After a good night’s sleep anchored in the glassy waters of a caleta (cove) in the Pia Fjord, we awoke early to light rain. Sleep had come easily to all of us after a day of watching calving glaciers, communing with bow-riding dolphins, and climbing the steep hill rising from the end of the cove, affording a panoramic view thereof.
After hauling in the port and starboard lines supplementing the anchor that were required to fix the boat securely, we weighed anchor and headed out the Pia Fjord, and back to the Beagle Channel. The passage into the channel included a spot where the shallow moraine forbids the passage of deeper-draft vessels. Being able to navigate these shallows in a smaller craft allowed us to have the forest-lined, dolphin-filled cove all to ourselves for the previous 18 hours. The rain continued. Each of us spent brief interludes on deck observing the passing landscape, but the near-constant drizzle sent us back to the warm salon. Out came the cribbage board, the laptops, and the rainy day reading, which ruled the day. Occasionally, Fede descended to the galley to chide us about sitting around inside on a day the forecast had predicted sunny skies. The rain continued. The wind came up, and we anchored two hours earlier than planned in a protected cove named Caleton Silva. We read, played more cards, worked on our laptops, listened to music, told stories, and dined on pizza prepared by the skipper. In short, we spent a typical vacation rainy day. The one difference from any other vacation is that we were tracking the route of Charles Darwin in the Beagle. Darwin spent more time here in the uttermost end of the earth than he did exploring the Galapagos – we suspect he secretly did so in response to the glorious landscapes as much as to collect evidence for the evolution of the earth’s biological diversity. Amelia
