one month project in grenada

Big group hug for James as he leaves the Micalvi Yacht Club for the Guardiamarina Zañartu Airport.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

The kids said goodbye to James at the end of January as he departed Navarino Island for a one-month job in the Caribbean refitting a 62' Chuck Payne aluminium monohull called Smoke - a beautiful vessel, perfect for sailing in the Chilean channels.  The owner is preparing the boat for sale and using Anasazi Ltda / with James as the central listing agent. James' management of the refit project was an ideal situation for him to know the complete inner workings & current status of the vessel.

Tough decision to take the job, as this 34-day strech was the longest he will have been apart from the three kids, but the project would bring in the final funds needed to pay off the remaining balance due on our replacement rig. It has been sitting, ready to ship since December 2014, at Ballenger Spars in Watsonville, California. Thanks to Buzz Ballenger for his patience and all his hard work to get us sorted with this project.

Our next next hurdle will be to organize the logistics & raise the funds for transport/shipping, and any misc. bits and pieces needed to step the rig.

For me, James' job away meant solo parenting of my three wild ones:  on Navarino Island for two weeks, then two weeks with them on the mainland.  As part of government health control, all pregnant women living on Isla Navarino are required to leave six weeks before their due date. There are no doctors, midwives, or medical staff/facilities for birthing on the island. This control reduces health risks for both mother & child and avoids a possible medical evac by helicopter.

My job in February was to pack up the family, shut down Anasazi Girl, and move us to the mainland to the city of Punta Arenas - 30 hours, 300 nm by ferry through the Beagle Channel and Straights of Magellan.

Our plan was to meet up with James in Punta Arenas at the beginning of March and then travel 3 hours north to the small mountain town of Puerto Natales for the birth of #4.

Big year for us - becoming a family of six and making big progress with our Chilean business, Anasazi Ltda. to bring us closer to getting Anasazi Girl back up and sailing.

saying goodbye to our working man

Since officially initiating our Chilean LLC (Anasazi Ltda.) this past November, James has been able to work legally in-country. When work and family are involved, our goal is always to try to take on projects that allow us to be together, but being shipwrecked on Navarino since March 2014 has put an added pressure to keep ourselves afloat & to regain freedom on the water. 

Goodbyes are never easy for us, but each job brings us closer to raising the mast, which we hope will happen this year.

The kids give James a good-bye send off just before he departs on a short trip to
Ushuaia, Argentina to help prepare an Antaractic expedition for the season.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (diciembre de 2015)

return to navarino

16 intensive days on the mainland... By the beginning of November 2015 (after 17 months of paperwork), we completed the last of our tramites in Punta Arenas, and our 100% foriegn owned Chilean LLC was officially initialized with the tax office of Sii. Great timing, just before the start of the summer season, to legally operate our new marine service business Anasazi Ltda. in Puerto Williams.

This milestone, combined with an agreement with Capitán de Navío Patricio Espinoza Sapunar (Naval Commander of the Beagle District & Maritime Governor of Puerto Williams) for James to work at the Micalvi Yacht Club in trade for our shipwreck moorage, put us in a better position to raise the remaining funds for our mast than we were a year before.

In between offices & paperwork we took a whirlwind road-trip with American film-maker Sam Greenfield (OBR for the 2014/15 VOR) between the cities of Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales, Puerto Prat, Puerto Consuelo, Rio Verde, and El Chalten. We shot footage, briefly reconnected with old friends & retrieved a canoe that we had left at the head park ranger's house at Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Argentina) just before we began sailing as a family on Anasazi Girl.

After a bumpy, windy ride on DAP's twin otter, our tramite road trip came to an end, returning us home for late spring and the early summer season on Navarino Island.

Strong wind & rainbows on our bumpy approach in the Twin Otter back to Navarino.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (noviembre de 2015)

tramites for anasazi ltda.

Tramites, tramites, tramites... After 17 months of forms, we are starting to understand the trail of paperwork that is typically involved with doing business in Chile. Notaries, lawyers, tax offices, signatures, stamps, fingerprints, etc., as we finalize the paperwork needed for our Chilean LLC, Anasazi Ltda., which allows us to work legally in Chile. Opening the doors to work opportunities in Chile puts us one step closer to getting the new rig.

This last round of paperwork meant taking the whole family off the island on a DAP Airlines twin otter to Punta Arenas. Thanks to Gobernación Provincial de Antártica Chilena office in Puerto Williams for providing our family with government subsized transport off the island.

My three musketeers are always excited beyond belief to do anything outside of the daily norm.

On the tarmac at Guardia Marina Zañartu Airport
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (octubre de 2015)

Boarding Aerovías DAP's twin otter plane at Guardia Marina Zañartu Airport
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (octubre de 2015)

Navarino scape seen from the sky.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (octubre de 2015)