Isla Mechuque and Marina Quinched

42 34.675'S, 73 45.355'W



Isla Mechuque and wooden boat construction on shore

We spent the last couple of nights at Isla Mechuque, with a population of 500 souls. On Friday it stopped raining enough for us to get the dingy inflated and in the water and we rowed over to the small village. Many homes are built on stilts which is common in this area. As the tides are as much as 6 meters difference between high and low we saw many boats high and dry on the beach. We walked down to the cemetary and then around the end of the small bay we were anchored in to see where they are building a large fishing boat of wood about 60 feet in length. The wood is cut into planks using a chainsaw, two by eight inches and bent into shape using steam and a steel pipe. It is held together with copper nails and quite amazing wood work.

Black necked swans



Rich in downtown Mechuque

Homes on stilts



Rich admiring the wooden boat construction

Today we raised anchor and motored about 32 miles to Marina Quinched. We just arrived about 2 hours ago and we have met sailboats from Germany, the Netherlands and France. They have all come from the Atlantic so we will share information about where we have been, including the South Pacific for information about farther south and the Atlantic.

Tomorrow we are planning to go into Castro, the capital of Chiloe and check it out.

We are doing well and enjoying exploring the canals. The landscape is a cross between British Columbia and New Zealand, very green, lots of pasture land with cows and sheep.

I will post some photos soon.

Cheers

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