Egret, the Nordhavn 46 MBM has been following since September last year, has finally begun the next leg of her voyage to New Zealand
Egret, the Nordhavn 46 MBM is following on its epic voyage from Gibraltar to New Zealand, has now left on its winter cruise of the Chilean fjords after a few months exploring the waters around the Argentinean town of Ushiaia in Tierra Del Fuego.
The husband and wife team of Scott and Mary Flanders has been writing logs for MBM since leaving Spain back in September last year.
The Flanders originally planned to arrive in their final destination of New Zealand towards the end of this year, but decided instead to spend the southern winter exploring the maze of fjords that make up Chile’s southern coastline and now intend to arrive in Nelson in the land of the Kiwi next year.
For the latest on Egret, don’t forget to check out the ‘Next Stop New Zealand’ blog. MBM will continue updating it as and when the reports come in.
Below is the latest update from Egret.
Day 264
Position: 54° 53.10S 68° 03.26W
Well, mi amigos, Egret is FINALLY underway westbound on her winter Chilean Channels cruise. Our first stop will be on the NW end of Isla Navarino, Chile, just offshore of the Alcamar (Coastguard) station. After two days of drizzly weather and high winds in Puerto Williams we left this morning in 30 knots (SW) of wind but with a promise of calming winds as the high moves over. When we left it was wind with tide in the Beagle Channel so we were running between 4.8 knots and 5.8 knots (1500 RPM) but now the wind has quieted just a bit, but the tide has swung westbound giving us 6.2 knots with a short chop. Lotsa spray.
The other news is my sweetie has confiscated my old camera (Nikon D50) and is trying her hand at picture taking. Mary took both of today’s pictures. She is rapidly learning about sun direction, cropping the shot, details, etc. I promised her a better lens if she enjoys the hobby. The picture of the Chilean centolla (southern king crab) fishing boat beached on the tide was getting a fresh coat of paint on the name. Note the get home engine on the foredeck (tall oars). The second picture is a typical Fuegian sunset picture with the pink sky. Both were taken on Puerto Williams hikes in the past few days.
With the high moving over Tierra del Fuego the wind will lay down for a few days and bring cooler weather. In our first two anchorages there isn’t an ice problem (skim ice) so we’ll hang out in the second for a bit hiking & hopefully catching some centolla in our new trap. We’ll see. Ciao.
