January 2011 Pto. Williams / Isla Decepción
Chile controls large part of the south American continent, including the Beagle Canal. For this reason any boats passing through this area have to go through a check in at Port Williams. The Chilean Navy have a base where you can obtain information about weather forecasts for Beagle Canal.
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On leaving Port Williams on the way to the Antarctic, the first 30 minutes are spent sailing in a protected area of the Beagle Canal and we reach open sea via Richmond Pass. With strong easterly winds it is better sailing along the western side of Lennox island, but we do have to be careful not to collide with the rocks that are in the middle of the straight.
When we arrive at the Island of Barnevelt, we can correct our course directly through Drake Passage.
Cape Horn, with its fierce storms, has such a bad reputation amongst sailors that until not so long ago only a few vessels came near this area.
The route to the Antarctic Peninsula takes us through the convergence zone of the Antarctic, which has abundant fauna, birds, fish, dolphins and whales who find plenty of food because the sea floor is whipped up a lot in this area. We will also be able to catch sight of our first icebergs here.
At the latitude 50ºS and 60ºS the strongest storms in the world can be found. Any sailor has a lot of respect when entering into a storm in Drake´s passage due to the gigantic waves which do not even slow down when reaching land making a terrigying crashing noise through the trees. The albatross look like ghosts in the sky. It is really important to be mentally prepared to travel through this stretch. In the entire area between 40ºS and 55ºS the wind blows pretty much all year round and above all during the summer the west wind up the to latitude of 60ºS. These are the famous"Roaring Forties" and "Furious Fifties", as they have been nicknamed.
Further south, close to the Antarctic coast, easterly winds blow nearly all year round.
In winter the belt of ice extends far beyond the Antarctic coast but a large part of it melts in summer allowing sailors to reach a stretch of the coast between the months of December and March.
During a good summer, a great deal of the Antarctic Peninsula is free of ice along its coast and the icebergs float in the north up to the latitude of 50ºS.-
The Antarctic and the southern islands of 60ºS, are protected by the International Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1961 and ratified by protocol in 1991, the aim of which is to limit activities carried out on the continent to peaceful missions and in particular to scientific investigations. All sailors have to respect this treaty, the principles of which were agreed in the United Nations Charter.
The first point of arrival is Deception Island which is actually a volcano and its coast offers perfect protection to vessels. Deception Island is reached from the west, through the Boyd Canal. Port Foster is reached through Neptune´s Bellows, a narrow entrance to a bay where we can anchor
Everything in the world flows, without delay.
You will not enter the same river twice. Here in love´s hands, you go mad ¡submerging in the Magic of Now!
Heráclito de Efeso (544 adC - 484 adC)