one-eyed-raivo

Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

daisy patch pearl

Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

purple suede pumps in the meadow

Pearl waits her turn to wear the purple suede high heels - Tormentina's dumpster dive score at the Micalvi.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

taming the wild horses

Offering of sweet grass.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

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.

fresh from the mint patch

Pearl fresh from the mint patch.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

darwin's scepter

On the road with our magic Darwin's Scepter.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016) 

metamorphosis of silk in wind

So nice to get some time with French textile designer & long-time expedition sailor Olga Bely this summer season.  Thanks Olga for the wonderful gifts of three gorgeous pieces of printed silk, a feather boa, a skirt design & sewing project with Tormentina, and a decadent night of crème brûlée aboard Anasazi Girl.

Thanks to designer Olga Bely for the gift of three beautiful textile pieces from Paris.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Tormentina dances with her transforming partner.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Tormentina dances with her transforming partner.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Raivo feeling freedom in dance & movement.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Dance & Movement.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Tormentina dances with her transforming partner.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

chocolate mud puddles

Rubber boots a must for daily life on the island.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

cape horn biosphere reserve flora

High deciduous beech / Nothofagus pumilio / Lenga.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Sweetroot / Osmhoriza chilensis / Perejil de campo o Perejil silvestre.
Roots are edible and considered a delicacy.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Blechnum penna-marina / Antarctic hard-fern / pinque.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

End of season. Sea thrift / Armeria maritima / Guaicurú.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

magellanic currants / ribes magellanicum / zarzaparilla

Magellanic currants / Ribes magellanicum / Zarzaparilla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Magellanic currants / Ribes magellanicum / Zarzaparilla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Sour currents.  Magellanic currants / Ribes magellanicum / Zarzaparilla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

clover & purple grasses of summertime

Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

rainy day bouquet

Bouquet of mint & wildflowers.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

lenticulars suspended in the evening sky

Lenticulars above the Beagle Channel & Martial Range.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

legend of the calafate berry

I grew up in Maine where wild blueberries were typical fruits of summer-time. For one season during my early childhood, my mother did short-term work harvesting low-bush blueberries to earn some extra dollars. My distinct memory from this period was the strong smell of warm berries in the heat and watching Cambodian refugees & other migrant workers with big hats squat in an open field.  They worked all day in the sun, hand-raking tiny berries into multi-gallon plastic buckets. My mother did not last long doing this type of manual labor.  

Later as an adolescent, I remember picking gigantic high-bush blueberries (for our own consumption) at a country family farm, owned by my brother's best friend Nick.

Here at the bottom of the world, berries called calafate are common in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Since living aboard Anasazi Girl the last two years on Navarino Island, we have seen all the stages of development of this beautiful & tasty fruit.

First ripe Calafate berries of the summer season.
Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

My kids love harvesting the berries despite the challenge of getting fingers pricked and scratched by the bush's spiny thorns. The fruit itself looks very much like a blueberry, but inside is a deep dark purple-blue (not white & spongy like a Maine blueberry). Eating a mouthful will naturally dye your lips and tongue. The berries have tiny purple-black seeds, which the kids have been saving to make a rattle for their new baby sister (due to arrive at the end of March).

Tormentina with a handfull of ripe berries and pricked finger-tips.
Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Over the years we have always heard from locals in Southern Chile and Argentina that if you eat a calafate berry from this region, that you are destined to return again and again.The myth always seemed to me like a touristic catch phrase, used to sell a calafate sour, calafate ice cream, or a jar of jam. But...we did try the berries and happen to not only find them delicious, but for some reason we have returned again and again with our kids to these Austral regions of South America.

There are a couple of legends we have found that involve the calafate:

The first is the story of an eldery Tehulche woman. (The Tehulche - also known as Aónikenk - were the indigenous, nomadic tribe of the pampas of Southern Argentina, particularly in the Chubut & Santa Cruz Province. They are famous for leaving behind caves filled with painted hands.) One winter the elderly woman realizes she is too old and weak to travel. She is left behind by her tribe to endure the season alone.  

She does not die, but instead is magically transformed into a calafate bush. The bush serves that winter as a shelter for the birds, protecting them from the cold and icy wind. Then in the autumn, the bush bore fruit which kept the birds fed. Thus the birds returned to the magical calafate bush for food & shelter year after year.

 Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (diciembre de 2016)

The second legend has a few variations, but essentially, the story involves the daughter of an Aónikenk Chieftan named Calafate who was incredibly beautiful – with dark hair & intense, unusually golden eyes. The Chieftan was very proud and protective of his daughter.

