sea kayaking patagonia

H2O

2009-02-24T06:19:00.000-08:00

Well, this is probably the material dreams are made of.
Roy and On went south, looking for a ride to Antarctica, and I took a 30 hours bus to the little village of Futaleufu (meaning the great river).
First ran by kayakists more then 20 years ago, the river Futalefu is a dream for almost every white water lover.
The river’s turquoise water flows through an amazing valley, surrounded by ice caped mountains and green valleys.
On the water, a series of class 3-5 rapids, with deep water, big waves and nice play spots- a great place to spend a day on the water.
I’m being hosted here by “FUTALEUFU EXPLORE”, a rafting company that operates on the Futa. Guides from around the world, and a lot of experience and good time on the water.
Had a great opportunity to arrive here just a few days before the FutaFest. A white water festival, that took place here last weekend. Kayakists and rafting teams from many countries gathered on a campsite on the river bank.
*Boater cross competitions for kayaks (running down river, catching eddies as fast as possible).
*sprint down a rapid with rafts.
*down river competition for rafts and kayaks (bridge to bridge section as fast as possible)
*free style, on Mondaka hole, rafts and kayaks (just playing on the biggest hole on the bridge to bridge section)

So, after kayaking the river only a few times, I gave up competing with a kayak… but found a place on the FUTALEUFU EXPLORE raft.

us, surfing Mondaka hole Great weekend, on and in the water for a few hours every day.
We also got second and third (on the river running competition) and first place on the rafting freestyle surfing, which means surf the raft into a hole and stay there as much as possible. Interesting flips are also appreciated.
The last day was free rafting for the community of Futa village. Many boats and kayaks on the water on a beautiful sunny day.

So, if you pass by the area, on the boarder between Chile and Argentina, not far from Bariloche, you don’t want to miss this place. Great atmosphere, in and out of the water.

Asado, on the second day of the festival.

a picture taken while i was safety kayaking for a home made raft competition on the near by Rio Espolon.

Gilad in his car. wind shield is optional.... Gilad lend me all his gear while went dancing in the Carnaval in Rio...

kayaks in Mondaka hole.

Mondaka rapid on the down river kayak competition

kayaks playing on Pistola wave, Entrada rapid, the first one on the Bridge to Bridge section

The take out point, next to the lower bridge. the sign says ¨Futaleufu, a landscape painted
by God¨.

**
The festival was organized by many volunteers, to raise awareness to the place and as part of the effort to prevent new dams on the rivers of Patagonia.
Patagonia sin represas
(without dams)

PUERTO NATALES- EXPEDITION CONCLUSIONS

2009-02-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

Paddling in Patagonia sometimes ¨puts¨ you in a narrow corridor, surrounded by the sky, water and mountains.

Paddling forward in a place like that is like living in a paint. You have a number diferent horizons ahead of you and about the same amount at your back.

As you slide through the water, you slowly change the colors of what`s around.
You make the white mountain ahead gray. The gray becomes blue. And the blue one`s become green by your side.
By looking back, you find out that the oposite was happening behind you the whole time.
The green mountains besides the kayak turned blue as it passed by. Later on it ¨greened¨. Becoming gray and white again is just a matter of time.

After spending a few days here in Puerto Natales, considering our options, we decided to stop here.

Our original plan was to go further south to the city of Punta Arenas. Through the Strait of Magelan. When we went to get our plans authorized by the Chilean Armada, we understood that it`s much safer to take a different rout, in an inner passage. Taking that rout, in 10 days paddling, we would have been in a small port, about 40 km north of Punta Arenas. There, we could load the kayaks on a truck and get to the city.

So, why not?

First, the views are not as dramatic as it was north of here. Vast, open, wind swept planes. Unlike the fjords we got used to...
Second, there is something dissapointing in finishing in a small harbour, without getting to a ¨real place¨.
Third, getting the expedition started took much more time then we expected. Setting of now, will make us miss other things we are planning to do here, since summer last forever onley if you keep traveling...

So, when going through the Magallanes (which are evoided by much larger ships) became irrelevant, continuing south became less apealing as well.

+Logistics are going to be mouch harder from there.

Why to continue?

Because we said so.

Many hours of thinking peacefully while paddling, makes u understand that it`s not a good enough reason.
The extra 10 days (less then 200 miles), are not as important as leaving the water when you still havnèt had enough. Right now, we all feel like we didn`t have enough of paddling. And we prefer it to keep it that way.

In israel. Chile`s fjord were in every though we had for months.
The biggest question was ¨How is it going to be?¨
Well, the answer is- As we imagened and much more.
The weather was better then we thought it will be.
The views more beutifull then we could imagine.
Mountains were higher.
We saw more marine mammels.
More birds.
Fishing was easier.
The wind was stronger.
Currents were stronger but at our back.
People we met along the way were always surprising for the best.
We worked better together then we could expect.
And some parts were more dificult then we thought it will be.

In the 65 days since we left Puerto Montt.
We paddled 49 days.
Had 8 days of rest (usually due to weather)
Had 8 days of re-supplying and resting in villages along the way.
Our longest day was a bit more then 60 km.
And we paddled about 1800 km.

We paddle at the feet of a smoking volcano.
With icebergs, we were pushed by the currents to an icy lagoon.

Spent a nigh on the kicthen floor of an old land guard in the middle of nowhere.

Pushed south by strong gusts of wind, came out of no where.

Cought fish for 3 days in 30 minutes.

Argued.
Laughed.
Got sea sick.
Got dyharia.
Made new freinds. Smelled bad..
And sang. Alot.

But most of all, we had to deal with ourselves.

Everybody says that in that kind of experience you have the time to look inside, what they don`t say is, that usually you find more questions then answers.

We all had personal goals for the trip.

Now it`s time to start checking if we made some progress.

When you come back to israel, after traveling for a while. the mountains looks lower and the car rides seems shorter. After a while, everything is back to it`s regular ¨size¨.

We can onley hope, that at least some things will keep in their ¨new¨ dimentions, even in our real life.

All of that would have been much harder (or imposible )without the help of a few great people.
Hadas Feldman. Hadas helped us orgenizing, never stopped the tips comming, delivered our position daily to the chilean navy, and kept the blog updated and interesting. We learned alot from the info Hadas uploaded.

Her expedition experiense and knowledge was priceless for us. THANKS!!!!!!!!
Karel Vissel, that sent us an SMS with the next 2 days weather forecast every day(!). In many cases, what we got from Karel efected our plans ahead. Sometimes the accuracy was amazing. So thanks, Karel, for brining it mostely from the north.
Our sponsors:
Optimist
Reed

Werner Paddels
Larabar
Benxia
And for all the support we got from all the guys at home. People helped us with collecting information, contacts, medical advice, logistics, psychological preperation, and supporting us the whole way south.

Our plans ahead.
Roy and On are trying to get to Antarctica if they find a ride, and start trecking the hell out of South America. They are also checking the option of a kayak expedition to the Amazone river.
I`m going to make a dream come true by kayaking the Futalefu river.

Don`t stop painting the views...
Roy, On and me.

some more pictures and the stories behind....

