We're tied up together with eight other boats beside the Micalvi, a beached wreck of a 1925 munitions vessel, now the focus of the Southernmost Yacht Club in the world. Several overwinter here. It seldom snows at sea level. Surrounded by the oceans, the temperature is relatively steady all year. Puerto Williams is a military base for the Armada de Chile, founded in 1953, open to civilians in 1985. Population is now about 2300.

After a pancake breakfast, topped with caramelized condensed milk, golden syrup and cream (not kidding!) we spent a very pleasant morning exploring the beech forest around last night's anchorage at Caleta Margarita. While distantly related to the northern beech, these three varieties have tiny leaves. They hail from the ancient super continent Gondwana and close relatives can be found in New Zealand and Tasmania. It's strange sitting on the moss in a thick forest of very tall trees and thinking that only a few hundred miles apart, there is abundant verdant greenery on the mountains on one side, and only snow and stone on the other.

Tierra del Fuego, "land of fire," was so called because of the numerous fires seen on these islands by Magellan and his crew. These were no doubt smoke signals lit by concerned natives at the sight of a strange vessel. These were the Yamana people, who lived almost completely naked all year in small families along the shores. They fished from small beech bark boats, furnished with fires, placed on the bottom over a layer of mud, shells, and pebbles. They had extraordinarily good eye sight, seeing sails emerging over the horizon long before the Europeans did. The Beagle of Darwin fame transported four of them to England and returned three, now schooled in Christianity, a few years later in a failed attempt in cross-cultural relations. They soon succumbed to the usual alcohol trade and dependence on "settler employment," losing their traditional hunter gatherer means of earning a living. (European diseases such as TB and measles and a bounty in some parts of southern South America were responsible for wiping out the vast majority of the four native cultures of Tierra del Fuego ... ed.) There is a small group of Yamana descendants, and, in 2007, one full blooded Yamana living on the outskirts of Puerto Williams.

The Micalvi wheel house and main cabin is still intact, the latter now the yacht club bar. Festooned with flags and mementos of yachts and yacht clubs around the world, including Tony and Coryn's boats Mistral (1994) and Taonui (1997) noted on the Royal Victoria Yacht Club Pennant. The bar is our last stop before turning in for the night. (posted by Roger)

For more about Seal see http://www.expeditionsail.com.