Crossing to Isla Angel de la Guarda, April 14th 2003.

The alarm went off at 4:30 AM and in calm conditions we packed and left by 7:15. As we started around Isla Coronado we headed across the Strait de Ballenas at a long angle. Our GPS seemed to want us to go left of a big point, Punta los Machos. Our goal for the evening was a camping spot just right of that point. Conditions remained calm for half of the crossing then the wind came up from the west. The prevailing wind is supposed to come from the north and this was an unexpected direction. From this direction the wind should have helped us cross but it blew across a strong flood current going north. This fetched up three to five foot choppy waves and then blew whitecaps off the top of them. The GPS kept telling us to turn left of the obvious course and eventually it became apparent that I made a mistake entering the coordinates. They were sending us to a spot two miles offshore. We turned west and tried to surf the waves to the correct spot, another three miles away. We landed at a gravel beach and set up camp in an arroyo that ends in a pool of sand behind the berm. Setting the tents up behind this gravel wall gave us some protection from the strong west wind that continued blowing at 15 to 20 knots without a letup. That made setting up camp difficult. Strong wind also means no fish for dinner and we made do with the camping food we brought. In the middle of the night the tide got high enough that water seeped back through the berm and turned our pool of sand into a pool of mud. In the lowest spot Patrick’s tent floor became sopping wet!