2009-02-04T06:49:00.001-08:00

Still in Puerto Natales. A few more pictures....
we also changing the title picture of the blog. the last one was taken in alaska on Optimst trip in June 08. since alaska is pretty far, we chose that picture, taken by On on one of the narrow passages in a narrow channel.

that one was taken is San Rafael, from outside our tent.

that was the day after. crossing the land strech called Istmo De Ofqui. partly in that way-and partly that way. about 1.6 miles, untill we got into Rio Negro, the black river that took us the next 20 km to the ocean. amzing vast open strech of land, with San Rafael and San Quintin glaciers on the horizon.found mint in many places. great for the tea, rice and lentills, fish stew and for the face`s skin...from time to time, sand flies were so bad, we reduced skin exposure to the minimum, even while eating.the worior`s rest.
seconds before Shatz took the opportunity to put a stick next to On`s ear.finding a place with good parking spot is not always easy. in that campsite we were more expereinced with the tides, and expected the water to reach just to the tent`s entrance.
and so it did. when we left, the 2009 tide tables addition was not available yet. later on, the guys from the Armada coppied the relevant tide tables for us. finding a dry place to ¨park¨ the dirty underwear is also very important while changing clothes. as u can see, the coocking set is a perfect platform.

narrow and remote passage at the entrance to Golfo De Pennasmaking wavesusing the lederman for cutting the mustash and the fish in less then 24 hours (in the wrong order) wasn`t such a good idea.

hand shake?worming up, after 9 hours on the water without landing spots.
Puerto Eden, after looking in the mirror.bible lesson, sunday afternoon, Puerto Eden peer.Roy is writing in Angosturae Inglesa guest book. the statue is on the northern entrance to a narrow passage about 10 km north of Pto Eden. strong tidal currents on a buetifull day took us to Pto Eden verry fast and happy.
puerto natales, celebrating the new looks.

we`ll keep you updated about the mustashes.

us.

some pictures...

2009-02-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

Finally we were able to arrange some of our photos...

This one is from the sheltered coast, a day before Golfo De Penas

The amazing Puerto Eden.

Shopping. after the ferry brough supply.Some dried meat, rice, beens and so on.Taking a ride back to the hotel. I was wearing dry clothes, and this was as wet as I got, when strong rain and head wind caouth me and the other 2 passenger of guard... Packing the dried fish, Robalo (sea bass), sugar and the rest...

Of we go again..Lunch break. rice and lentils from yesterday+tea.
On the way to Amalia glacier. the bay is clear of ice, which is packed very close to the glacier due to the strong winds.

Barometer is dropping. the souther we went, the changes became faster and faster.

Getting the tent ready. On build a little dam to divert the little stream away. -when we woke up the next stormy morning, we had to make it a bitt higher.Roy and I are learning rules of the card game Avital brought us. onley to loose to On time after time... Storm passed. Icy bay and amazing day.

As u can c, Roy is not onley a heart braker. Roy proud to present the new breakfast (no poridge in Puerto Eden at the time). In the caps- rice, hard cheese and salt or sugar (depend on the mood)

Planning ahead. Just to know how much rice can we eat without finish it before we are in Natales Puerto Natales on the horizon. short Saturday morning paddle after spending the night out

Puerto Natales Armada office. first stop.Natales. German, from Tutravesia , back yard. That`s it for now.

Enjoying city life, resting and thinking ahead.

us.

Puerto Natales!!

2009-02-01T08:21:00.001-08:00

¨It looks like a real city! And a big one.¨
The time was about 1700 on Friday evening, wind at our back, about 5 more hours of days light. Plenty of time to paddle the next 5 Miles to Pto. Natales.
We turned left to pitch our tent on a great, leveled, dry platform. ¨Stealing¨another night out before getting back to the real(???) world.
An hour and a half away from hot shower, choclate, ice cream, meat and people, we did ¨kabalat ¨shabat¨ next to the tent.
Eating beans instead of lentils. As soup this time! Celebrating with as much LARABAR as we

wanted (AKA ¨Larabar party¨, unlike the limited snack breaks every hour along the way.)

and thinking of the past few days.

This night was 2 days ago.

2 weeks ago we left Puerto Eden.

Heading south, with winds that got stronger and stronger at our back. Tidal currents that were almost all the time in our favor and alot of rain.
The first few days after leaving a worm room are a bit more dificult, and it take some time to get back to the life outside. That`s why we were extremly happy to see a yacht from far away down the channel.

The ¨Traversay III¨ stopped next to us. The 2 great Cnadian couple are sailing for 4 years now, and now they are back from Argentina, heading north for the summer. The choclate browny that was hand in over the railing was something to remember. Also speaking English felt good.

(though it looks like it, they ae not trying to run away)

finished the day next to an amazing waterall.

As we paddled further south, we began to see some of the weather fenomena people were telling us about. Starting a day with pretty strong winds, later on flat water, and when we decided to have a late landing, we found ourselves looking for landing spot, pushed by about 40 knt wind, about 1 Meter wind waves, and white caps that swept south horizontally, and some of the great vertical rain that goes with it. Strong winds are hard to estimate, but the GPS showed about 5 knt speed with ¨no hands¨.
We landed in a protected bay, analysed what happened, the risks and what to do better next time.
The good thing about strong tail winds, is that u cover much more milage every day. We took the ¨spare time¨and, as Hadas wrote, payed a visit to Amalya Glacier.
The Glacier does look smaler then in our maps, but after spending a day in the tent waiting for good weather, we woke up to an amazing icy bay. The strong winds that stopped during the night, ¨reliesed¨ the ice that was pushed to the glacier. We left the bay, breaking our way threw the icy water. The southern ice cap above us, and breathing what seems like the cleanest air we ever had in our lungs.
Shatz, our weather expert, signed a verry good contract with the weather before we left, so we had back wind in and out of Amalia Fjord.
The days went by, and without us noticing, we got to Canal Kirke. The narrow pasage is one of two very narrow channels, the onley way for tide to get in and out of a huge lagoon. At the east of that lagoon, Puerto Natales. On the west of the 5 miles channel, 2 meter of tidal difrences. On the other side of the channel about 30 cm. We timed our paddling threw Kirke for the slack and flood water.
Surprisingly, the currents were not as impressive as the jumping seals, the Condores, and many REAL Albatros (sorry, no pictures) and the feeling of getting into a diferent world on the other side.
Sun, no currents, and no winds. Perfect gray gravel beach. Dinner next to the fire.
Amazing how much energy 2 hours of sun can give. (not just to the solar pannels).

When we arrived to Natales, we went looking for a place were we can store the gear.
A white kayak hanging over a house (as a sign), met us with German.
German is running ¨Tutravesia¨, taking sea kayak trips to the Torres Del Paine lakes, to the glaciers around it and also jet ski tours at the nearby fjords.
German is also the first Chilean guy to paddle to Cape Horn. Alone. (in 2005)
He offered us to store the kayaks at his yard, to pitch a tent (thogh we took a room this time), and after great lunch and a few beers, helped us with thinking of our next steps.
So, we found a great hotel to saty in, ate, drank, and decided to do another thing before the shower.
Since we got some bad comments as for the birds. we went to a women barber in town.

I shortened mine a bit, and we are proude to introduce the new look of 2/3 of the Patagonia 08-09 team---

(Dedicated to papa Itzik and papa Yerachmiel.)
So, resting here for a few days. Taking many hot showers, not just because we can, stuff still comes out.
Any tips of mustash handdeling will be welcome.
Yos, on and ¨the one with the mustash¨.

WHITHOUT THE RAIN THERE WOULD BE NO RAINBOW

2009-01-29T04:28:00.000-08:00

As Yos', On, and Shats' are 2 days away from Puerto Natales it has been raining and raining so today they decided to take the day off. Maybe they are drying their clothing and damp organs.
Western Patagonia is thought of as the region with the most rain outside the Tropics. In 300 to 320 days of the year there is rain and there is not a single month for which official records are available with more than 6 days without rain.
Puerto Natales will be the first town on main land that they will reach since 2 months ago when they started this journey.
Back home in Israel we all hope and wait anxiously for the rain, so you are welcome to send some this way you guys.

