It was such a relief to reach our destination.  Mainly because the point of sail we were on sucks!  Heading into the wind and current and bashing through the seas is just no fun at all.  We traveled 5-6nm  up the river to Club de Yates, Marina Estancilla.  It was breathtaking!

Club de Yates, Marina Estancilla is located right next to Alwoplast which is a pretty famous boat building location for Chris White Yachts.  We had originally planned on staying at Alwoplast because we were hoping to haul the boat out for a survey.  However, we could not find any qualified surveyors in the continent.  We convinced a Brazilian surveyor to come, but he cancelled 1 week before the haul out due to illness.  Huge long, boring story but we need a new survey to obtain insurance.  Couldn’t get the survey so on to plan B.  Another time.

Club de Yates – Marina Estancilla

Club de Yates has two floating docks, hot showers, laundry, electricity, water, and a good wifi.  It is really small but fits our needs perfectly.  At a cost of 24,500 pesos per day ($38 USD) it was an offer we could not refuse.  The staff is extremely helpful, the bus stops right in front of the marina, and it is incredibly peaceful.

This beautiful, colorgul bird can be found in the field of the marina – do you know what it is?

We washed the boat down, took extremely hot showers and headed into town.  We were not sure which bus to take so we just hopped on the first bus heading in the right direction.  It cost about 650 pesos per person, one way.  We passed the Kuntsmann Brewery, crossed a bridge, passed through a small town with lots of eateries, crossed another bridge and arrived in the heart of Valdivia 10 minutes later.  (Follow the red squiggly line from the marina to downtown Valdivia).  The red line below starts at the lower left corner and shows you the route to downtown.

Our goal was to find Club de Yates Valdivia to meet the manager who had been assisting us.  He manages both marinas.  On our way to find him, we found two marine stores and the Armada where we checked into the port.  After a little wandering around, we decided to have lunch at the Kuntsmann brewery.

KUNTSMANN BREWERY

The Kuntsmann brewery, is a local Chilean beer that Matt has enjoyed on several occasions.  It is one of the reasons we came to Valdivia.

It was packed when we arrived.  Where did all of these people come from?  It was incredibly crowded!  Kuntsmann offers 16 flavors of beer.  And of course, Matt had to try all of them.  Luckily, they offered a flight of 16 two-ounce tasters.  After a scrumptious lunch, I made Matt tell me his top 5 which surprised even him.  Picks: Gran Torobayo, Lager, Bock, and Experimental.  Runner ups included Torobayo and IPA.

We did not have much time to explore or see the sights, but we really did enjoy Valdivia.  The bay is surrounded by huge, lush, vibrant, green trees.  After being in the desert and seeing a large variety of browns, it is a welcome change to be surrounded by so much green.

Fun Photos

A few fun eateries we found walking around.

Notice the blood drops on the mouth of the large on on the left.  And vultures fight for food with the lobos.

We needed fuel again.  The last few times we had to man handle huge drums of fuel, connect it to the side of our boat, and manually filter and pump into our tanks.  It would take all day to fill both of our fuel tanks.  However, the marina arranged for a fuel truck to come to the dock, drag a 150′ hose to our boat and push almost 500 liters of fuel out in less than an hour!  We felt like the mega yachts, spoiled and grateful.

Look for the mega yacht power boat at the far right edge of the photo.  We are just in front of him, hardly visible – that is how far the hose reached.