Pos: here
Loc: Caleta Machado
Acc: tent
Dist: 23,5 km
Start: 9:25 End: 14:45

The night was worth nothing, sleeping high in the tent on a plastic fish box and two big plastic canisters was somehow *not* the high end bed…my head was mostly hit by the tent wall flapping in the wind, somehow the originally horizontal platform shifted over night, and my pad with me on it was slipping constantly side ways.   I had trouble  falling asleep after that overdoes of sleep at the Navy station, and it was not easy to change from a comfortable bed in a safe room back into the wilderness again. The wind noise and surf on the boulder beach did the rest, and I eventually used my earplugs again to get at least a bit of rest after midnight.

I knew I could sleep in next morning, as the wind was supposed to go down during the day, and I planned to paddle only mere 20something km to a safe known beach through still quite some big, lumpy and choppy seas. Enough for a day with 15 knots headwinds, constant drizzling rain with not much view after little sleep.

And this beach is marvelous after the last horrible one! Wide, fully sheltered, sandy on low tide, clean rocks on top which should stay dry on high tide at night, with a tiny stream coming off the wall. It feels like being back in Argentine!

The coast line today became constantly lower and more friendly, even looking like you could hike on it, like in Scotland or Wales! It had plenty of tiny rocky beaches facing the sea, but none of them would be sheltered enough to land, besides one on Isla Elena I was passing close by. The land along the next stretch of coast is low as well, but still has big towering mountains far in the hinterland, which were covered in clouds today.

I know Thursday and Friday are safe with very low wind, and the remaining distance to the entrance of the river will be split in convenient distances of about 40-50 km for each of those low wind days. The seas should be accordingly down, in the shelter of Isla Javier and eventually in the sheltered far end of the Gulf. So no worries about that! Saturday is supposed to get some rain again, after Thursday and Friday should be mostly dry. Can’t help then…portage in the rain…

I was fighting successfully a bit sea sickness again today, I’m really not used to paddling big swelly sea any more! 🙂 But I think the drizzly rain with low view was the worst for that matter.

Having landed, I enjoyed a small cold shower having enough fresh water handy, and hungrily swallowed again a pot of Spaghetti with tomato and chilly sauce – this time a little less hot!

I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep, and to a nice dry paddle tomorrow!