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August 30th, 2011 | 
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Wed 22/02-2012 Day 177
Pos: here
Loc: an ancient landing bay with piles of empty mussel shells in So. Tres Cerros
Acc: tent
Dist: 34,5 km
Start: 7:40 End: 15:00
I was hoping to find an early rest last night, after the evening breeze already calmed fully down at 7.30 pm. I had my dinner, potato mash soup – always yummy! I closed my eyes after all chores were done at 9.30 pm, but soon heard the noise of an engine! A boat that late, and in this channel? It looked to me like the ferry from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt! But sure I may be wrong…it was a reasonable sized ferry boat, red and white, with a lot of lit cabins – how long does the boat actually take for that distance? And it had quite a noisy engine, sounding as if it has already worked a lot on this route…I doubt a modern cruise boat would have been that noisy…
I took two pictures, but in the fading light my flash went of – it looked like the ferry was stopping across my tent site? My bright red tent on top of my rock couldn’t have been overlooked, and I was hoping the captain didn’t take the two flashings as an emergency signal…but he kept on driving, and in the soon darkness I could only follow the brightly lit floating hotel. My hotel was better! Well, apart from the sand flies…even while taking the pics they found their way inside, and I had to work hard to scrape them off the walls again.
It seems like the way through Canal Pitt is not that unpopular, as last day at 7 am I heard already an engine outside my inlet camp site, and today I met a small, heavily loaded fishing boat. The guys even stopped to try a chat, but as my Spanish is still limited, the conversation was short! It looked like they had loaded bags full of mussels?
Today, I stopped already for lunch on one of those bays where for years people must have dumped the empty shells of the mussels, and I’m even camping tonight in such a bay! I think I read about the history of those bays in some blog comment? Maybe some one can write with a bit more knowledge about those places?
The first “mussel bay” had a beautiful level small dry meadow on top of the beach to camp on, but first it was way too early in the day to fully stop, and second the meadow was littered with those sticky round pointy plants seeds (“Kletten” in German) which are hard to peel off your clothes again…they were sticking even to my dry suit! So I would have had an urgent need to put up camp on that spot…
The second bay of the same style I spotted around 2.30 pm – they are looking very white and very inviting from the distance! It was still quite early to stop, but as I had pulled off quite some long paddling days, distance and time wise, I was quite ready to have an early stop today. Plus after all those spoiling days with no or low , and even following! winds, today was headwind again, and quite some ugly 15 knots in the unsheltered areas. I was not up to fight hard today, so I followed the temptation of this beautiful looking white bay, and landed.
It was the perfect camp site! Obviously, for years it had been used for the shell littering purpose, and as a camp for the people working or even living there. The remainders of a hut were to be found, overgrown with a beautiful blooming bush. This bush seemed to be causing a lot of attraction for bees and humming birds, as the noise outside is quite a bit!
The bay had an easy landing with a friendly dolphin greeting me! It also had some old logs where you could drag your boat up without scratching it too much, and a small, high and dry and almost even meadow with no “Kletten” was just inviting to camp without cutting your tent floor on the shells. But there would have been even an old tarp to camp on, and an old shovel, a leftover frying pan, a lot of empty tins and barrels and quite some other litter showed the continuous presence of man.
But I rather camp comfortably with a few signs of civilization, than marginally regarding the threatening annoyance of wind, water and noise! I quite had enough of it… 
Here the only noise is from some new strange birds, and from the sand flies popping on my tent tarp like rain – luckily from outside! I will have a great sleep! And very soon…hope no more boats will be passing tonight!
It will be again dead calm the next days, and with a light following southerly wind. I may, I may not reach Puerto Eden in two days. If it may be three days, it can’t be helped!
Tue 21/02-2012 Day 176
Pos: here
Loc: Isla Chatham
Acc: tent
Dist: 57 km
Start: 7:40 End: 17:05
I took quite some time yesterday to check in the big inlet for the best campsite on the plenty of grassy areas – there are some with bushes grown in between, which certainly stay dry on high tide. But the grass is growing almost bushy, too. Then there are areas where you have those bushy grass spots as well, but they are looking younger and softer, and have dry grass in between – a good sign. Then there are areas with that yummy thick fat green grass on a high bank besides the river – the ground felt very dry and had dry old grass as well- at least after 24 hours not being flooded and a day with no rain.
