We had another early start from Caletta Olla and we were rewarded for our pre-dawn wake up and departure. The skies glowed yet again brilliant pinks and oranges with snow caps mirroring and reflecting the light. A really great morning – watching the day start in the east and the greys fade in the west – all topped off by zucchini bread – life doesn’t get much better.
Plan A was to enter Estero (fjord) Foque and go all the way in to where multiple glaciers all converge. We thought we might be protected, so we went in to check it out. Instead the fjord is a world unto its own. Instead of protecting from the wind, it funneled it right to where we were. Gusts cam and went. We watched the water whip across at us. It wasn’t the place to be, so we picked up lines and headed back up to the fjord to a more protected anchorage. Again – the fjord dictates and by the time we got to the new cove, either the weather had gone down or the fjord was such that it was calm here – whatever it was it was better and it was easy to drop anchor and run lines. We settled in for the night.
The next day we were up, staying in place, but exploring the hills behind us. What a cool place, once you get the steep hiking out of the way, there is a broad open area to explore. We spent the morning exploring waterfalls, beaver dams, amazing views of glaciers. The air was also tropical – it was almost balmy – one could easily mistake themselves and think they were in Brazil!
Given the weather, we decided to stay here for a few nights. The next day was Easter and the Easter bunny found us! Everyone got easter baskets and there was an Easter egg hunt on deck. It got a bit competitive with a few dives across deck. No injuries and all chocolate eggs were found. In the early afternoon we hopped in the zodiac to explore a large bay around the corner. It clearly a refuge for fishermen – we saw some ropes and pots. We also saw our friends from the sailboat Northanger and they told us of a set of whale bones they found on a nearby beach, so we went to explore. They estimated the bones were a few years old – we could just make out vertebrate laying on the sea floor under 50cm of water. A few had washed up on shore. As grey clouds grew, we headed back to the boat to get ready for a nice Easter dinner!
Today we went back to the head of the glacier – the place that had rebuffed us before. But now we came on a day of good weather. We dropped off Giff and Liz on the Beach and they explored the hills – they got up high enough to be eye level with glaciers and enjoyed the view. Fede and I meanwhile stayed on deck to mind the boat and take care of a few chores. when the sun came through we took a few moments to lay on the deck and soak in the sun! A fine day – now some rain is falling and we hunker down for yet another night.
