Magellan Straits and start sailing northwards along the Patagonian Fjords.
Passing by Fairway Lighthouse and afternoon landing at Puerto Profundo. Grey skies, choppy seas and a strong northerly up to 30 kn welcome us to the Pacific mouth of the Magellan Strait this morning. Motoring in these conditions we leave behind the so called Paso del Mar and turn northwards around Tamar Cape.
Gradually we leave the Magellan Strait and get into narrower passages between islands where typical evergreen channel forests grow thick and dense close to the sea. Above them grassy slopes and snowy mountain tops in the distance, rocky hills too that once were covered by the ice of the last glacial period and had been eroded to smooth round shapes. A labyrinth of Patagonian waterways, fjords and glaciers falling to the sea from the Andes, from the ice fields in the south and middle section to areas that stretch all the way north to Chiloé Island.
On our way we pass close to one of the 25 lighthouses located in different strategical points of the Strait and the rest of the region, working for safe navigation in the area. This one sits at the Fairway islets (between Isla Manuel Rodriguez and Peninsula Muñoz Gamero), showing the way to the entrance of the narrows and fjords that stretch northwards from the Magellan Straits to the north of Patagonia along the Pacific coast. There, Chilean Navy personnel are stationed permanently, with a yearly crew change.
Not far is the chosen destination for the afternoon. Hoping for shelter from the seas and winds that still blow, the ship turns into Puerto Profundo. A secluded corner amongst a maze of islands that calls for an outing and a bit of exploration, an area used only by fishermen and still pretty untouched, waiting to be discovered, enjoyed for a while and then left alone just as it was!
Gusty northerly winds don’t make for an easy approach to the bay, and once there they make for difficult drifting inside the secluded coves around the several islands of the deep Puerto Profundo, actually too steep and deep to anchor.
Nevertheless the conditions are just good enough to launch the zodiacs for an afternoon landing.
Soon we are put ashore and after setting foot on the rocky shores of one of the islands that encircle this deep bay we easily gain some height and reach a rocky long narrow hilltop. Vegetation is exuberant all around, a clear sign of the warmer and rainier conditions that reign here. And rain we got. Lots. The strong winds from the north that had been blowing along the day suddenly shift. First the grey skies seem to fall in a waterfall of rain, then a gusty westerly hits hard. In spite of it the short hike is beautiful and wild. The network of little channels, bays and islets, the evergreen forests of Coigüe, Canelo and Cypress, the soggy tundra and peat moss valleys, all give the impression of untouched, untamed nature and ancient landscapes.
In the dimming light of the dusk, with the Fairway area and our landing spot behind, next is to sail through the tight and zigzagging Paso Shoal. Well charted nowadays, in the past it represented a hazardous navigation. As a witness to this, the Hazel Branch and Santa Leonor shipwrecks lay here. The latter with half her rusty hull off the water amongst shallows and rocks.
It was on the 31st March 1968 when she beached, and lays here since.
After navigating through Paso Shoal we join the much wider section of the Canal Smyth. Running for 96 miles, it is linked to the ocean by Estrecho Nelson, and southwards to the Magellan Straits.
Lieutenant William George Skyring, Captain FitzRoy’s second in command on HMS Beagle, sailed this channel in the schooner Adelaide in 1829. He named it after Captain W. H. Smyth, one of his commanders.
Overnight the Europa speeds up using her engines in a bit calmer conditions along the puzzle of narrows, channels and fjords. It will take until tomorrow morning to reach the next spot where we can have the chance to keep visiting more of these scenic fjords.