This was where I chose my camp, but very high up and close to the bushy grass. I was very sure the water level wouldn’t rise up to there! And if a tad bit, I was camping on that thick layer of flattened out grass, which gave another 10 cm…but still, I got afloat at night!!!
It was new moon, and the night tide at the highest level. I knew that. Still I was sure about my spot! I woke at night at 1.30 am from the motor noise of a boat sounding so clean and close as if the boat was driving into my inlet – but even on high tide which was an hour later, no bigger boat than a kayak or a dinghy would be able to drive into that inlet over the bar! Maybe some robbers came with a dinghy up to me??? i tried to look outside, but it was pitch dark. Soon the motor noise disappeared, as the big boat driving for sure outside the inlet passed by…and I fell asleep again.
I woke again at 2.45 pm, from a new bedding feeling – did I book a hotel suite with a water bed this night???? I was had a water bed for years, so I knew very well how it feels…I was afloat on my Thermarest mattress!!! Oh shit…actually, oh pee, as it was my usual night’s wake up time for that matter! But as I was carefully poking next to me on the grassy ground, I hit grass mixed with water – a lot of water! What to do???
I took my headlamp out of my handy tent pocket and tried to check out the situation, without lifting myself too much not to make the deepest point of my body even deeper…I still felt warm and dry in my sleeping bag with my fluffy polar fleece liner, and the tent floor of my quite new Hilleberg Staika tent was holding up quite well! There was actually only soaking a little bit of water through, where heavy items were sitting on the tent floor – first of all my own butt! I am fortunately used to pack every night before I fall asleep *everything* into it’s dry bags, just in case I get flooded one day or have to leave camp quickly…so no precious gear was close to getting soaked. Only two bags had a bit of a small puddle underneath.
But the most precious unprotected gear was myself in my sleeping bag on my Thermarest pad! It was 2.45 am, and high tide was just over around 2.30 am…so I thought the best thing would be not to move, stay afloat, and wait until I’m sinking again… ) I was actually laughing quite a bit! I was not in real danger, it was not very wet inside my tent, my sleeping bag and pad made for a perfect floating island on top of the swimming tent floor! The heavy grass pad was probably supporting me and my tent as well a bit, but still , it was about 10-15 cm solid water under me!
) I was actually laughing quite a bit! I was not in real danger, it was not very wet inside my tent, my sleeping bag and pad made for a perfect floating island on top of the swimming tent floor! The heavy grass pad was probably supporting me and my tent as well a bit, but still , it was about 10-15 cm solid water under me!I started soon to sink again – thank goodness! After half an hour, I felt I was grounded again, and used my towel to wipe the worst of water under my sleeping pad and under a few bags. But it was not too bad! There is nothing like a solid waterproof tent floor! Still, though it was more funny than ugly wet, I prefer not to have that experience again, and will check next time even more carefully where I put up my tent!
In the morning, I checked on my upturned kayak bow where I glued a few tiny spots with epoxy last night. The constant landings on rocky beaches took it’s toll, and I had a tiny bit of water in my bow compartment again yesterday. When I was touching the freshly glued spots, it felt very slippery! Was it not dry yet? No, it was frost! the whole upturned kayak hull had a tiny layer of ice, as well as my tent and the rest of the scenery! This is why I was a bit lazy getting up this morning in the cold…not only because I needed to catch up with that lost half hour sleep from my night’s swim!
I had to pack a soaking wet tent again – how I hate that!
My downhill run through the inlet outflow was quite speedy – 13,5 km/ h! But I lightly hit a flooded rock and got turned unwanted a bit to the side…I’m not a white water paddler!!! But all good again afloat outside, but I noticed a good camp site was as well just round the corner…too late! And I don’t want to miss my inlet experiences, do I!
