Photos from the first weeks of December

Once we left Puerto Montt, Chile in late September, it felt like our experiences kept getting better and better. The landscape was beautiful and inspiring from the start and yet to our sensibilities, the area south of the Magellan Strait is the most magical of all And this is where we were in December. If you liked the pictures from November...

As we sailed south into summer, the temperatures did not rise much. The boys discovered that they slept better if they snuggled together on the bottom bunk

 

Early December found us in the Brazo Noroeste de Beagle. Although we had seen many beautiful places, the Northwest arm of the Beagle Channel was one of the most beautiful yet.

Big Jack enjoying a calm Chilean morning with his yerba mate

 

 When Pete met us in the Galapagos in July, he brought the book, Lonesome Dove with him. On the passage from Easter Island, Porter spent three days reading this classic American Western novel, soon to be followed by Christopher and Molly who, even though they had read it before, could not help themselves. Big Jack was the next to get sucked in to the terrific story!

 Seno Pia is one of the most famous fjords in southern Chile. And we had the most memorable day yet there.

The Rabbit wrote a blog about this spectacular day, called "Like Bacon for Breakfast."

 Big Jack took this photo from the spreaders. You can see that Porter is also off the deck in the boson's chair.

 Entering the fjord with our first real view of the glacier, Ventisquiero Romanche, and the Darwin Codillera behind.

 This photo sums it all up

 We anchored near the glacier

And the boys went for a row in the dinghy. I love this photo because it gives you a sense of the scale. The peaks behind the glacier are 2400 meters tall

 A little Rabbit

After lunch, we moved the boat over to an anchorage for the night. You can see that Sila is well tucked in with two shorelines from the stern and very well protected from the sea because to leave the anchorage and head back out to the Brazo Noroeste, we had to go around the peninsula of land in the photo. And the view of the glacier and the mountains behind were spectacular.

 A short walk up from the anchorage and this is where we were!

 The Jacks

In case the day was not yet fantastic with motoring through the ice, parking in front of the glacier for a short dinghy adventure and lunch, anchoring in a beautiful and well-protected place, and hiking up through the trees to a sensational overlook, Christopher gives instructions to the boys for building a campfire on the beach

 JackRabbit building the campfire

JackRabbit, Molly and Porter making "bread on a stick" over the flames while the cans of beans heat up and the rest of the bread dough cooks in the fry bake pan.

Porter and his cave art, on a rock below the high tide line

The Rabbit's version

Glacier, hike, campfire and then the nearly full moon rose over the glacier. Seriously! You can just see it between Sila's two roller furlers.