Puerto Montt activities

We have been at Puerto Montt for almost a week now. Don and Rita of SV Limbo arrived the same day we did and they are next to us at the dock. All of us are preparing to return to the US.

We will haul the boat on May 1st and store it on stands in the boat yard for the months that we are gone. This is also supposed to stop the clock on the temporary import permit on how long that boat can remain in Chilean waters before we would have to either leave or pay duty.

On Thursday, Rich with a little help from me, removed the fuel tank that is under the salon floor. It has been leaking and Juan the welder came that evening to take it to his shop to pressure test for the leak and to fix the weld. We are hoping it will be returned today so we may reinstall it.

On Friday, Don and Rita showed us the ropes for taking a bus into town and to important places such as the lavadaria, the Unimarc and Jumbo supermercados, the Sodimac hardware store and McDonalds (yes we needed a fix of unhealthy food). We also checked out some other stores looking for dehumidifiers (deshumidificador). It will be necessary to have something to reduce the amount of moisture and condensation in the boat so it will not be totally covered in mildew on the inside.

We have removed the headsails, the side solar panels, the cockpit table stowed them below. More items will be stowed below.

In addition to stowing things from outside, I have been going through some of our clothes that we will not be taking with us and vacuum packing them to reduce the affects of mildew. It will be a while before we are wearing shorts and t-shirts in South America, probably not until next year sometime.

The marina has free wifi and hot showers though the bathrooms are not heated so I dress quickly after my shower. There is a lounge with a pool table but we have not played yet. Maybe tonight.

We are looking forward to seeing friends and family when we return to the states. Please drop us a line if you want to get together. Our plans are still a little nebulous but we will see what we can do.

Mini washing machine

Rita is posing next to the mini washing machine we saw at a department store in Puerto Montt, Chile. Not very big. We could not figure out how much it could wash at a time. Definitely not a whole set of teen size sheets.

Puerto Montt

41 29.979 S, 72 59.227 W

This morning we were on our way to Puerto Montt when the engine RPM started to go down. Rich determined that the engine was fuel starved so we slowly motored to a nearby anchorage and dropped the hook. Rich quickly bypased the fuel prefilter and we were good to go. This is only a temporary measure so we could proceed to Puerto Montt.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We are now at Club Nautico Reloncavi, a marina where we will prepare the boat and put it on the hard before leaving for the northern summer. We now have wi-fi and I was able to do the first of a few loads of laundry.

Cheers.

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Isla Puluqui

41 48.877 S, 73 04.892 W

Today was a simple motor from Isla Cheniao to Isla Puluqui. What made it special was the group of dolphins that swam and dove along the boat for a good 20 minutes as we left the anchorage. The water was perfectly flat so you could see them below the surface diving under the boat, swimming near the bow, surfacing along side the boat, looking at us. It is easy to feel that these graceful creatures who are swimming so effortlessly are doing it because it is fun and they are being social. It was a joy to see.

We are now in a narrow fjord that is chock-a-block full of salmon and mussel farms. On the shore a herd of cows are lowing. At the end of the fjord is a small wooden church, an idyllic scene.

Cormorrant condos at one of the mussel farms

Tomorrow we will go to Puerto Montt and a marina. It will be time for laundry, boat projects and other tasks.

Cheers.

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Isla Cheniao, still

Last night we had Margie and Chris over for dinner and had a great evening.

This morning it was raining and the grib prediction was for winds from the north so we decided to stay put for another day. Weather permitting we will leave tomorrow to head farther north toward Puerto Montt, possibly stopping at Isla Puluqui.

Cheers

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At Isla Cheniao

42 17.649 S, 73 12.781 W

We got some cash, got some food and fuel, recharged the cell phone and we left this morning, with a slight bump on the bottom, but no harm.

With a staysail and the motor we cruised through Canal Dalcahue to Isla Cheniao to meet our friends, Margie and Chris on SV Storm Bay of Hobart. We have been trying to meet them for a while but as you have read, the weather was not permitting. They have invited us over for dinner, so I will close this update.

Chris and Margie of SV Storm Bay of Hobart

Using oxen to take chairs to the church for Easter

Cheers.

