Night heron - confused timing... a regular daytime visitor to the marina at low tide, of late! (Behind is one of the tracks used for hauling out boats .. a rather dodgy-looking, aged system using rope and a capstan to pull boats out (- at high water, preferably) - up to 10 tons, they say)
South American gull ...... only found around southern tip of S. America and offshore islands...
Handsome black-backed gull....
Saturday - Monday 5-7 February 2011
Making use of my new camera - some lovely birds seen regularly by the marina - totally different from Europe.
Visited by friends of mutual friends on Sat evening - passing by Ushuaia on board one of the frequent cruise ships which dock across the water from the marina. When I saw them off to their ship, I passed beside the 'Europa' - an old 3-masted barque - very interesting, but had no camera with me!
On Sunday, I spent a lot of time walking with my Norwegian neighbours to the largest of the supermarkets well outside town - clearly Sunday was not a good day for that, with a long wait, due to very few taxis around, to bring us back (free) with all their food. (They're getting ready to leave for Puerto Montt via a slow, long passage through the reputedly very enjoyable Chilean Channels.) But it was useful to see what was available for provisioning for when I finally leave here - there was a good selection.
I stopped by the Prefectura to get forms to fill out on the way out of town - if I want to visit the (British!) Falklands or S. Georgia on leaving here, I have to get a permit from the Argentinians to go there (they claim the territories although no Argentinians have lived there for a long time - if ever). Although not essential now, I could have a problem in the future since if I were to sail back to Argentina at any time, I'd risk a very large fine. Checking out to sail away is done in town on the day of leaving, but getting that permit requires ten days since it's dealt with in Buenos Aires....
I cooked my favourite ratatouille when I got back on board - and invited my neighbours over for the evening - so Sunday definitely became a 'no boat work' day - my first, I think! An enjoyable evening, but I noticed I was going down with a cold - my first for a very long time.... All these people I'm mixing with!!
Sure enough, on Monday I was not inclined to get up at all early & was very tempted to stay in bed -but despite sneezing all day, I was pleased to finish getting the portside settee area dealt with (and the food stores kept behind its back checked over and listed). The work (not really that much!) included stapling the long velcro strip which was meant to keep the settee cushion in place - the strip had been glued down but it came unstuck when the wood of the bunk got wet with seawater in the knockdown.
I believe my parcels are now in S. America - but the last email I got, in response to my request to DHL in Sweden to be kept informed of their progress this way, was an 'Out of Office Auto-Reply' message "Vacation, gone skiing, back 14feb" .... Not exactly helpful...!!