But I lightly hit a flooded rock and got turned unwanted a bit to the side…I’m not a white water paddler!!! But all good again afloat outside, but I noticed a good camp site was as well just round the corner…too late! And I don’t want to miss my inlet experiences, do I!It was another dead calm and dry, but only little sunny day – I’m getting spoiled! But I think I deserve that, after my wet tough headwind efforts the other weeks! More of those days are to come…great! Around noon was a bit of a wind – southerly! Even the tidal current didn’t seem to turn all day – the kelp indicated all day it was with me! So I made good speed and easy headway.
But even the most beautiful scenery and easy water conditions are getting boring at some point…I wouldn’t mind to be at the open sea again one day! But no complaints…in this way I’m still staying well in schedule! Hope the weather holds, and may even get warmer the more north I’m coming! Already now, I’m paddling mostly with no gloves, and my hood is mostly down…ah, soon I’ll be at the equator and be sweating my ass off! )
)I was understandably sick of inlet camping for tonight, and found a reasonably sized, reasonably flat, quite high rock to camp on. Still the evening breeze made my tent flutter again, but not too bad this time, as I was securing it a bit on the windy side. Still, you have to pad your sleeping pad at some corners to have a completely flat surface! I find it is reasonably possible to find camp spots for one mostly horizontal sleeping spot, but I am always envisioning how it may be if you are camping with two people here in Fjordland…then you can only sleep on top of each other!
My kayak is parked across two high rocks, laying on it’s side! Once my tent was up, there was not much space left to find the entrance without falling off! I’m always climbing rocks with the utmost care, I don’t want that sort of an accident …my strained butt nerve from jumping to a rock two days ago was enough. It’s almost gone now. Still, I’m feeling my body quite a bit, pulling off every day 50+ km…, but no rest until Puerto Eden! Three more days and 150 km left…but I’m not even sure where to stay there, if someone will be greeting and hosting me! Cristian Donoso gave me the names of two kayaking friends – Juan Vilo and Manual Maldonado, but I haven’t been in contact with them yet. But I’m sure I’ll find my hot shower somewhere…200 people, there must be some civilization! Though there is only boat access to this tiny village…
Mon 20/02-2012 Day 175
Pos: here
Loc: a beautiful deep inlet!
Acc: tent
Dist: 57,9 km
Start: 7:00 End: 18:00
I had a peaceful night – no water noise apart from a few light raindrops, no wind noise, sleeping on a horizontal, soft bed on thick grass. And I fell asleep at 9.30 pm, waking now at 6 am, half an hour later as the sun raises later here than further south.
Last night, I heard again that humming noise around my tent which I have heard already on other nights – I was always assuming the wind makes such a noise on my guy lines, but last night there was no wind…what was it? A dragonfly? A huge bumble bee? A grasshopper? I managed to catch sight of that noise outside and saw a – humming bird! He may have been sucking the water drops off my tent walls…? Nice small little guy.
It kept on going with wildlife today! Yesterday I thought I already saw a whale spout in the distance, but today i saw whales on two clear spots with their spouts showing up. One was eventually swimming very close by me, the other one was on the other side of the channel. Once “my” whale came out of the water a little bit, he actually rather looked like a very much over sized dolphin, the same fin shape on the back, the same movement…last time in the channels I saw the whales I thought they where much smaller than those I saw outside in Argentine, but it was still an about 10 meters long animal!
Also today, a very common usual shy gray duck family with the bright orange beaks behaved very strange – two adults and three kids, were crossing in front of my bow to the open water as usual instead of hiding on the side. But then they spread out their tails, made threatening noises, and eventually all dived down for about half a minute, and came up, one after the other, about 30 meters into the channel instead of running over the water with feet and wings as usual! Btw., the kids were diving the longest! But the mom made some new noises before they came up, probably saying “The threatening is over, I’m here! Come up!”
Five small fishing boats were passing me today, one was even towing another smaller boat! Their crew was the only ones coming on deck and waving at me…i think those guys were the first people taking notice of me since Punta Arenas! not that I don’t feel all right by myself, but if there are people meeting each other in the wilderness it doesn’t hurt to wave! Amazingly your eye always wants to catch a sign of civilization in the wild, but when you see it, you’d rather think I’d rather don’t want to see it!