One day Calafate goes for a walk alone on the seashore. By chance, she meets a handsome young Selk'nam warrior. (The Selk’nam people – also called the Ona or Onawa – were the indigenous & nomadic tribe who were thought to have immigrated by canoe across the Straits of Magellan from the mainland to Tierra del Fuego. They are well documented – photographically – by Martin Gusinde in their every-day lives as well as in their rites of passage ceremonial paints. In this particular legend, they are described as the enemy tribe of the Aónikenk.)

Calafate and the Selk’nam warrior immediately fall in love, despite knowing their respective tribes will not approve of their union.Their love is so deep that they continue to meet and make a plan to marry in secret.

The Chieftan finds out about the lovers and their plan to elope. He is certain that an evil spirit named Gualicho has possessed his daughter. He cannot otherwise understand why his daughter would choose a union with his enemies. He asks a Shaman to help him prevent his daughter's escape. The Shaman casts a spell on Calafate, turning her into the calafate bush.

When the time comes for the two to elope, the young Selk'nam searches vain for his lover and cannot find her anywhere.  He finds out that she has been transformed, covered with sharp thorns, allowing him to  look upon her, but preventing him from ever touching her. He stares at her golden flowers, heart-broken, remembering the intensity of her eyes, and eventually he dies of grief.

The Shaman feels so remorseful for the pain that he causes the young lovers that he decides to turn the yellow flowers into the sweet purple calafate berries, which represent the young man's heart. So it is said that anyone who eats the calafate berry falls under the spell of the young couple, and are mysteriously drawn to return again and again to that place.

Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (noviembre de 2015

Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (noviembre de 2015)

Maund, B., Henslow, J.S., The botanist, vol. 1: t. 42 (1836)

cruising world (usa) / "southern ocean, family style" is now online

From the Cruising World (USA) / February 2016 print issue
"Southern Ocean, Family Style" - Story & Photos by Somira Sao

A story I wrote in 2013 (just after Pearl's birth) that was published in the February 2016 issue of Cruising World (USA) is now available to read online:  Southern Ocean, Family Style

The piece documents a 30-day non-stop family passage we made aboard Anasazi Girl in the Southern Ocean in April 2012 from the Cape of Good Hope (Simons Town), South Africa to Fremantle, Western Australia . At that time, Tormentina and Raivo were ages 3 and 1.

The type of sailing you experience at this latitude is without a doubt some of the most difficult and challenging you can take on. It takes a certain level of sailing experience, risk management skill, the right kind of boat, crew & conditions, as well as a very high mental & physical threshold for discomfort.

Tough is tough, but when the sailing here is good, it's really damn good. It's that feeling you ride long after the voyage is over.

joy from the simple beauty of the forest

The quiet, wonderful, back roads of Williams. Green, un-used & overgrown now, but James
dreaming of all the possibilities of the four seasons. Making in his mind imaginary cross country ski tracks here in winter.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

High deciduous beech / Nothofagus pumilio / Lenga.
 Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Dog orchid / Codonorchis lessonii / Palomita.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Girl with an orchid behind her ear. Dog orchid / Codonorchis lessonii / Palomita.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Pearl in a patch of orchids. Dog orchid / Codonorchis lessonii / Palomita.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Raivo's collects a leaf sample - a new plant to identify, found growing on the Magellanic forest floor.
 Sweetroot / Osmhoriza chilensis / Perejil de campo o Perejil silvestre. Roots are considered a delicacy.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Wild island horses. Their population explosion is a reminder of the delicate balance of this UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Calafate / Magellan Barberry / Berberis microphylla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Yellow orchid / Gavilea lutea / Orquídea amarilla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Yellow orchid / Gavilea lutea / Orquídea amarilla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Yellow orchid / Gavilea lutea / Orquídea amarilla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Yellow orchid / Gavilea lutea / Orquídea amarilla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Yellow orchid / Gavilea lutea / Orquídea amarilla.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Typical Pearl move to sit or lie down in the middle of walking and go into her own
daydream reality. Pearl in the middle of the back-rounds of Puerto Williams.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Raivo & Pearl make me a bouquet of Gunnera magellanica leaves tied together with a fresh blade of grass.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Devil's strawberry / Gunnera magellanica / Fruitilla del diablo.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Wild forest mushrooms.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Wild Magellanic strawberries & forest mushrooms.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

High deciduous beech / Nothofagus pumilio / Lenga.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Soft purple grasses of summertime.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Soft purple grasses of summertime.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)

Soft purple grasses of summertime.
Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (enero de 2016)