AMALIA GLACIER

2009-01-22T05:36:00.000-08:00

The last few days, since our friends left Puerto Eden, they have been flying south, paddling 50-65 km. days. It’s a combination of their bodies that have gotten much stronger and comfortable in that climate, the scenery that has become home to their eyes, and the nice big Ikilos Werner paddles , plus they have the tide and wind with them all making the engine go, go, go.
Yesterday they reached the magnificent Amalia glacier, the last glacier of the south Patagonia ice field that they will be visiting.It was very disappointing for them to see how much smaller this glacier was, not at all like it shows on their maps. The glacier is 50 km. away (as the crew flies) from the famous Torres del Paine National Park.

They put up camp right by the carving glacier so we can only imagine how cold it is at the moment. From the pictures it seems they are living in their REED clothing to keep worm.
They are now about 250 km. away from the next resupply point, at Porto Natales.
Here are some more pictures for mom and dad that have been mentioning to me how much they miss their suns.

some of the pictures refer to previous experiences along the way.

AND NOW FOR THE PICTURES

2009-01-15T04:52:00.001-08:00

THE REAL THING

IF ONLY I HAD WERNER PADDLES

FISH AND LARABAR

arrived in puerto eden

2009-01-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

Hey all.
As usual, amazing to read Hadas´s posts. As she wrote, we arrived to the village of Puerto Eden.
First an apology: the internet here is in the school´s liberary, it´s via satellite, it´s free, but there are 2 computers and time is limited. + Pictures will have to wait to Puerto Natales, in about 4 weeks….
So, just for giving an idea, our last hot shower was a day before our last post (about a month, ago, In Cisnes). Without getting into details, we didn´t have many cold one´s either).
After getting out of Cisnes, we had the first series storm. We found ourselves sheltered and hosted by a great guy, a land guard that hosted us. We spent 2 days at the farm, eating cheese he made, catching fish for the 4 of us for breakfast, helping the guy around and so on.
As we got closer and closer to San Rafael, the views became more impressive. Paddling by a wall rising out of the water to over 1000 meter high is amazing.
Around here, tides are not as high as it was at the beginning, but in the narrow channels, we found ourselves “eddy jumping”, against the current in some places.
At the evening before the glacier, we ended the day against strong had wind and found smoke coming out of a chimney of a small wooden hut. Knocking the door met us with Ronilio. Another land guard. The kind man invited us to worm ourselves and sleep in his kitchen. We were happy to share our food with him after he told us that he didn´t get food supply for a while…
As Hadas mentioned, San Rafael was empty the day we arrived. Glacial valleys create a heavenly silence. Other then the occasional collapsing ice, it feels as silent as it was millions of years ago. A perfect camp site convinced us to appreciate the beauty of the place for an extra day. The idea of pulling the kayaks threw Istmo the Ofqui helped with the decision…
The day of rest was spent exploring tomorrow’s portage trying to guess how long it will be.
The day after was a 7 hours of dragging the kayaks, one at the time (about a 100 kg each). The legs are not used to the hard work and the marsh land didn´t make it easier. BUT, it wasn´t 2 bad. Actually, much better then we though it will be. 1.2 miles later, we arrived In Rio Negro. The black water river flowing to the pacific.
The next day we were at the mouth of Golfo De Penas.
In everything we do, (driving, at work, kayaking…) there is one thing which is the most troubling. Something we are not in perfect control when we do it. Something that makes us feel a bit (or very) uncomfortable. Usually by recognizing what is troubling u can deal with it. Practicing a roll, perfect your reveres parking …For us it was that bay that made us un ease... Everywhere we talked about our plans here, people had something to say about Golfo De Penas.
So, we gave it the respect it deserves. We took Karel´s forecast very seriously and waited for the best weather.
Actually, it was about 4 days paddling. The first was about 9 hours 40 km in mostly wind waves and some swells.
The second was quiet and beautiful, small swells with no wind, next to” Irish” coast line.
The third was 9 hours of 3 meters swell with changing side winds and no landing options in the middle. I got a bit sea sick and had a long day. We were very glad to find a perfect landing spot in a beautiful bay. The 4th day was cut in the middle due to strong head wind and the last one was great again.
The Messier canal welcomed us with great weather. It seems like the views re invented themselves. After San Rafael channels, we thought “what can be different”. Well, we found out in the last 3 days. We chose the narrow “side” route and found it amazing. Great paddling weather with no wind and even 2 sunny days before Pto. Eden. (just to remind us it´s there).
Puerto Eden is an amazing place. The 120 resident’s village is located around 2 small bays. A wooden bridge above tide line and next to the hill is the main street.
About 10 old people are the last original inhabitants of the island and most of the people here find their living in fishing and shells collecting.
After spending the first evening as guests of the new pier work manager, his team, the had of police and one of the national park mangers, we feel like we know almost everyone, at list by the face…
The Armada guys here were great and very helpful, and the small wooden village, surrounded by snow caped mountains is amazing.
Now we are waiting for supply to arrive to town, so we can buy all the chocolate we can find, rice, lentils and porridge…
In a week kayaking trip, u get used to the conditions, the views and the partners in about 3 days. For us it´s much longer process, but definitely more intense. Conversation with each other goes to other levels (not just the dirty ones), and so does the ones inside our heads.…
Since a storm is coming, we will probably head of a bit later, and maybe be able to get some more internet later on.
Your comments are very exciting to read, even in a month delay… THANKS!
Us.

ARRIVING IN PARADISE

2009-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

The boys have reached the village of Puerto Eden, the only inhabited place on Wellington Island which is an island west of Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Most of the island forms part of Bernardo O'Higgins National Park and is home to the last Kawésqar .

Now we wait for an up-date from the boys , if they can find internet.
Karel has warned them of 40-45 knot winds for Wednesday so…we hope they have a nice worm place to spend the time.

HALF WAY

2009-01-10T06:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the longest day on the water for the guys. 60 km.
Fantastic!!
Last night 01:00 A.M. I was woken up by a phone call from yosale' apologizing for the late hour to say that one of the EPIRBs is beeping non stop and that I should contact the main office to let them know that it is a false alarm. We canceled the use of that satellite emergency beacon for now.
No worries, they still have 2 more

They are now back paddling in the sheltered channels getting close to their next re-stocking point for food and fuel for the next leg. It has been nearly a month since the last village.

Here are some "life on expedition" photos:

THE CAVE MAN-ON.

OZONE HOLE CONCIOUSE-YOSALE'

IS THIS EATABLE AT ALL????-SHATSKI

YUM YUM YUM...

IT'S ONLY WHEN THE TIDE GOES OUT THAT YOU DISCOVER WHO'S BEEN SWIMMING NAKED.

AND IT DOESN'T GET BETTER THEN THAT,

WHEN YOU'RE IN PARADISE, YOU'LL KNOW IT.