200 km left to Puerto Eden! I’ll be paddling to the east via Canal Pitt and Canal Andres, as it is a bit shorter and much more sheltered for a kayak than the main route to the west via Canal Inocentes and Canal Conception . I’m just hoping it exists like marked on my charts
I’m camping tonight in a bigger inlet than yesterday, this means as well the entrance was a bit wider, about 10 meters, but two hours before low tide a lot of water was still running out and downhill so strongly with three big boulders blocking the gap, that I didn’t manage to paddle upstream! I tried, for sure, but I was very fast very worried to get drifted against one of those big boulders and getting pinned in the heavy current! It was worse than a white water river!
I tried once more in the non existing eddy on the side, but the same…I rather climbed out on the wide bed of mussels, and dragged my kayak upstream while I was walking nicely and cracked thousands of mussels…but at some point I was in! I jumped in again, and paddled probably another km to the river at the end, to find a beautiful meadow with hip high grass which I haven’t seen in such size any where before! But a big inlet and a big river has a big flat dry meadow…
At the highest point in the middle some one or some animals already had flattened out the high grass, and my bed was already made! Actually, as I’m on the mainland tonight and not on an island, I even found a trace in the mud looking like a deer or guanaco…maybe they also like this place? It’s a beautiful quiet spot…and eventually, as it has no wind and is reasonable warmish, the most dreaded Fjordland animals started to became nasty and numerous – the sand flies!
I learned to hate the sand flies already in New Zealand’s Fjordland – there I learned to land my boat, donning the bug net, to quickly make camp and to jump into my tent, starting to scrape the hundreds of sand flies off the tent walls inside…and only then to change, clean yourself and to live all night inside the tent. No going out again any more for cooking, for brushing my teeth or for a pee…all is done inside in and onto one and the same pot! Please note – in this order…and in the morning, the sometimes sticky or even burnt food rests are nicely soaked and simply washed out in the sea! Not any tiny bit of a smelly rest…believe it or try it yourself. Shocking? No, very, very practical…
Even in the morning No.2 needs to be done inside! You simply don’t like to display your naked butt to thousands of blood sucking animals! But for that I’m having enough garbage bags ready…and in heavy rain, freezing cold and wet weather or on camping on a public beach it is also quite practical to have them
Sun 19/02-2012 Day 174
Pos: here
Loc: Isla Vancouver
Acc: tent
Dist: 50,6 km
Start: 7:20 End: 18:15
I’m back on track in the main channel! Thank goodness, the odyssey has an end, though with a heavy detour…and thank goodness the weather was so easy…
Last night was no really good sleep, as my “perfect” camp high on the rock platform was not that perfect – as it became actually quite windy! Not much, but enough to rip on my unsecured freestanding tent. I had to place all my heavy gear bags carefully on the snowflaps from inside, to make it less noisy. Not that I’d be flying away, not that, but without guy lines in even 10 knots of wind a tent is moving every way and all flaps are flapping…
I knew after the turn of the tide after 1 am the wind would calm down as well, and eventually I simply put in my ear plugs to have at least a bit of a quiet rest. The previous night was already very short, so today I’m actually quite tired.
The morning woke me with a perfect sunrise into a deep red sky! But this meant as well the still clear blue sky was covering soon with clouds. But fortunately, it stayed still dry! There is nothing like a dry camp and gear…
I had to do quite an open crossing to the south eastern corner of isla Vancouver to get back into the main channel. The sea was first dead calm, but soon a westerly breeze came from my left shoulder, and eventually for the last hour the sea was whipped up quite a bit in that wide open space! Nothing dangerous, and as it was more or less following, it was nice again. But if you are spoiled by dead calm seas, you are yearning to be in the shelter of the big island again
That area was like a cross road of fjords, littered with a few islands, but quite open. If I’d been coming from the main channel’s southern side, I’d have had to do a longer open water crossing.
But eventually I celebrated my turn around the south eastern corner of Isla Vancouver back into the main channel and “civilization” with a call to Peter. I rather look after my sat phone batteries and won’t call him that often, but the long term forecast says mostly all days under 10 knots of wind! It must be this northern area now, I can’t believe the same weather can be further south…
Well, this means I’d be in Puerto Eden to recharge my batteries in about 5-6 days, and I’m on the last bit of my second out of three sat phone batteries. Enough! Laptop batteries are still plenty as well. I rather carry more batteries than a solar panel in this area and in my style of long day paddling, this makes more sense to me! Though Brunton was so nice to sponsor me a great panel, I had to leave it behind after I noticed it was not compatible with my laptop in Argentina.
