Status: Heading for Refit
Tuesday April 3rd, 2001
We left Ushuaia last Wednesday - 11th April - heading east along the Beagle Channel - and anchored for the night behind an island on the Argentine side of the Channel. By dawn a full gale had us dragging so we up anchored and ran before a mass of white-caps to a bay near the south-eastern tip of South America to await an improvement.
Friday the 13th, even though it was Good Friday - was deemed not a day to be leaving harbour, but on Easter Saturday we got underway early, north through the Straits of Lemaire.
The trip until yesterday afternoon was reasonably uneventful as we passed to the west of the Falkland Islands, with some good sailing and long stretches of motoring in glassy seas. The bird life has been very prolific - with sometimes as many as 50 black-browed albatross wheeling about us.
The temperatures have risen dramatically from the ice encrusted dock of Ushuaia and the new snow - to almost tee-shirt conditions. But yesterday afternoon the wind rapidly increased - we reefed down - then down some more - then hove-too. This means we stopped Seamaster with just a small amount of sail set to keep her comfortable (ha! ha!) and kept the pilot-house door shut as the wind increased and the sea became a cauldron with very confused waves from all directions.
Our 36 metre polar yacht was still leaping and crashing about, with heavy rain hammering the exterior, so we eased away and headed inshore a little - still bumping and crashing and no-one getting any sleep.
As I write this, the new day is approaching, and the wind has eased back from the overnight of 55 knots to a very moderate 35 knots.
We are presently 200 miles south of Mar del Plata, with another hundred or so to go to the beginning of the shipping channel up the very shallow River Plate.
We have been offered a marina berth at the Argentine Yacht Club at San Fernando - about 30 minutes drive north of Buenos Aires - but within the Parana River delta - a beautiful place to spend the winter getting Seamaster ready for the tropical role coming next.
So it wil soon be time for the crew to have a well deserved break and recharge batteries before the 2000 mile trip north to the mouth of the Amazon beginning in September. Hopefully we will be able to stop over in Rio de Janeiro on the way.
Since arriving back from Antarctica, Seamaster has been thoroughly sorted out; we have begun our permit application process for both Brazil and Venezuela and are currently making long lists of “must do’s” and “would like to do”.
Marc left from Ushuaia and has spent nearly a month in Venezuela researching the Orinoco section of the next expedition- and it is coming together well. We are about the start on Brazil.
Our next expedition, depending on permits, will be into the Amazon River with Seamaster as far as Manaus - then a right turn up the Rio Negro - through a most amazing archipelago with extraordinary wildlife - past some rapids (there is a system of hauling vessels through) - until we can go no further. Then the “small boat team” complete with film crew, guide, interpreter, and some military personnel - leave by either zodiacs or hired local craft - to continue for the next 6 weeks through the jungle waterways that connect the Rio Negro (Amazon) to the Orinoco River that runs down through Venezuela - and out into the southern Caribbean.
Seamaster will exit the Amazon at the same time and head northwest to the mouth of the Orinoco - then proceed up the Orinoco to meet the small boat team. Both teams will be filming as they go, with daily links between camps (through satellite) to make sure that the daily Log has both stories being told - including photographs from both groups.
So, a lot of planning and organisation still to do, but such an expedition should make a perfect backdrop to the ongoing ”blakexpeditions” themes - much the same as the Antarctic was so valuable over the past few months.
We hope that you will come onboard with us - and bring as many of your friends as possible. Expect very hot and steamy conditions. Expect to see large crocodiles, electric eels, marine turtles, river dolphins and some of the 640 species of birds - to name but a few. The mosquitoes and other “bities” will no doubt try us at times.
It won’t be easy - there are inoculations to be had, and a tropical medicines doctor to find. But, I can assure you, it will be interesting. It will be about exploring one of the most important areas of the world from an ecological point of view. It will be about water - and the extraordinary life that thrives there.
So, a note in the diary. Late September at the mouth of the Amazon. We look forward to having you with us.
Kind regards,
Peter.
Sir Peter Blake
"Having vision is not enough. Change comes through realising the vision and turning it into a reality. It is easy to espouse worthy goals, values and policies; the hard part is implementation."
Learn about Sir Peter Blake and his journeys around the globe