ICE AGE 3

2009-01-04T02:38:00.000-08:00

The boys say the views are breathtaking.
Thier surroundings include the San Rafael and San Quintin Glaciers coming down from the great Patagonian ice field, way up on the Andean mountains.
Although this area is very touristic, they said they were the only ones among the magnificent ice burgs.
The winds these last few days have been over 25-30 knots with waves of 3-4 M. making it difficult for them to make good progress.
So they are sheltering in a small bay waiting for better weather.
What do you do on your day off?? You eat more, read more, and sleep more.
They have noticed that on the 3 Kg. meet they got the date has expired. (On just had to try some to make sure).
He must be thinking:

eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.
mmm…
More food for the fish.
They are having some problems with their solar panels at the moment so trying to save on battery use for now.
Still they text messages every day to give their exact position for us and for the cost guard.
You can find it on the map beside.
DID YOU KNOW? (BAZOOKA JOE NEWS)
1…English explorer James Weddell was convinced that the Indians of Patagonia spoke Hebrew.
2… Traces of the biggest dinosaurs ever found were in Patagonia.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2008-12-31T04:12:00.000-08:00

Got a message from the gang that they have carried/ dragged their gear up a hill, and thru a swamp for 7 long hours across 2 KM. , camped on the river bank and are now paddling down the RIO NEGRO for about 25-30 KM. back to the Pacific Ocean. There they will be paddling the open waters of the "Golfo De Penas"

(???? Are you sure, Yosale', that this is the correct name of that bay??)
Anyway, they will be exposed to the big Ocean swell and braking waves.
Happy surfing guys. (got your helments?)
With a big smile they wish a HAPPY NEW YEAR to their friends and families.

I'M PUSHING AN ELEPHANT UP THE STAIRS…

2008-12-29T04:13:00.001-08:00

One month exactly since the start, today after 54 km. the boys arrived at San Rafael Glacier, so as you can imagine it is very cold. They are surrounded by ice caped mountains, a big glacier and lots of ice burgs floating around them. They are experiencing much more rain lately so spending more time paddling. They said the REED clothing are doing a fantastic job keeping them worm.
They were invited one night to stay at a small farm owned by a local indigenous and learned about the Mapuche culture.

now its time to get out of the kayaks, get a good rest and prepare to portage their kayaks and gear for 2 long Km. Up, Up, Up, and then Down Down Down thru a forest into a river so they can keep paddling south.
Watch your back guys.
Best regards to their families from beautiful Lagoona san Rafael:

Yemima and Erez, Naama and Yerachmiel, Avigail and Ehud……

and Yosale's Sharon.

You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows

2008-12-23T03:29:00.000-08:00

(but you definitely need Karel to know what it will be like tomorrow. )

Its been 4 days now since the boys have left Cisnes Town and On has recovered from his stomachache.
But the wind isn’t in their favor much; they are struggling into head winds and getting off the water early or not getting on it at all.
Well they are paddling in the area of the Roaring Forties
Yosale' wrote:
Roy and On bought me "rabbit underwear" for my birthday. They found it in a shop in Valdivia. Its G string underwear for men, shaped like a rabbit. It even has a tail at the back... haven't tried it yet, maybe when it's colder.
On`s Spanish is getting better, he asks for goat cheese
(queso de me… me…) or cow cheese (queso de moo… moo…)
Shatz had to shave his mustache after it started getting into his teeth.
(Ask Steve what can be done about it.)
Since they are spending more time on shore they are eating lots and lots of fish.
Yesterday they used their strong Carbon Werner Paddles to shovel lodes of shells into a bucket for dinner and today On got 10 fish.
Wow!!!!
All we can wish them from our worm seat at home is:
NOTHING IS BETTER THEN THE WIND IN YOUR BACK, THE SUN IN YOUR FRONT AND YOUR FRIENDS BY YOUR SIDES.

I AM FINE MOM! REALY!

2008-12-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning, and found out that On´s stomach is still not in perfect shape…
So we decided to delay our departure, since we will be out of any major city for more then a month, it´s prefered to start when all systems are well.
We decided to go to the (new) local hospital to get their opinion.
The paramedic and doctor that examined On were really helpful. And after letting him trying to read thit sign,("lack of sex causes vision problems") they said it´s nothing series and gave On some intervene treatment, just in case…(we didn´t understand why, but were cooperative).
As you can see in the pictures, he is “joking with his doctors”.

Or maybe it´s because shatz just offered a “HOKEN” (sorry, don´t know the English word).
The diagnosis is that it´s not series and he should be fine in no time.
Since On is feeling well, after the hospital we decided to hitch hike to Puyhupy, the nearby town. Just to see some more places if we arn´t paddling. The town is about 2 hours drive from Cisnes. 30 km up to the Caratera Austral, and then it´s on the main road.
3 hours later, we understood that no cars are getting all the way up the main road and gave up. Maybe hitch hiking with sandals and birds next to a cemetery is not such a good idea.
Meanwhile, we are getting to know the town a bit better. I think that we didn´t leave one person here un asked “how do we get to….”
Last night On and Roy spent an evening eating lamb with the family we are staying at, and we already know where is fastest computer at the internet center.
Weather got much better, and we hope to be on the water again tomorrow.
If not, there will be another post telling nothing about the dangers of the sea, wildlife (a few Orcas were seen in the canal next to the town 2 days ago. So maybe), Indians, cold weather and tent gossip…
One more from the hitch hiking for the horses lovers.

Us.

An extra dry day

2008-12-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I assume that stop eating rice and lentils in one day isn´t that good for the stomach. We decided to stay another day in Cisnes to get our stomach back in order.
Tomorrow we will set of, if the weather allows.
It´s a good oportunaty to thank u all for the comments, it´s great to read! And to share some of our daily routine. And I apologize, this time with no spell check…
Our mornings starts at 6 or 7 am (actualy it was 6 twice and 7 in all the rest).
After 5 minutes of recovery, we start our day with big mug of quaker poridge, mixed with milk pouder, raisins, sugar and 6 spoons of Chia seeds. We found the seeds that we didn´t know before, very useful, since it grow bigger in touch with water and adds `volume` to the breakfast.
Then we open the satellite phone, get weather report from Karel and send our position by SMS to Hadas. Hadas sends it to the Chilean navy. When we arrived in Cisnes, we were glad to know they knew who we were and where we come from.
Later on, we pack the kayaks and carry them (usualy dragging…) down to the water.
This morning episode, takes about 3 hours. We aren´t morning people.

Then starts the paddling day. Every hour and a half, we stop for a few minutes for a LARABAR

break.
At the night before each of us put a few in his PFD and it´s a great energy solution for us. It saves us the need of carying dried fruits, it´s water sealed, and it has became a ritual. Compairing what flavor each of us pulled out.

At noon we stop, usualy on a beach, for lunch. We eat half of what Roy coocked the night before. We also have some tea.

Durring the time on the water each of us has a map (some more detailed then others) and a GPS on, on one of the kayaks.
Around 18:00 we start looking for a landing spot for the night. usually after 35-40 km. When we paddle alot we send hadas the distance in km and when it´s a short day, in NM.
The souther we go, camping ground will become rear. The best beaches has a good platform for our 3 person huge tent and a sweet water stream nearby.

Usualy, at that time On goes fishing and charging the batteries from the solar pannels larger batteries., I arrange the tent and make the beds and Roy starts coocking rice (just in case there will be no fish).
In this one, you can see the first fish dance, by On.

We add smoked Salmon to the rice and lentils, which are made with diferent spices every day (On says that they all taste the same).
Half of the pot goes to plastic boxes for tomorrow`s lunch.
So, after having dinner by the fire (usualy), some streches and yoga, we write a little and of to bed.

Paddling days are spent thinking, singing, meditating, arguing, navigating and seeing.
Seeing the amazing nature around. Mountains, seals, dolphins,and millions of sea birds.
After checking out the maps today, we felt like this is the place we would like to paddle in.
The next 10 days looks amazing, and the great thing is, that this is where we want to go, and all we have to do is take the kayaks down to the water. (long 20 meters of fully loaded kayaks..nothing is perfect)
Cant`t wait to setting of for another month of that tomorrow.
Untiill next time,
On Shatz and yosale.