Food is still plenty as well! With some housekeeping, it may even reach until Puerto Montt…but I’m hoping to resupply a bit in Puerto Eden.
Because of my unwanted detour, my meeting with Juerg on his sailboat from Puerto Natales, who was so nice to get me more gaz cans for my stove, failed, very sorry! But now with this better weather I’m very sure I’m also lasting with what I have to Puerto Montt. I’d just like to be well on the safe side…so far I have never run out of any resource or supply. Good planning, good packing, good housekeeping and a reasonably sized kayak are the secrets!
Being back on the well marked and frequented channel after three unwanted days “off the beaten track” feel actually quite good. Not to talk about my Navy permit was not for that other channel…sorry, it just happened!
In the other channel, the only sign of humans were two leftover mooring lines in the trees from some yachts, but this was quite at the entrance. And on the second day, I actually saw the remains of an old wooden hut! Who the hell was living there..big leftover bones were lying around – from which animal? How can a person survive in that place, and why? Apart that spot, there was no litter to be seen on the beaches, as probably very few boats have ever been passing along there!
And for sure not any channel marker…I was joking my last day on the correct channel about the many lighthouses, buoys and channel markers, that a boat would need them…hahaha, I’d have needed them myself! But rather I needed an original paper chart and not only my Garmin GPS Blue Chart printed…but again, the badly charted areas are done now, as long as I’m staying properly in the main channel! Btw., the whole of the south western corner of Fjordland was like that, and many more areas.
Then as soon as I turned into the main channel again, the first lighthouse showed up, and a small fishing boat loaded with gear drove at high speed past me. You may assume the captain would be seeing me and waving driving quite close by? Or do they also have already an auto pilot, and the captain is watching a video while the boat is driving itself? Maybe…
Finding a campsite today looked more easy, as the southern end of Isla Vancouver is quite low with many bays. I chose an inlet like the one I was camping in further south for three full nights. The entry to this one was, half an hour before full low tide, too shallow to paddle into, and I had to drag my loaded kayak over a sandy bar of mussels. The furthest end in the sheltered inlet, about 300 m in diameter, had the river access, which meant as well a dry leveled spot of just about tent size covered with deep grass just besides the river mouth. The only spot to camp!
I had to chase the usual pair of ducks away, the larger one full white, the smaller one black and white. I assume the fully white one is the female?? They are not as shy and stupid as the gray ducks with the bright orange beak, which run over the water with legs and wings moving like hell, right across your bow, instead of running away from me!
Landing on the exposed gravel I found the same effect I had in that other inlet, and even better – I was landing on an area with an about 2 m wide trampoline again! It feels so funny!
Time to sleep now, without wind shaking my tent, water noise or unleveled surface! My body is quite sore after those long days! This morning, on jumping from a rock to the next while packing my boat, I strained that same nerve in my left butt cheek again, which felt a bit painful all day. But it will get better soon! Besides that, I’m fit like a fish in water…
Update without headline
hmmm…seems like the clearly marked on all charts connection channel between the two Islas Rennel does not exist…I have to paddle north around Cabo Dispatch and Isla Piazza before hitting the main channel again. Sorry Juerg!
Fri 17/02-2012 Day 172
Pos: here
Loc: Isla Rennel
Acc: tent
Dist: 68,1 km
Start: 7:20 End: 21:00
The story of a Fjordland odyssee…FUCK! I first paddled into a wrong channel, as my Garmin GPS Blue Chart fucked up, and then paddled into a 13 km long, wide, but fully uncharted channel into a dead end.30 km paddling for nothing!!!
I eventually found out by looking at my electronic real chart in my laptop what was wrong: My last campsite, which I named correct Isla Baverstock, was not the big Isla Rennel which name didn’t appear on my GPS chart, and it was not connected to it.
But my GPS chart showed only one island, both islands connected into one, and I assumed I was at the bottom of the long island, which I now found out to be named Isla Rennel.
