As we continued to circle the Keppel Island, we realized that we could only take just so many pictures of the same wild life, so we concentrated our picture taking to the beautiful islands and vessels that were touring the island. We continued around the Keppel Island and anchored just before sunset in a small bay along the Saunders Island. The weather was cool and breezy, so we ate our supper on the deck. Within a half hour, three more vessels decided we had picked the perfect spot to anchor for the night. They kept their distance, but all seemed to sense that there was safety in numbers. When we decided to turn in for the night, we put the screens over the hatches and crawled into bed. As things got quiet, we could hear a young child crying on one of the vessels, and then the sound of a female voice singing to the child filled the air. Becky moved over to my bed and snuggled up close to me. She said, “It is nice having these people with us. I enjoyed our time here in the islands. I hope you did as well.” I pulled her close to me and said, “Good night, Becky. I love you.” Within a couple minutes time, she was sound asleep.
When I woke, the sun was shining into the cabin from the open hatch doors. I could smell freshly brewed coffee so I got myself up and dressed. When I walked out onto the deck with my toothbrush and toothpaste in hand, Becky giggled and said, “You were quite the sleepy head this morning.” I explained that I could not get to sleep last night, but finally the cabin cooled down and I fell asleep something after three in the morning. Becky said, “When you brush your teeth, I will remind you that I love you.” I walked down to the swim platform and used the toothbrush. When I returned to the deck, Becky handed me a plate of fish smothered in cooked onions. She had also fried some potatoes. When I took the first bite, I looked up at her and said, “Woman, I now remember why I married you. You not only can build a very fine sailing vessel, but you can shoot like Annie Oakley and make one hell of a breakfast.”
As we set sail, we discussed our plans. Becky said, “I had hoped to gather some supplies while we were here and then we would not have to stop in Argentina or Chile on our way towards Easter Island, but I am uncertain where to stop here on the Falkland Islands.” I said, “We can sail around to Port Edgar or all the way back to the Stanley on the northwest side of East Falkland.” Becky said, “I will bring my laptop up on deck and begin looking for a suitable marina while we sail. I really don’t want to sail back to Stanley for supplies, I would prefer to begin our voyage through the Beagle Canal and stop in Puerto Williams for supplies.”
When Becky began her search, she soon discovered the Marina in Puerto Williams, Chile would work out perfectly. She did the research and said, “If we get rain during our trip to the southern end of the Falkland Islands, we will continue on to Chile. If we get no rain to refill our water supply, then we will sail around to Port Edgar in the Falkland Sound. Is that alright with you, husband?” I said, “I will be quite okay with that. We will see all of the Falkland Islands we want to see by the time we reach New Island, where we will either turn southeast to Port Edgar or turn southwest toward Chile.” Becky smiled and said, “Then we are in agreement.”
Chapter 39 – The Beagle Canal
I guess the Gods were with us again. The following night, the heavens opened up and gave us a full load of drinking water. When we closed up the water collection hatch, Becky walked over to me and asked, “Does our agreement still stand? No rain we go to Port Edgar, with rain we head to Chile”? I kissed her and said, “It still stands, Captain.” She giggled and said, “The storm has passed, shall we turn southwest?” I smiled and said, “The time is right, the weather will only get colder as we travel around the horn. The temperature this time of year averages between four to twenty-nine degrees Fahrenheit. We will certainly be cold in the gale force winds that frequent the Beagle Canal.”
We decided to turn southwest right then. Once the sails were set and we were on course, we decided to stand watch on four-hour shifts for the four days it would take us to reach the marina in Puerto Williams, Chile.
Becky said, “I am going to the cabin and get my cold weather gear ready. We will want to wear our dry suits, warm underwear, life jackets and safety lines while standing watch. Falling overboard would be a fatal error in the cold water around Antarctica.” I thought about the cold weather and said, “When we get to the Puerto Williams marina, we should purchase at least one more five-gallon diesel fuel container. We will need a lot of fuel to keep the generators running while we navigate the canal and keep warm.” Becky made a call to the marina to see if they had two more containers. The manager said they did not have the cans in stock but would have them ready and waiting at the service counter when we arrived.
