Pos: here
Loc: Punta Galera
Acc: tent
Dist: 45,5 km
Start: 8:50 End: 18:00

I had an undisturbed night – if you don’t count my strange dreams about getting visitors and sneaking around persons to my tent…

Once I started to pack, my three friendly female neighbors came over again to help, to watch and to take pictures. A cell phone was in their possession as well! All was done, and the last thing is as usual to attach my launching string on my rudder fin…but F…! There was no rudder fin any more…I had a sense on yesterday’s paddling like my rudder fin must have been pushed in again somehow and stayed stuck, as I was paddling like on slippery soap with no grip in the stern, but actually I paddled obviously all day already with a fin stump only…

I recalled and found only two options: On my trashy rolling landing I must have cracked it already, though I remember I manually pushed it up once floating around in the shallows after my bail out. Next morning, I attached the launching string as usual, got afloat in the shallows, pulled the rudder out and had to wait in the shallows until the breakers were just right. Either I pulled the rudder out which is always a bit tough with sand stuck in the slot and broke it on that occasion, or drifting in the shallows, concentrating on the breaking waves in front of me to find a gap made me being pushed back on the ground to crack the fin.

I can’t count any more my cracked fins on this trip – why did I not crack ANY fin around Australia???

It was a beautiful sunny day, though I had to apply a thick layer of sunscreen on my face and lips, as I missed this out yesterday and got badly burned…the swell was moderate to low, and it seemed it got even less during the day. The whole coast line, starting out from Puerto Mont’s exit to the open sea with a wild, rugged high cliff line, got over the days more tame, with more beaches, less high and less rugged cliffs. I think I had done the worst, scary part in 4 m swell!

Many pelicans are flying around, and there are still penguins, not flying though. A huge seal colony made it’s noises and smell, and the last days I see more and more ugly, sometimes up to 50-70 cm in diameter white jellyfish with long tentacles…I don’t want to touch them! The days before, there were pink tubular jelly fish, also quite big with maybe 30 cm.

I landed safely around the calm corner of the very rugged and breaking headland of Punta Galera, and was happy to find a tiny fresh water stream to refill my resources. But besides a few cows and huts far away, fortunately no life here. I need my peace!