The second mistake, the channel I turned in eventually to the right was not even shown on the “real” chart (no.10.000, 1:500.000)!!! But it showed a long dotted line from Cabo Palmer north west, along Canal Cutler, ver carta 1003, which I didn’t have…so my big wide 13 km dead end channel was not on the 10.000 chart at all!
So after I left my camp bay, with the last small lighthouse island inside the bay which I saw, actually, I simply turned left and paddled north west along the coast, assuming I was already on the north side of the long Isla Rennel and in the right channel. But actually I had to cross over to Cabo Palmer for another 3,5 km, and then turn north west!
I didn’t notice I was on an island, crossed the gap between Isla Munoz in heavy rain over a lot of small islands, assuming this was the next big bay shown on my GPS chart. I decided soon after that to paddle to the other side of the channel, as I noticed on my GPS track I was paddling out of the island contours. But this was nothing unusual in such (normal) imprecisely charted area!
But my track became more and more “overland”, and I assumed there was something wrong! Was the GPS so wrong here in this area? I couldn’t figure out what themistake was …but I paddled north west, so this was not too bad. My GPS chart didn’t show any long dead end channels or fjords, so I assumed even when I was in that one channel more south, at some point I’d be able to turn north east again, and hit the right channel, as all channels are connected here and no dead end is shown any where.
The chance to turn north east came soon – and it was on almost the same latitude as the gap between Isla Hunter and Peninsula Zach, where I had a “date” with a guy named Juerg who would be so nice to bring me a few gas cans I was asking for two days ago! This meeting place was supposed to be on the south east corner of Isla Hunter. I now paddled fully into the correct direction! The distance went down fast, I was going north east like all the connections between the channels are pointing to, and the channel looked not much smaller than any of the other ones! I paddled, and still knew there was something wrong…
The channel eventually turned north west again after maybe 7 km, but soon there was a chance to turn north east – into the first dead end! I climbed out, as it really looked like an easy portage – for the first time in Fjordland the land scape seemed to be accessible! I climbed easily about 10 m uphill, and found myself on a flat plateau with soaking wet moss, and a few flat rocks in between. All in all you could walk well! I was hoping the flat gap would be very narrow, but after about 350 m I was maybe half – and could see the other big channel, which definitively looked like the right one!
But there was one more chance – to paddle another 5 km further into this channel, to eventually turn north east again to meet the main channel, as I was assuming…it was still about 300 m wide, and looked like there would be a gap in the mountains at some point…but nothing! I was now fully in the dead end…
Now I felt it was time to pull out my computer and to search for the right electronic chart, sitting in the drizzly rain under my towel…and then I found out what I was describing above. I was shattered! I had only two options – to do this possible portage of maybe 800 m – I was already 715 m close to my meeting point with Juerg! But by myself? And I didn’t walk to the end yet…3 times walking with heavy gear and the boat…
Or I’d paddle the full 15 km back to Canal Cutler again, and then turn north west, until I really would hit an open small cross channel which was on both charts to be seen…
As it was fortunately very low wind, I opted for the latter…I paddled my ass off to regain the lost km, and flew along with 7-8 km/h on dead calm water. I saw dolphins all day, but this time, they didn’t bring me luck!
I wanted to paddle as long as possible, to make the most out of the calm day and to make the most the day despite of the lost km…but finding a campsite eventually proved to be the next challenge! Before, there were a lot to be seen, but now, under time pressure, I eventually had to opt for a marginal one on a gravel beach. But it should stay dry on high tide at 0.30 am, and I am lying horizontal on quite some big stones, but it feels ok and is clean and dry.
I didn’t eat or drink as soon I found out some thing was wrong, I had only breakfast and one apple, stress makes me not hungry…in my tent I rather had my cold lunch then, and then I started typing this stupid confusing story…
Maybe I can meet Juerg tomorrow a bit further north to get my gaz cans…maybe he lost patience with me! Really stupid story…
Update without headline
For Juerg: Sorry I’m lost! I can portage one km or paddle 13 lm back and meet you tomorrow at 51.9032 74.0677 or 51.8003 73.9040. I won’t portage…too tough.
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