We took turns standing watch for the four days it took us to enter the Beagle Canal. The air temperature was hovering around freezing as we both stood on the deck in our dry suits. The wind had increased in the last hour and the waves were crashing over the hull, soaking us down in freezing cold water. It was only about sixty-two miles to the marina and we wanted to continue even in the dark. We were following a large yacht as we moved along the canal, so we decided to stay within sight of their stern. The captain of the yacht had radar and could easily navigate the canal in the dark. I heard someone hailing the sailing submarine and figured the boat in front of us was trying to make contact. When I acknowledged the call, the captain of the vessel ahead of us asked if we needed a guide to the marina. I quickly explained that we did not have radar and were tailing them in hopes we could stay properly lined up in the busy canal by using them as a guide. The captain said, “You can move up closer if you need to, we will guide you to the Port Authority location.”
Once anchored, we did the paperwork with the Port Authority and quickly located a place to purchase supplies. The adventure took us over four hours, but we managed to locate everything we wanted. We had taken the two diesel fuel containers from the Pacifica-Two with us to shore and dropped them off at the marina so they could fill them for us. We laughed at how little we could converse with the locals. It seemed everyone here spoke a different dialect of Spanish than we were accustomed to. We managed, but with difficulty to purchase our supplies. When we got back to the marina, we loaded our four backpacks and the four cans of diesel fuel into the dinghy. We had purchased two extra fuel containers from the marina and they had filled them when they filled the containers we had dropped off. The waves were getting higher and the air colder as we paddled the dinghy out to the Pacifica-Two. After everything was loaded into the cabin and carefully stowed, we did our visa paperwork with the Port Authority and prepared to continue through the Beagle Canal to the Pacific Ocean. It was not until we had our warm under garments and dry suits on that we began to warm up.
We pulled anchor and began motoring out into the harbor. As we moved out into the canal, we spotted three small catamarans running in single file. We were reasonably certain we could keep up with them, so we moved in behind the last one as it passed. We did not want to run the motors unless we had to. We had only rigged the mainsail, but shortly needed to rig the foresail as well to keep up with the sleeker, faster vessels. We knew they were only sailing at half the speed they were capable of; however, we were running at full speed to keep up with them.
The weather out here was horrible at best. The wind was extremely cold and sometimes, small hailstones pelted the Pacifica-Two and us. We wanted to both remain on deck as long as possible. Trying to follow the other vessels in the approaching darkness was difficult at times, but we managed to keep the running lights of the vessels in sight. The lights on the catamarans were just not as bright as the ones we had on the Pacifica-Two. I had purchased running lights that used LED’s for lamps. Even our red and green sidelights were much brighter that those on the other vessels, and our lights certainly used a lot less electricity to operate.
It took us almost twenty hours to navigate the Beagle Canal in the harsh weather. When we immerged out into the Pacific Ocean, we quickly located a suitable bay and dropped anchor. We were cold, hungry,
tired and cranky by the time we took off our dry suits inside the cabin. The cabin was chilly but not so cold as to be miserable. The outside temperature was hovering around thirty-six degrees, so we were certain the ballast tanks would not freeze. We did add more water to the ballast tanks to settle the vessel a little deeper into the sea, hoping that the water was warmer than the air on the surface. We decided to keep track of the interior temperature during the night and start the cabin heaters only if necessary. We were certain we had enough diesel fuel to keep one of the generators running if we needed heat, but did not want to put a lot of run time on the generators unless we really needed to run them. For tonight, we would cuddle under the blankets to keep warm. In the morning, we would run the cabin heaters for a few minutes while we fixed breakfast. We should have about four hours of daylight today. If the skies cleared, the sun might help warm us a little.