Hello from Cisnes!

2008-12-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

Arrived yesterday in a little town called Cisnes. After paddling for 17 days, it was the first landing we had in a town. We took advantage of today to do some shopping and reading the blog. Well, it looks like our team manager is doing a great job, and it looks like it´s better without us…
BUT, pictures are missing….
So here are a few, and since many people only look at the pictures (like we would), the pictures are first, and the stories below.

seals finding Roy interesting

Albatros:

some pinguins

lunch:

our chef coocks with sea weeds

they are easy to fish...

those are more dificult:
much better:

and one for Ehud:

since we started 18 days ago in Puerto Montt, we had sun over our heads, some head winds (not to much) and a lot of flat, amazing water.
As the map shows, we crossed to Chiloe. This was the first time we met the tidal currents. We knew they were out there, but the phenomena is amazing. As we got closer and closer to canal Chacao, that separates Chiloe from the main land, the water started to act more like a river and less like an ocean. We planned the crossing for the slack time the next morning (the exact time when the tide stop rising/dropping and start going the opposite way).
That gave us a chance to scout the channel as it would look in 12 hours time. And it didn´t look good. In 15 knots wind and some waves, it really did look like a rapid in a class 3 river.
The next morning, karel arranged perfect weather for us. Got up early, to be ready to cross the 2 miles channel exactly at the slack. With no wind, it was very easy. But even at the slack, around the had land, u could notice `boiles` of moving water. Great experience.
We continued south along Chiloe, and then started crossing back to the main land. Skipping between the islands, timing the bigger crossing with the tidal currents. Ahead of us, the smoking volcano above Chaiten got closer and closer.
With each day, we got used to the klayaks and to leaving so close to each other (Barak, that`s not funny, Asaf, that`s not wiered). As the days passes by, we found ourselves not dealing with where to go now and what to do next, and more and more enjoying the views. And it´s amazing After buying food for 30 days at the beginning, we had all we need in the kayak. So u wake up in the morning and paddle to lunch. As the evening comes (sun set at 2100), u start looking for a nice landing beach. Preferred with not to much carrying the kayaks up (because of the tide) and a river near by is a major bonus. For water, shower and fishing.
Fishing was a major issue. On dragged the Rapala dummy for almost 2 week, and as Hadas mentioned, almost nothing. One night, on a beautiful sandy beach in the middle of Corcovado bay, Shatz asked On to show him how to use the rod. In the third throw, Shatz felt something pulling and threw the rod back to On that pulled out the first 1.5 kg (mas o menos) fish. A few nights later, On brought 4 fish for dinner and gave up the towing fishing to a more traditional bate fishing from the shore.
So, after crossing the Corcovado bay, and visiting the ash covered Chaiten, we went into the channels towards Cisnes. The mountains grew higher and higher as we went south, and in the past 5 days, we have been paddling next to more then 1 km mountains, rising up from the water. The winds in the channels are a bit stronger also, but nothing series so far. Surrounded by islands, it feels like real freedom. Take your kayak and paddle where ever u want. Just make sure u find a enough space for the tent above high tide level (after moving it one meter higher once, at 00:50, we try to keep that one)
Over here in Cisnes, we bought supply for the next 30 days, hoping to get the next supply much further south, in Torttel or Puerto Eden.
Some conclusions…
U can eat rice and lentils every day. (lunch and dinner)
U can eat smoked salmon every day (lunch and dinner)
There is sun in Chile
If there is no sun, you should be in a guest house (rainy today and we are writing the blog…)
Fishing is all about beginners luck.
Sometimes a shell fish is more usefull then a 15$ green Rapala.
Where ever u go, tidal currents are against u. (maybe it´s the southern hemisphere)
Wind too.
When it´s with u, u don´t remember it.
Always leave the tent window open.
Never close the tent`s window.
Make sure that with all that windows open, u are high enough above high tide level…

So, next update will probably be after Golfo the Pennas (´bay of pain´, and not what u think). Starting to paddle to San Rafael glacier tomorrow, probably get there in about 10 days, and then a big portage across Istmo de Ofqui, and down south to Golfo de Pennas.
Hope things are going well at home, and that all of you have a good winter.
Good luck in the sea of Galilee paddling,
On Roy and Yosale.

I C THE FISH AND THE FISH SEAS ME...

2008-12-11T05:10:00.000-08:00

There is a fine line between fishing and just standing on shore like an idiot.

Just got a phone call from Yosale', he said it is so hot where they are that they are walking around in their shorts on the beach.
Anyway, this morning they were woken by 3 dolphins swimming by their tent at the beach and as they set off, found themselves in the middle of a huge seal colony feeding on jumping fish with many Albatross birds circling from above. wow!!!
After 2 weeks that On is towing the fishing gear and not catching anything,,, Shatski picked it up on the beach , through it in the water and got a fish immediately. mmm???
So the next evening On did the same from the beach and got 4 nice fish for dinner. YUM YUM!!!
Tey got a small BBQ stove with them that is finally getting some use.
Their longest paddling day so far was 45 km and most of the days they are paddling into a southern head wind….mmm
From this side of the expedition (at the computer), I got a few emails from the Chilean cost guard whom I send the expedition position to every day. They were saying they want positions twice a day…oooo….
Thing is, the boys must same battery energy so,,, the cost guard are suppose to give me a call to sort this out. I will up date if there is anything interesting to tell.
'till then…..
Hasta La Vista Muchachos.
HF

Good night, sleep tight and don’t lets the bed bugs bite.

2008-12-08T02:52:00.000-08:00

The beaches in the area are covered with volcanic ash as is their camping equipment lately.

They have passed by a huge colony of seals today jumping and playing around their kayaks.

Also, Patagonia has many annoying bugs: mosquitoes, sand flies and horse flies so besides eating lots of Larabar they can be geting some of their protein from the mosquitoes unless the mosquitoes are getting them first. mmm...

one tiny squid

2008-12-05T03:11:00.001-08:00

A week has gone since the boys set off. A week in which they got use to the heavy kayaks, finding they must plan their day well du to the strong tides in the area. At times it gets up to 8 knots of tide, which is twice average paddler's e speed.
They have crossed back to main land and are loving all the seals dolphins and birds that escort them along the way.
The weather so far is sunny and beautiful so they are not wearing the dry suits…. YET…
Shatski is surprising with gourmet dinners and they manege to find sweet water streams to wash every day. So… the tent is still in decent smelling condition.
Tonight thy put up camp on a beach facing the Chaiten volcano overlooking Chaiten town.
The town was evacuated in May 2008 when the Chaitén volcano erupted for the first time in more than 9,000 years. The eruption, , became more, throwing up a high plume of ash and sulfurous steam that rose to 19 miles, from which ash fall drifted across Patagonia, and over the Atlantic Ocean. The town was completely flooded on May 12 2008 after a mud flood caused the banks of the Blanco River to overflow about 200 m on each side.

Ido, they are embarrassed to say they have only caught one tiny squid so far…. Cant please the king with that. can you?

leaving chiloe island

2008-12-03T06:03:00.000-08:00

The three mosceteers have spent 2 days on th Chiloe island and are now getting ready to cross back thru the small islands in the inner sea, to the mainland to keep paddling south. they had some great paddling weather.

Chiloe is the second largest island in Patagonia after Tierra del fuego.

