Lonely

When I was looking for a blog topic, Daddy suggested that I write about the best and the worst parts of sailing here in Chile. When I thought about it, I realized that almost all the answers, for both best and worst, were the same thing: loneliness. While the lack of other people makes this experience what it is, it also adds some challenges.

We recently climbed a large hill that, at the summit, left me wondering how many people had ever stood where I stood. Forty or so other nameless peaks jutted out of the freezing water around us. It was a new and interesting feeling to know that I was looking at a place where I imagine very few people have explored. Being able to wonder if you were the first person here is one element that makes this experience distinctive. While the area around Leadville is still astounding, you don't get the sense that you were one of the first people to summit a peak or find a small mountain stream there. The water falls, the cliffs, and deep blue fjords in Patagonia are all beautiful and incredible, but the stunning landscape only makes up half of the experience. It is the loneliness that completes this awe-inspiring place.

Unfortunately, the loneliness is double-sided. The lack of people impacts my perception of this place in a fantastic as well as harsh way. Without a hospital, grocery store, of even internet connection, the consequences for serious mistakes are that much higher. If someone breaks an arm, Daddy will be the one who resets it with our limited medical supplies, and I can promise that would be no fun. Therefore, we need to be more careful than we were in Leadville or even cruising in Maine. On top of that, we can only send emails with the satellite phone, which means we cannot freely send them. Rabbit has started driving me crazy even more than usual and I am starting to miss people my own age. When I can email friends from Leadville, I do not feel as isolated. Despite the increased care required and lack of other kids, Chilean Patagonia is an incredible place that is enhanced by the loneliness. - Porter

Ed. Note: We are currently anchored at 53°41.24'S 71°59.94'W in the shadow of Monte Cruz, on the north side of the Straits of Magellan. We are still 40 nautical miles west of where the Straits turn north and go by Punto Arenas. Today was our second day sailing in Magellan- with F7 and F8 wind most of the day with gusts to F9 and F10. If all goes well, we will soon leave Magellan and head south and west through a variety of smaller channels and side fjords that we want to explore before getting into the Beagle Channel and heading toward Puerto Williams in the middle of December.