When I woke, Becky was already up. She had heated a pan of water on the stove and was washing her body. I started the generator and turned on the cabin heater. I saw her smile at me when she felt the warmth of the heater begin blowing around the cabin. As I walked past her, I leaned down and kissed her cold nipples. She giggled and said, “You are just making them worse. They will never return to normal size if you keep getting them wet with your lips.” Then she turned to me and said, “On second thought, would you kiss both of them one more time before I get dressed?” I did as she asked and felt her bounce on her toes from one foot to the other as I sucked on one nipple just a little too long.
We quickly dressed and began fixing breakfast, hoping to get underway as quickly as possible this morning. Normally, there was little hurry to set the sails, but here in this cold climate, we wanted to head north to warmer waters as quickly as we could.
Once we had dressed in our warm clothing and dry suits, I opened the hatch door, only to find the deck coated in a light layer of ice and snow. I chuckled and said, “It snowed last night.” Becky said, “Go up the ladder so I can see.” I stepped out onto the deck and felt my feet slide. I fastened my lanyard to a ring on the hatch and said, “Be careful Becky, the deck is very slippery.” She did not come up, but instead began handing up the mainsails and rigging. When I had the sails rigged on the mast, she joined me and we raised the icy telescoping mast. Becky and I raised the anchor together, being very careful to keep our lanyards securely fastened to prevent a dunk in the icy cold ocean. Becky moved into the stern hatch and operated the rudder from inside the cabin to guide us out into deep water. Then she handed up the sails and rigging for the foresail. Once I had all the sails set and were on course, the waves splashing over the bow quickly melted the ice.
When the sun came up, we could see that the sky had mostly cleared. Only a few puffy black clouds floated overhead, but at least we had sunlight. We pushed hard while it was light, trying to make as many miles as possible before darkness set in again. As we sailed, we passed a dozen or more vessels, all heading towards the Beagle Canal; probably hoping to get as far through the canal as possible while they had daylight.
I saw Becky point towards the bow.
Finally, I saw what she had pointed too. The dolphins were swimming with us. Becky said, “I did not realize that dolphins ventured this far south in the cold water.” I reminded her that the water was warm to them.” She did not say anything, but I could tell she was carefully pondering what I had just said.”
The winds turned southwesterly, so we hung the spinnaker. The seas were rough, but the Pacifica-Two rode well on the wave crests. Around noon, Becky made us some sandwiches. I ate mine on deck, not wanted to allow the vessel to sail without someone standing watch. The waves were still high, but the skies had cleared a couple hours ago. As we sailed, Becky plotted our intended course to the Easter Islands on the map. She plotted six points along the line she had drawn with the GPS coordinates. We would use those six points to stay on course towards the northwest. If we found ourselves in high winds and blown off course, we could use the GPS to work ourselves back to those plotted positions. Out here in the South Pacific, gale force winds and storms were almost a certainty.
We knew that the course we had plotted to the Easter Islands was some three thousand miles. We realized that sailing west would reduce our speed to an average of ninety miles per day. Doing the math told us that it would take us over a month to get to our destination. We had plenty of food and supplies, only water would be the issue. We were certain we would run into a few storms during the trip so we could refill our water containers, but until we did, water conservation was an absolute necessity. We were sailing during Chile’s rainy season. With any luck, the rain would originate out in the Pacific so we could capture some of the precious water before it fell on the Chilean coastal towns.
Six days out, we realized were in for a storm. The seas had picked up and we were sailing in waves over fifteen feet high. The Pacifica-Two easily followed the swells, but we did not know when the storm would reach us. I ran the generator and charged the batteries in case we needed to run submerged for a few hours; certainly, that would be the case. We hoped we could fill the water jugs before the rough seas forced us to the safety of the deep Pacific.