People there still live in the traditional ways building their homes on stilts right on the water front.
In the inner sea, between the island and the continent, there are a number of small islands separated by channels, some are so close together that, in the ebb tide it's possible to walk from one island to another.

Chiloe has a rich mythology - populated by strange trolls, sea monsters, and ghost ships

Earth ,wind and fire

2008-12-01T03:59:00.000-08:00

The boys have been paddling now for 3 days with the volcano's Yate (2187 m.) and Hornopiren (1572 m/) over looking them from the east.
Struggling into 25 knots of head winds and escorted by dolphins they managed to reach the crossing point to the island of Chiloe, camping tonight near the villages of Bahia Pargua.

"six slipery seals slipping silently ashore"

2008-11-29T04:54:00.000-08:00

Just heard from the boys, and they are on their way.
Paddling south out of the bay of port mount ,they were escorted by seals and saw penguins along the shore and in the water.
The penguins are HUMBOLDT PENGUINS that are found along the Pacific coast of northern Chile and Peru, with one tiny colony further south on the Island of Chiloe.
Their weather forecast looks good for the next 2 days.

added a position map

2008-11-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

Hey,
bad weather forecast for today made us stay in puerto montt for another day.
about 30 knt winds from the north proved it to be a right desicion...
weather looks very good for tomorow and the next few days, so tomorow noon (friday) we will be on our way.
we took advantage of the extra time to finish final arrangments, being interviewd to a local newspaper, and to add a position map to the blog.
the Chilean Navy asked for a daily position updates. Hadas agreed to get them from us by satellite phone and mail it to the Armada. so i believe that the position on the map could be pretty updated.
will be in touch from the next internet.
on, shaz and yos.

starting on wednsday

2008-11-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

Got all the permits we needed to get on the water.
if weather is good we will start paddling on wednsday morning.
so now it´s up to karel... (thanks for the updates!)
yesterday and today we spent some time on Google Earth, getting as much info as possible from the internet down to our maps.
we will use 1:250,000 topographic maps, and 1:300,000/500,000/1.000,000 nautical charts.
so in some places, internet is verry usefull.
(u can imagine that 1:50,000 are better, but covering 2000 km with those is to comlicated..)
so, enjoying the beer wine and sea food while we can,
us.

don´t they want to paddle as well?

2008-11-22T11:33:00.000-08:00

Well, karl´s forecast became real. So today it´s winter here. Strong north winds and lot´s of rain.
Add that to the fact that our permits should be ready only on Monday, and you get a few more days to get ready.
Departure will probably won´t be before Monday noon or Tusday morning.
Meanwhile, we have done our shopping. We went to a huge super market and bought food supply for about a month. The idea is to avoid looking for food every few days. We don´t know exactley what´s available in every little village, so even thow there are a few along the first 2-3 weeks, we prefer being ready.
Our diet will be based on rice (10 kg) or pasta (8 kg) for the evenings (plus cooking some extra for the next day´s lunch), porridge ( 5kg) and Chia seeds for breakfast and dried salmon (15 kg) and meat (5 kg) for lunch.
Plus we will have some cheese (6 kg) and about 15 kg of LARABAR for the day.
Plus we bought about 9 kg of choclate
The guidelines are alot of calories and as much protein as possible
We also bought a few Rapalas for fishing, so we hope to get something fresh to eat out of the sea as well. (clams are out of limit south of Chiloe because of Red Tide)
So, we keep ourselves busy and learn something new every day.
For example, our Swiss roomate just told us yesterday over a beer, that ¨Shatz¨ or ¨Shatzy¨means ¨darling¨in Swiss-German. So now we have a good explenation for some weired looks.
The real funny thing is, that Roy (Shatzki) knew it, and didn´t tell us...
Something new every day...

In the pictures:
Puerto Montt at low tide, long shopping list and comparing toilet paper lenths, and the fish market.

sorry for the delay...

2008-11-21T03:49:00.000-08:00

While i was writing yesterday, the truck brining the kayaks arrived.

don´t worry, they are in better shape then they looks.

So, as i was saying, sikaflex-

Meditating

And alot of work on the solar pannels

So now the kayaks are in Casa Perla guest house garden, they get a view of Puerto Montt bay and waiting.
The Navy permits should be ready today and we will do some food shopping.

Other then the ¨facts¨ and details, we start getting excited. The look at the bay and the mountains surounding it making everything looks real.
Durring the past week (almost 2) in Chile we learned alot. The spanish got a little better, we find it easier to find the stuff we are looking for (even thoe we looked the police office that will give us permits to buy flairs and smoke bomb for 3 hours).
But i think that most of all we learn to deal with each other. Putting 3 (almost grown uops) together can bring up alot of surprises, but i´m just begining to realize how much each of us has to learn from the other 2. And learning is not always as simple as different ways to tigh a knot or to make a better sweep stroke. Alot of times it involves making some basic changes in our way of thinking, and thats the interesting part.
So, today some more shopping, fixing last peices and some map work.
Maby leaving tomorow or the day after (more likely), we will write when we know.
ON, Shaz and me.

ahh, and one for Avital and one for Asaf:

WHATS NEW

2008-11-20T12:32:00.000-08:00

In the last post it was just throwing of the pictures and not much of what´s going on. So...
After arriving in valdivia, we were very glad to meet the guys from Pueblitoexpediciones. Our prior contact was onley by mail, and it´s always good to find out that there are nice faces behind the @blabla.com. it was also very important, because we had alot of work to do, and without them letting us work between their feet and helping with wathever we needed, it was much harder.
We spent the nights in a great backpacker called Aires Buenas, a nice place with people from all over the world. What work? Well, sealing the bulkjeads better was important.
Putting something to alevate the life lines for easy grip,
buying some fishing gear,
meditating and getting ourself fameliar with the local beer.

KAYAKS ARRIVED IN THE TRUCK, TO BE CONTINUED...

pictures from santiago and valparaiso

2008-11-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

hey!
had a lot of work lately....
so couldn´t find time to write, so meanwhile, a few pictures and the major details:
http://picasaweb.google.com/royshatzki/SantiagoValParaiso
http://picasaweb.google.com/royshatzki/KayakValdivia
spent a few great days in valdivia. the guys from "pueblito expediciones" were great and helped us with everything we needed while prepairing the kayaks.
as you can see, i swtithced to prijon seayak, deu to a problem in one of the siroccos.
as for the preperations, we sealed the bulk heads with sikaflex, put some new life lines in some places and yesterday went for a trile around the island Teja, our first circumnavigation...

heading to puerto montt soon, to get the arnmada perrmits. the kayaks will be shgipped by truck, again, with the help of roberto, edwardo and jorje from pueblito.
it start getting closer...
first time on the water in chile gave us an idea of what we are heading to. 20 knts and great views!
ahha, and spellers don't work for english in some place, so sorry (steve, ido and barak...)
avital, as i promised....

Valdivia

2008-11-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

Arrived in Valdivia this morning after a night bus. Valdivia is a city that many Germans used to live in in the past, and still known for it`s beer and German names for some of the streets.
The city looks nice and so does our new kayaks!!
First meeting with the “curent designs” Sirocco boats.
There is some work to be done in order to get it ready.
The solar pannels must be secured to the back deck and so does the battery cases.
In the picture you can see On and Shatz testing the new toy with Jorje and Edward that gave us a hand with the preperations.
The third kayak is about to arrive tomorow.
There is a bit un certenty about the permits we are waiting for, but we have decided that once we will finish getting the gear ready, if we still have to wait we will do it while doing some white water kayaking in the town of Pucon which is 3 hours drive from here.
So it feels like we are getting closer to the water, hopefully sooner then later.
Bye for now,
On Shatz and me.

