Madrone tied up at the dock at Marina Austral in Puerto Aguirre
After a few weeks away from civilization, the mundane part of the cruising life begins to catch up with us. The pile of dirty laundry begins to grow, we start to eat our way through the fresh food onboard, and the endless work of keeping Madrone in fighting trim requires some boat parts.
Peyiyo the adorable marina dog
Puerto Aguirre is a small fishing village located in Isla Las Huichas, and three years ago a small marina for cruising boats opened. Marina Austral is small – there’s only room for 6 or 7 boats on the docks – but what it lacks in size is made up for in hospitality.
New friends in Puerto Aguirre
Jaime runs the place, and it’s hard to imagine a more welcoming reception than the one we received from him. The marina clubhouse is actually his living room, which we were encouraged to use anytime, day or night – the door is never locked. We were invited to join him and some of his friends for a barbecue, enjoying the long twilight of the Patagonian summer and appreciating their patience with our kindergarten-level Spanish.
It is common to see work boats parked along shore when they are not in use
The marina is simple, but the answer to any question we had was always “Yes”. For example, there are no laundry facilities, but Jaime arranged for us to do laundry at the home of one of his friends.
Catching up the blog in the clubhouse (Jaime’s living room) overlooking the marina
Marina Austral is highly recommended, and meeting Jaime is a great example of one of the things that is so fantastic about traveling.