While Becky stood watch, I began putting everything inside the cabin in its proper storage location and securing the cabinet doors with the safety latches. Then I installed a second safety strap on the full water and diesel fuel jugs. We had five of our fourteen water jugs still filled. The one we were presently using was half-full. I placed the empty water jugs in a line under the rainwater collection hatch, fully intending to fill all of them in the next few hours. Once the cabin was secure, I perked us some hot coffee and carried two cups to the deck. The waves were getting higher. I estimated them to be around eighteen feet high as I looked down into the wave troughs from the deck. Becky said, “The wind is getting very strong. I think we should take down the foresail and stow it. Then we will lower and pin the mast. If the wave crests become closer together, we will not be able to keep the planes in the water and will be forced to dive.”
As we took turns in the cabin preparing to submerge if necessary, I realized how cold it was getting. When Becky stepped up on deck with me, she was in her warm clothing, dry suit and lifejacket. She connected her lanyard to the eyelet at the bow hatch and said, “Go get dressed. You are shivering in that lightweight foul weather gear.” I quickly headed to the cabin and got dressed. When I returned, it had started to rain. Within a couple minutes, the rain turned to a torrential downpour. We both headed to the cabin. Becky sat in the bow hatch and closed the hatch door to keep out the rain. I opened the rainwater collection hatch and began filling water jugs. The rain was coming down hard and we could feel the Pacifica-Two riding the large swells. I wanted to get the water jugs filled before we took down the mainsail and submerged.
As it turned out, I had the last of the jugs filled and the entire procedure only took us about an hour. I plugged in the remote control box and started the propulsion motors. We did not want to take down the mainsail until the motors were running. We needed to be able to power the vessel to keep it headed properly across the deepening swells. Once we had forward momentum from the propellers, we opened the hatch, connected our lanyards and began taking down the mainsails, I quickly dropped everything down into the cabin and lower the telescoping mast. Once it was secure and pinned, we returned to the cabin.
Within ten more minutes, the waves were running in excess of thirty feet. Becky yelled that we needed to dive and do it now. I quickly began filling the ballast tanks with water and releasing the air to the sea. As the vessel lowered, the entire vessel swayed in the rolling seas. By the time we were down to sixty feet, we began to find calmer water. I watched the depth gauge, settled the vessel down to one hundred feet and leveled it out. I heard Becky quickly climb down the ladder and puke in the first chamber pot she could find. I felt the same way, but managed to keep my lunch down. The Pacifica-Two was still moving in the currents so I dove another fifty feet. Once t
he vessel felt stable, I leveled it out and set the depth gauge alarms to warn us if we moved out of a ten foot depth window.
Becky lay down on her bunk with the chamber pot beside her, trying to settle her very upset stomach. I found the Dramamine tablets and gave her one with some water. She seemed to be able to keep the water down, at least for now. Within a few minutes, she was sitting up on the edge of the bed and had some color back in her cheeks. I helped her get out of her dry suit and warm clothing and put on her pajamas. I seldom saw Becky become sea sick, but we had only experienced thirty-foot high waves a couple times before today. I kept watch on Grandfather’s compass to insure we remained on course. The currents were slipping us sideways a little, but a little adjustment of the rudder seemed to keep us steady. I turned off the motors to see if we could remain on course while we drifted in the heavy currents, and the vessel seemed to do just fine. As long as I kept the compass needle pointing northwest, we would have to live with any sideway slip the current gave us. Until the storm passed and we could get the antenna up to the surface, we could not get an accurate GPS reading. I did not want to use up the batteries by running the motors or any electronic equipment unless it was necessary. I checked the air tank and saw that we had one hundred and ninety PSI in the tank. We had plenty of air to dive to three hundred feet if necessary.
I heated some water for tea on the camp stove, hoping that Becky could sip some along with a cracker or two to help settle her stomach. She seemed better, but time would tell. Once a person gets seasick, it is sometimes very difficult to get the stomach back under control again.
I turned down the two battery operated lights so we had just enough light to navigate. When I looked back at Becky, she was sound asleep. She was lying on her side with her head near the chamber pot. I chuckled to myself, got the clean chamber pot out and exchanged it for the stinky one. I did not want her waking up and getting sick all over again because of the stench.
SS Pacifica Page 47