular stair case!

Next I was climbing some of the nearby rocks, enjoying the howling wind around my ears.

When I was exploring some beach section close by my tent, I found an about 45 m long,10 cm in diameter, solid ship rope, in quite good shape, half buried in the tidal zone into the gravel! This guy was *heavy* to salvage! But I felt it was to nice to be covered with gravel and tide all day, and pulled it up to the top of the steep beach, section by section, until I was able to form a huge heart shape, high and dry on top of the gravel beach.

This was quite a job! Not sure what the weight of that rope was, but it was spun out of plastic and seemed to be not too old…it probably had some value! I can call myself now “heavy rope artist”…

Looks like the weather is good following wind for tomorrow, and then I’ll cover the 60+ km to Puerto Deseado in one go. All straight boring steep gravel beach…I really like to avoid to land on those, as you never can really tell how the strong dumper is…but the sea is still reasonable calm.

My contact in puerto Deseado is Marcos Oliva Day, see you there, Marcos!