So, what have we been up to lately?

2008-11-12T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday we had a very surprising day.
We took a 1 hour bus to Valparaiso, a city on the beach, an hour drive from Santiago. We went there to buy some marine charts and meet with Tortello. Tortello is a Navy Colonel (hope I'm not mistaking with the rank), he is now retired, so we can show you the pictures...
He picked us up at the Prat monument in the city. A a few words of history, you may skip to the end of the paragraph, but you shouldn't:
Prat is a war hero. During the war of the pacific, between Peru-Bolivia and Chile, he held a siege on the city of Iquique with two wooden ships against the more powerful ironclad Peruvian ships.
He fell in the battle, while trying to take over the ramming Peruvian war ship.They say that his death inspired plenty of young people to join the army and was a significant stage in winning the war for Chile.
So, we were picked up by Tortello straight to the headquarters of the Chilean search and rescue center. Also know as MRCC. The place is located on a high steep cliff, above the ocean. First look of the pacific for On, and 25-30 knots wind to reminds us all where exactly are we.
These are the guys that will get our distress call if we send one (sorry, but we won't!).
so, meeting with the commander in charge was important to us, and a great idea of Tortello.
The meeting held in a hi-tec control room, above the ocean. Really impressive place.
The Commander Cofre', was verry helpful and gave us an idea of how to make our permit request.
We also found out that there are French kayakers, starting from the south in January, maybe we'll meet along the way.
An hour later, after buying some marine charts, we were having a beer with Tortello at the Hamburg bar. The place looks like a maritime museum. Dozens of bells in all shapes and sizes, flags from all over the world, and even the monocular of Pinochet himself .
As you can see in the pictures, the Israeli navy has a respectable place around the bar.
Later on, Tortello showed us around town and while he was driving, I wrote almost every word he said. The man spent a few year in th Patagonian channels and had an answer to almost everything we wanted to know: weather, currents, food etc.
it's not a usual thing to find someone so nice, that have a good answer to whatever you ask and all of that while showing you around town after a beer...
dropped of at the bus station, still surprised by the amazing chance we had to meet him (it wasn't luck, Eli, gave us Tortello's cell phone and we can't thank him enough).
We headed back to Santiago, understanding we have a lot of work to do.
We found out that there are other authorities that must approve our expedition before we start. So tomorrow and in the next few days we will try getting things going in the different offices.
Meanwhile, we got another supporter for the trip. Borris (from the last post), is working in a company that market Chia seeds. The seeds are grown in Bolivia, and were used by the ancient Indians before long term missions. So we got Chia supply, they have Omega 3 and prevent hunger and dissolve slowly during continues effort. (hope I'm getting things right here, for all the doctors and sports experts back home).
Any way, hope thing will get moving soon, so you won't have to deal with such long posts and we won't have to eat that much sea food.
Hasta luego, On, Shaz and me.

Hello from Santiago

2008-11-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

Hey all,
we arrived in Santiago yesterday.
mean while we collected the package from LARABAR, brought to us by Boris, a great guy, connection here via Niv, who showed us around town.

In the big black bag you can see most of our gear, also known as ¨grandmother¨. she goes everywhere with us, and don´t have any special needs so far.

On says, that after spending 20 year 6 feet under, she´s a bit afraid of open spaces, and that´s why she spends most of the time in the bag. the Chiliean sniff dog at the airport, didn´t think it was funny...

anyway, we had a meeting at the embassy, and we will meet a few more people around here in the next few days.
2 kayaks are already waiting for us in Valdivia, and the third one will arrive on Saturday, hopefully...

mean while, as you can see, On and Shatz are pleased with their room.

bye for now,

Ha Shatzkim.

It all begins today

2008-11-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

Actually, as I wrote in the last post, it has already begun about a year ago. But at noon, we had of to chile.
The past week was way to busy, giving us all very little time for saying goodbye properly and get excited.
The amount of support we got here in the past few days should be enough to give us a good head start.

We hope to be interesting (but not to interesting) in the upcoming posts and pictures we will send.

Meanwhile, today we've got our gear from Reed, and while trying it out, it turned out that it's a bit over shoot for the weather in Kibutz Regavim .

Here you can see On trying to stop Roy from driving over his gear while he is trying his new paddling wear. He should have tried harder…

So now all that's left is to wish us luck with our first series crossing- the check in with the over weight…

Next one, from Santiago De Chile!

How to "grow" a sea kayak expedition?

2008-10-24T22:52:00.000-07:00

A year ago, during the optimist kayak symposium, the seed of sea kayaking expedition was planted.
I met Jeff Allen and Justine Curgenven, heard the stories, talked alot to Hadas Feldman
(Who agreed to be the expedition manager), and decided I also want some of it.
After guiding for a few years, and traveling around with white water kayaks. I thought I must try this as well.
Since then, I spent hours on Google earth. I measured the length of the coasts around almost every island on the blue planet. The conditions I set came from the time limits I had, the time of year I wanted to paddle in, and gut feeling.

In this virtual circumnavigation of the globe, I met other paddlers, always keen to help. Each place I found attractive, I looked if someone have already paddle there. So the combination of "………. Kayak circumnavigation" came more then once on my Google search bar.
One of the more interesting paddlers I talked to was Anthony Malloch. The guy has a great web site, describing some amazing expeditions in Australia. Actually, after hearing his crocks stories, I decided not paddle to Papua New Guinea.
Then Sharon, my girlfriend said something about Chile. At first, it looked like to long expedition to take (considering the time limits). But then, the more I gave it a though, it looked as if another month won't be too bad.
So, I began by buying a pilot book of the region. Then started to talk about it to friends and this is how I got Roy into it and he brought On.
From that point, there was no turning back. With Hadas's help, we got REED and WERNER and OPTIMIST as gear sponsors. LARABAR as energy bar sponsors, and even Limor and Udi who kayak with us, offered their help with the logistics expenses.
Along the way, almost everyone around us gave a hand.
So now we are exactly 2 weeks from the flight to Santiago. And after a year that almost every experience I had was in the light of the upcoming adventure, it only gets more intense.
For example, waking up to a first rainy Saturday in Israel, gets different meaning, when you think that the next time will probably be in a wet tent with On and Roy instead of here with Sharon…
We still have some gear arriving soon, On is working on the Solar system and Roy keeps studying the weather.
We still have this year's symposium ahead of us, a few vaccines and some packing to do.
This time was with no pictures, sorry. Hope the ones yet to come will compensate for this bare post…
Yosale

getting closer....

2008-10-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

The road has not really started yet, and the amount of people's willingness to help is amazing.

Just in the past week, almost everyone that heard of the upcoming expedition could look for and find the way he or she can be of assistance. And I'm talking about information, ideas, connections in Chile and more.
I can hardly think of a more boring thing then a "thank you" list, but I think that we can give a general idea of our preparations by mentioning some the people we met in the past few days.

So many of the people we know has offered their help in one way or another, so this is only a partial list from the past few days:

Food, hazards, and marine life-
Racheli Einav, a marine biologist and paddler, hosted us at her house for a great evening of wine, cheese and sea food. She introduced us to Alvaro Israel, a Chilean marine biologists that advised us of what sea food could be found in the fjords of Patagonia. He also connected us with people in Chile that monitor red tide- a dangerous blooming of micro sea weeds, which can cause death within 24 hours if you eat something that ate it…

Solar power:
Racheli heard we are having difficulties with building our solar power system. She immediately connected us with Hanan Levy, an alternative energy expert that was glad to spend a long afternoon on the phone with On, solving some of the issues he ran into while building the system.