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Penguins

 

As we have been cruising through the canals we have seen many penguins along the way. They are cute critters but prove hard to photograph. As soon as I step out of the cockpit to take a picture, they dive under the water. Rich was able to capture a few with his Nikon. Tuesday, on our way to Marina Quinched, we crossed some tide rips. At one of these rips, I thought I was seeing fish jumping, only to realize that they were really penguins. Of course, no photos to prove it, so you will just have to take our word for it.

Marina Quinched

42 34.678 S, 73 45.369 W

We had a very easy motor from Estero Huildad to Marina Quinched and we had positive current the whole way. This afternoon we caught a ride with William to Chonchi and were able to stop at the ATM machine and the supermercado to restock our depleted food supplies.

Tomorrow we will try to get into Castro to recharge the phone, stop at the Unimarc to pick up some more food and take our jerry jugs to the gas station for some more diesel.

Then we should be set to look for a weather window to meet up with Storm Bay of Hobart.

Cheers.

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At Estero Huildad, again

43 04.310 S, 73 31.510 W

Today was a slog, a bash, a pound, etc. We were anchor up at Puerto Quellon at 9:30 am and headed out pass number two. There are three passes out. Number one we used when we entered yesterday. Number three is the shortest for going north but it involves a moving sand bar and un-maintained markers and possible strong currents. We decided to go a little bit further, 3 miles or so and avoid any possible mishaps.

While we had the tide/current going in the same direction we wanted to go for most of the morning, the wind was in the opposite direction, on the nose and building. We estimated it at 20 knots since our wind instruments are not working. There was water over the bow and we dodged large patches of floating seaweed. At one point, I saw at least 10 birds sitting on a large patch of seaweed, floating along. Add low clouds and rain to this and it is a ride you are glad when it is done. When we did turn the corner around the headland to head towards the entry to the anchorage with the help of the staysail we went from 4.3 knots speed over the ground to 6.8 knots, a nice improvement.

Estero Huildad was the first anchorage we stayed at when we left Marina Quinched on March 17, almost a month ago. Hopefully we will make it back to the marina tomorrow. We need fuel, cash, provisions and to recharge our cell phone.

Cheers,
Elaine and Rich

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Puerto Quellon

43 07.598 S, 73 38.245 W

We had hopes of going to Ester Huildad today but the winds on the nose did not permit so we ducked into Puerto Quellon.

Puerto Quellon is the last stop on the PanAmerican highway or Ruta 5. It does not get a very good rating by the Lonely Planet and even the cruising guides say to be careful. We are in the anchorage which is fine. Roberto Taverna, who lives at the house near where we are anchored, came by and introduced himself. He is building a cabin at Puerto San Pedro and plans to develop some facilities to encourage cruisers to stop there. He also plans to build a still and made his own vodka. He was very nice and offered us the use of his truck to go into town to provision. We thanked him for his offer but decided to pass for now.

Hopefully the weather will permit us to continue northward. We are hoping to meet up with our friends Margie and Chris of SV Storm Bay of Hobart who are at Buta Chauques.

Cheers.

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Puerto San Pedro

43 19.452 S, 73 44.584 W

We are finally on the move. This morning we got up at 5:30 am with the idea of leaving early and catching the rise tide to help us cross the gulf. Well it did not work out quite that way as it was still to dark to leave safely but we did leave around 8:00 am after all of that. Sigh. We did manage to catch some of the tide and the current was pushing us at 9.4 knots for a while but it did not last long enough. We arrived at Puerto San Pedro and were anchor down at 5:00 pm, so it was a long day.

We are safely at anchor. Tomorrow we will head to Estero Huildad where we stopped on our way south. Perhaps we will get a chance to see the lunar eclipse.

Cheers.

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Still here at Caleta Amita

Yes, we are still here. We have been watching the gribs daily for a system we thought would have been here by now but it is slow in arriving. Forecasting weather has never been an exact science and while the gribs help us, nothing is very sure many days out. We are looking for a window to cross the Golfo de Corcovado to Puerto San Pedro, on Isla Chiloe, where we would have favorable winds (ie not on our noses) and a rising tide to help push us along the way.

