Saturday June 9th, 2001
As it has been some time since you have heard from onboard Seamaster, we thought a small update would be in order to let you know our present location and progress with preparations for the Amazon/Orinoco expedition that is due to get under way in September/October this year.
Seamaster is alongside at the Yacht Club Argentino’s beautiful facility in San Fernando, near Argentina’s capital city Buenos Aires. The San Fernando facility is relatively new (40 to 50 years old). The Yacht Club Argentino itself was first established in 1883 at its headquarters location at Darsena Norte, at Puerto Madero in downtown Buenos Aires. There is also another arm of the club on the coast in Mar del Plata.
We are honoured to be welcome guests in what is a beautiful location - at the entrance to the large delta where the Rio de la Plata (otherwise known as the River Plate) meets the flow of the Rio Parana and Rio Uruguay. A lot of history here.
Yacht club Argentino in San Fernando is in a tranquil setting rather similar to being in the tropics. It is beautifully landscaped and is offset from the main channels of the delta. Workshop and haul out facilities are available as well as a wonderful restaurant, all in a narrow waterway surrounded by a variety of large trees and lush vegetation.
Various types of wonderfully coloured birds, including parrots, are nesting and chirping away in the trees around Seamaster and a family of geese come for a visit every morning and night for a small snack.
The locals’ interest in boating is phenomenal and all types of sail and motorboats can be found in the region. This club, one of many in the area, has approximately 400 boats - from the most modern racing yachts and powerboats to the superb old yachts and cruisers, superbly finished in timber.
At the weekends, even at this time of year (winter), everyone is out in their boats - having fun, racing or just relaxing. The weather apparently is extremely warm for this time of year with constant daily temperatures between 15 and 25 degrees. Not bad at all and a pleasant change to be wearing shorts and T-shirts after the layers of clothes required in the Antarctic.
The Rio Parana emerges in south central Brazil from the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Paranaiba. It then flows southwest through Brazil and forms the border between Brazil and Paraguay. Near the town of Foz do Iguacu, in Brazil, and close to the famous Iguacu Waterfalls, a giant hydroelectric dam spans the Rio Parana before it sweeps west to join with the Rio Paraguay and then travels south and east through Argentina until it meets the Rio Uruguay and empties into the extensive Rio de la Plata estuary and thence the Atlantic Ocean. Its length is 2,800 kilometres and, combined with the Rio Uruguay, it forms the largest drainage system in South America after the Amazon.
According to the locals, the Delta is a fantastic and beautiful place to visit. Navigation, however, is tricky due to the shallow shoals formed by the large amount of silt carried by the water flow. A huge number of shipwrecks, some dating back many centuries, litter the Rio de la Plata in murky and shallow water. Not, unfortunately, a place for diving.
Getting back to Seamaster and the Amazon.
We don’t have a long list of jobs to progress here apart from the regular maintenance and a few minor repairs after the Antarctic. Seamaster is, however, designed for the polar conditions so we are working on making the vessel cooler for the Amazon with a combination of large deck awnings/canopies, better ventilation and more refrigerated storage space for provisions. Water purification and bug prevention are extremely important items on the job list.
Janot, Alistair and myself are progressing the jobs during our stay here and also taking some time out for holidays. Don is in New Zealand while Peter is in Britain and Europe attending to documentaries and sponsorships. Marc is presently in the Amazon doing some of the vital planning and research required for our forthcoming expedition.
The interest and support here for our project is truly overwhelming, as is the hospitality of the Argentinean people. Much of our time is spent attending to the many emails we get from around the region and also receiving the stream of visitors coming to see Seamaster.
It may seem that we are in Buenos Aires for a long time before heading off to the Amazon. This is primarily due to the season in which we need to start our voyage up the Amazon and Orinoco, plus the huge amount of research, organisation and planning to be carried out beforehand.
As with the Antarctic trip, we want the journey to be a success and provide a truly informative adventure with fantastic documentary footage plus and daily website updates.
Best wishes from all onboard,
Ollie.
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
