sWell sWell sWell.
Leaving the anchorage is sweet, running out into the chaos is not. Out the channel between the islands, incoming current, waves and wind. The trifecta of uncomfortable, almost turned back but finally broke past the chaotic pounding and got settled into a rhythmic pounding. Well past where we turned around. Still slow going but all is well. Foggy, and dodging 70 meter fishing boats in the dark with 34 knots of wind on the nose and when they do not respond on the radio makes for a long night. Started with 160 miles to go, have traveled 133 miles with still 60 miles to go, very efficient we are NOT when beating.
We found a little groove during the day, the winds came down a bit, and we could see the wave direction in the daylight and picked an angle to “skate” over the waves made for a much more comfortable daylight trip. We hugged the shoreline, trying to keep the main sail full, currents played havoc on our southbound progress. The fog did not lift till dinner time, just in time to see the Mocha island as we went by. There was a cruise ship on the other side of Mocha that was bound for Punta Arenas. One of the very southern most parts of Chile. We would need more clothes to go that far south.
New favorite meal, pulled pork over a baked sweet potato. Pressure cooker style of course.
One more night to go. We will arrive at the mouth of the river bright and early in the morning then its about 2 hours up the river to the “club de yates” where we will make home base for a bit and provision for the run west. And wash the salt spray off everything. And see what Valdivia is all about.
They say “head south till the butter melts then turn right”, we are heading south but we have New Zealand butter in a can, how can you tell when it melts?
They say “gentlemen don’t go to weather” Well this trip south has proved that I’m no gentlemen, and we are ready for some downwind sails. Or course knowing our history, somehow someway there will only be upwind sailing as we head west.
Onward through the fog, all good on board Cheers and Happy Friday.
At 3/1/2019 @ 1:25 AM UTC Our position: 38°54.02’S, 073°36.00’W Traveling 6.0 heading 170T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-38.90033,-73.60000

Just crossing the 35 degree south mark on the way to Valdivia. As we leaving Quintero there was enough wind to use the sails and it was a downwind sail along the coast heading south again. Was about to launch the spinnaker when an ominous clouds started to appear ahead of us, thus we stayed with working sails and as soon as we reached the clouds the wind dropped to 3 knots. Bummer, on comes an engine and we motor through the night replenishing the the water tanks with fresh water.
The night air was so thick we could barely see 1/2 a mile, radar more than once proved its worth. The big tankers were sounding their fog horns and of course reporting their positions on AIS so they were easy to spot. The fishing boats on the other hand were a hard to spot. With radar we simply set them as a “target” and keep anything suspect a safe distance of a mile or two away. The radar proximity alarm warned of all ‘suspect spots’ that got within 3 miles of us. A quiet night besides the fog horns, the swell also seemed calm.
Today was a very grey day, the drizzal continued and the sun only poked out for just long enough to dry off the nightly moisture. Then started to drizzal again. Still no wind, slow boating under one motor as we really don’t have a deadline to arrive. After 2 months in the northern desert of Chile this moisture from the sky is a strange phenomenon.
Made a pretty tasty pizza for dinner, also helped heat up the salon for a little while. It is ‘summer’ here until this coming Saturday. For us its down right cold, not cold enough to leave the beers outside to chill but after being used to shorts and t-shirts, temperatures in the mid 60F in the morning merit long sleeves and pants (or foul weather gear) 🙂 We have used the heaters to warm up the boat, but seems that 75F is too warm, we must be spoiled.
Thought about stopping for a quick swim as the water is glassy calm. Checking the water temperature, 17.3C (63F) degrees quickly removed that idea off list.
260 miles to go to mouth of the Valdivia river.
Happy Friday.
At 2/22/2019 @ 12:42 AM Our position: 35°37.35’S, 073°04.78’W Traveling 4.9 heading 205T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-35.62250,-73.07967

Having recovered and stretched our legs in Antofagasta, it was time to move south and explore some more. We left Friday morning after some fun with the local policies of needing a Zarpe (clearance) to move from port to port just like in the Galapagos. International vessels have a slightly different process than the local boater we befriended and helped us through the process. But alas we were free to move about the country so long as its only where are Zarpe says we can go, thus the next port and only the next port.
Forecast: Nothing much, no wind 5 knots, barely any waves of course what waves and wind there is was on the nose as we head south.
Arturo of the marina came over and helped us untie from the moorings and lead us out of the harbor and wished us a safe journey. The way in and out of the harbor is to line up the street directly to the right of the pier as you high range marker. Keeps you between the jetties and shoals on both sides outside of the break water. Super nice folks at the “Club De Yates” (Yacht club) Its their summer so kids were learning to sail/kayak/swim most of the time we were there.
With only 5 knots of wind and glassy seas, we didn’t even raise the main and just used the engines and waited till the water cleaned up and made water topping up the tanks. Few ships on the AIS screen, mostly much farther away from shore than we are. Beautiful mountains even if they are part of the desert create the coast line we were cruising down. We are heading for a place called “Caldera” supposed to be another ‘tranquil’ bay with some decent protection from the waves when they come. It looked good from the window on the airplane ride to Santiago.
Saturday was just more of the same, beautiful sunny day, glassy ocean, hardly any wind or boats just birds and sea lions and dolphins playing. Thought I saw a whale in the distance but only spotted it once so can’t confirm it.
As we don’t want to arrive at dark we slowed way down, stopped one engine and pulled the other way back just cruising along to arrive at day break. Made all the water we can use, washed the boat with fresh water and made more fresh water after that. Made some pre-cooked meals for later passages, tried some new soups we picked up in the Chilean grocery store and consumed a lot of fruits.
Back in the states I vaguely remember the packaging saying “product of Chile” – and yes, this is where those fresh fruits come from. Lots of grapes, nectarines, dried grapes (raisins), Melons, tangerines and avocados. We found the local produce market in Antofagasta so we stocked up. The bananas come from Ecuador tho.
All good here, just puttering along at 3-4 knots waiting to arrive ‘Caldera’ in the morning and go see what this town has to offer. As Antofagasta was the ‘perl of the north’ and second largest city in Chile our next stops will be in much smaller ports/cities.
Off to explore in the morning, after we check in with the authorities and let them know we are where we should be. 🙂
At 1/27/2019 @ 1:08 AM Our position: 26°35.61’S, 070°51.26’W Traveling 3.3 heading 199T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-26.59350,-70.85433