In the meantime we wait.

Rich did some further investigation of the heater. The exhaust piping fatigued, which we think might have been due to the failure of one of the rubber vibration isolators on the boiler. We will see if we are able to get any replacement parts in Puerto Montt or else we will get the parts when we return to the states for the northern summer. We run the engine to circulate hot water, warm the boat and charge the batteries. It has been overcast and not much wind so no help from the solar panels or the wind generator.

I have started to do a little baking. I have had success with carrot and pineapple cake and no crust apple pie. My efforts at baking bread still need improvement. My first loaf was a brick, number two was more successful, number three was okay. Now I am out of flour so I will have to wait before I try again. In Chile, it is hard to get regular loaf bread unless you are at a supermercado. In Puyuhuapi there were two bakeries but they only make a sort of bread biscuit that is not light and fluffy like a hamburger bun but more like a dinner roll that did not rise enough.

We have plenty of books to read and there are always some boat projects to keep us busy.

Waiting at Caleta Amita

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Caleta Amita

44 04.832 S. 73 52.921 W

We are continuing north and now we are at Caleta Amita. Of course now that we are moving north, the winds will be switching to come from the north. Sigh. As this is a secure anchorage and protected from winds in most directions we will stay here until we get a good weather window to continue north, crossing the Golfo de Corcovado and head to Isla Chiloe.

Leaving Puerto Americano marked the first time since leaving Ketchikan, Alaska in 2010 that we have been heading north. Makes you wonder...

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Marina Jechica

We just arrived at Marina Jechica, www.islajechica.cl. It is closed for the season but Christian allowed us to tie to the dock and he gave us a tour. We are also using the free wifi so we are getting an Internet fix. All is well and the weather is beautiful.

Estero Arboles Espectrales

44 39.535 S, 73 53.175 W

Today we motored with a yankee about 32 miles from Puerto Americano to Estero Arboles Espectrales on Isla Benjamin. It is a narrow bay toward the interior of the island. It was so named because of a fire that had stripped the south coast bare of trees and now the forest is completely regenerated and fully back in place.

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Puerto Americano

45 00.796 S, 73 42.479 W

We are now at Puerto Americano in a small bay between Isla Dar and Isla Tangbac on the west side of Canal Moraldeda and we have it all to ourselves.

We are starting to make our way back north as we want to be back in Puerto Montt by mid month and there are predictions of adverse weather next week that we might have to sit out and wait for it to go by.

The scenery never ceases to amaze and we see plenty of Imperial cormorants, sea gulls, and dolphins. Occasionally we see a fishing boat but the only cruising boats we have seen are SV Limbo and SV Louise.

Last night at Isla Hilda, the water around us was so still that you could see the reflection of the stars in the water. How cool is that?

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Earthquake? Tsunami?

This morning I got up to send out our email to the Chilean Armada and read several messages about the 8.2 earthquake off of Iquique and tsunami warning. We are tucked into a very secure anchorage, with a stern tie and we slept through whatever might have passed this way.

We hope that people in the rest of Chile are just as safe and that there was no loss of live.

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Isla Hilda

45 04.497'S, 73 26.819'W

This morning we left Seno Morra as the mist was rising off the water. The mountain across the canal that we could see at anchor has lifted her skirts and the snow shown brightly in the sun.

 

We left this picturesque scene and continued down Canal Puyuhuapi, along Isla Magdalena. Our stop was a small island, Isla Hilda, that is owned by Pedro Pablo & Patricia Pizarro, whom we met in Algarrobo and are friends of Fernendo and Paulina Carlin who introduced us. Before we left Algarrobo, he pointed out places to visit in the canals, including this beautiful spot. It is totally undeveloped and pristine. We are sitting in a small bay with a stern line to shore. Some dolphins helped show us the way as they jumped along side Windarra as we motored in.

Our friends, Don and Rita are here with us before they leave and head south to Laguna San Rafael. We went and toured the island on their dingy before evening drinks on Windarra.

I think we might stay here another night, it is so beautiful.

Windarra and Limbo as Isla Hilda

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