”You are Now Free to Browse”

When we asked the Navy administrator who issued us our Zarpe if he needed anything else from us - he typed his response in Spanish into his phone and turned it towards us to show the Google Translate message: You are now free to browse. Thank you Chilean Armada. We smiled to each other and walked out of the office ready to start our adventure cruising in Patagonia.

The next morning on January 25, after extensive preparations including provisioning, numerous boat projects, healthcare detours, a quick visa renewal trip to Argentina, and one visit to Florida for a visit with Sam and Shane, boat parts resupply and watermaker rebuild, we departed Puerto Montt. Leaving behind (for now) some extraordinary new friends plus a host of interesting and nice acquaintances including two marina dogs, we are off to cruise the canales and fjords of Patagonia.

Our plan is to take the next six months to reach Puerto Williams, a journey of approximately 1,000 nautical miles, flirt with Cape Horn, and ultimately go to Ushuaia, Argentina so that we can renew our customs authorization for Pinecone to re-enter Chile for another year. Then, we’ll head back to Puerto Montt for a reset before departing for French Polynesia.