Nutrition:

Ariel Zilberstein,, who is kayaking at our club and practices to an iron man competition these days, has connected us with a sports nutrition expert ,Yair Karni,. So we all took blood tests, and went to hear from him about the right way of eating during a long distance challenge.

Psychological aspect:
Ohad Shafrir, also a paddler at "Optimist" and psychologist, offered his help in the preparation for spending long days in a small tent together…

Logistics:
Limor and Udi Steigman offered their help as logistics sponsors.

First aid:

Dr. Kobi Sade, who kayaked in north –west Greenland in 2008 spring agreed to help us with building a list of the necessary first aid for the trip.

Yet to come-
Meteorological experts, Israel's past represents in Chile and other adventurers that are willing to share their experience.

With every meeting, the anticipation grows, and it starts to look real.

3 weeks to go…

Expedition route

2008-08-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well, the white line indicates the assumed paddling route. The map is very general, and the resolution is pretty low, but later on, a more detailed one will be uploaded.
The route is submitted to changes for various reasons:
Some of the channels are sometimes closed due to the Chilean Navy restrictions. Others might be better to avoid because of weather and currents. Any way, while trying to gather most of the information in advance, I believe a lot of it will only be reviled later on.
A little about what's planned…
The put in is the city of Puerto Montt. The city is a big industrial city. We hope to complete the final arrangements over there (permits, food, last minute forgotten items and so on…).

We will start paddling south, crossing to the Island of Chiloe. Then along the island's coast. Later on we will cross to the main land and head on south to San Rafael glacier.

I won't go on from there, because on the maps everything looks easy… and what I've described so far is about 750 km long…
As for the scenery, as far as we will paddle south, the less settlements we will encounter and the weather is suppose to be more stormy and windy.

If you'll take a closer look, you will see that San Rafael glacier is a dead end. There is no water way south of it.

So there will begin our first portage across Istmos De Ofqui- a narrow land strip we will need to carry our kayaks in. but only for a short distance. The Istmos has a few rivers crossing it, so we will only need to carry the kayaks for about 1.5 km to the water. From there, we will kayak down stream to the beginning of the second, longer and more demanding part- Golfo De Penas.More of that, later on…

Yosale

(San Rafael Glacier photo by Frank Holden)

Gear is starting to pile up

2008-08-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

Roy (A.K.A- Shatzki) is back from a week in the USA. As I mentioned before, we took advantage of Roy's flight to order some of the gear for the expedition by the internet to his address at the states. I also mentioned my doubts about the arrival of the gear on time. So, I was only partly wrong. The system is reliable, but Roy did spend about 2 days shopping for the stuff that was absent… the reason was usually the approval needed from the bank in Israel. After waiting for 30 minutes on hold in an international call to the bank, he decided it'll be easier to go shopping.
Bottom line, Roy brought:
Thermal pants ("Gatkes", as they are known in Israel)
Thermal shirts
Flees jackets
Mosquito head nets

wool socks (non of us wear them in Israel)
ACR life jacket strobes (a strong emergency lamp)

And now to the more interesting stuff (the big boys' toys):
Each one got a "suunto- Vector" watch.
http://www.suunto.com/suunto/main/product_short.jsp?JSESSIONID=IwvYQbmD0OtzPob8vH9k8LKl1TXmT9lsxX2EtSmD4bS2w1pFv2gE!-2115131320!168075286!7005!8005!722314813!168075285!7005!8005&CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673939673&bmUID=1219538712967

Basically, it's a wrist watch with a few extras. While being away, we will need to be fully aware to every change in the weather. We will be supported by Karel http://www.kayakweather.blogspot.com/
But will need to learn to "feel" changes as it occurs. So the Vector has a built in barometer, to indicate every drop of atmospheric pressure that could mean a deteriorating weather.
Another feature the watch has is the compass. An extra compass is always handy.

Why extra? We will need the kayak compasses
http://www.suunto.com/suunto/main/product_long.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673941582&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723697223381&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442490188&bmUID=1219541172733
(also by Suunto)- Kayak compass is much easier to track then the wrist watch compass.

Another nice gadget is the MSR water treatment system:
http://www.msrgear.com/watertreatment/fastandlight.asp
The MSR HyperFlow Microfilter is smaller then the average bicycle pump, so even though I believe we won't be using it, (in some areas of southern Patagonia the rain don't stop) we prefer having it with us then having to use chemical water treatment.

One last thing…
Each of us is going to use an I-COM M34 VHF.
http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/marine/handhelds/m34/default.aspx
it's a floatable, water resistant VHF transceiver. We will attach the device to our life vests, for emergency, for weather reports, and for sending our position to the Chilean Armada.
We are still short of gear that didn't arrive by mail and we will get it later on.
Meanwhile, there is still a lot of work on the physical preperations aspect… more of that next. time.
Yosale

Gathering information (or- how do you say wind in Spanish…)

2008-08-18T02:25:00.000-07:00

Collecting the information is one of the more challenging parts of getting ready.
The more you dig in dipper, the more questions you find…
For example: Are there any special permits needed?
Is there water to be found any where, or there will be need to purify water?
What food supplies we will be able to buy in the more isolated villages?

As for the answers, they come from many sources. First of all, the internet. The net is an endless pull of information; the problem is that not all of it is in English. Fortunately, it seems like that if you use your imagination and read slowly, you can usually understand most of the Spanish you read…

Then there are people who have already been there. A lot of valuable information came from a nice American couple who paddled about the same route we plan to paddle.(they paddled further south)
Here is a link to their expedition. Great descriptions and beautiful pictures:

http://home.earthlink.net/~mountainminded/

So, it's "viento", wind in Spanish. And the Chilean Navy weather site is full of it:
http://www.directemar.cl/

getting ready: gadgets, kayaks and info...

2008-08-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to think that paddling is the easy part of an expedition….
Learning how to work with the blog, finishing al the obligations to the university and trying to get ready in the best possible way takes more effort then a few weeks of paddling. Into the wind…

By now we contacted a kayak store in Valdivia. We have 3 "sirocco" kayaks by "current designs" ready for us. The rest of the gear, as I mentioned will come with us.
Topographic maps and marine charts are still not available for us and we hope to sort this out in the next few days.
Found a great tide predictions for the area, by the Chilean armada (navy)- http://www.shoa.cl/
Since our starting time is mid November, we can start looking at the predictions, figuring out more or less where we are about to be and when. Of course, it's just a rough guess, but it's another step in the way off getting familiar with the area from home…
By the way, at the day we are about to start paddling, 6 meter of vertical tide difference is expected in Puerto Montt which means there will be strong tidal currents in the narrow channels of the bay…
That's about it for now. Waiting for Roy to come back from the states next week with plenty of gadgets:GPS, barometer watches, VHF radio and more. I'll write some more of the electronics once we will have them in hand. I don't think I will trust the on-line reservations till I'll see the stuff we ordered over here…

welcome to sea kayaking patagonia blog

2008-08-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

On november 8.2008, Roy Shatzki, On Arnon and me, Yosale Dror will pack a few bags of paddling gear and take Swiss Air flight to Santiago, Chile.

from Santiago we will take a few hours drive down to Valdivia, to pick up our sea kayaks

Valdivia is only 2.5 hours drive from Puerto Montt, our put in for our over 2000 km expedition down to southern patagonia.

in this blog we will present our expedition plan, the preperation for the expedition and will deliver photos and updates by satellite phone directly from the wind swept fjords of Chile.