Curare's Adventures

Birds of Chile

I could never understand the fascination that some people have with bird watching. Bird people go out in all types of weather, spend enormous amounts of money on binoculars, cameras and zoom lenses and visit places where no one usually travels, just because they might spot a rare bird.  Every time I read about Christmas bird counts and life lists and dedicated bird tours I think how silly.

Now I am  turning into one of those people. OK I am not an avid birder, and I do not have a life list but I do have a pair of beat up ancient binoculars and have a Chilean bird book. In May 2011, when we arrived in Valdivia, I recognized very few of the birds flying around the marina. Most of them looked different than North American birds, the ones I grew up with, so I decided I needed a book. My first step down the slippery slope. Luckily a fellow sailor recommended an excellent book, Birds of Chile by Alvaro Jaramillo, and this was available from Amazon. Interestingly the author was born in Chile but was raised, and became a birder, in Canada. The illustrations and the text are excellent and, although I find the ordering of the species somewhat confusing, I am slowly getting the hang of using it. The preface of the book states that "the basic aim has always been for this book to be a field guide, the work to which you turn to put a name to the bird you are observing". I have yet to take this book along on walks but I have spent a lot of time browsing through the plates and I now recognize birds that were a mystery to me only one year ago.

At first all I did was see a new bird, determine it's name by looking through the book, and annoy GG with my cries of delight: "look a Chilean pigeon!". Then when I saw a new bird I started writing the date and location name next to the bird's description, slowly sliding further towards birdy nerdiness. I also started to take photos, not as easy as it looks because birds are pretty darn shy and fly away almost before I can click the shutter. Besides being colourful the photos are helpful because I can use them to assist me with bird identification. It is much easier to look at my bird book and compare the coloured plates with my photos because I invariably seem to remember things about birds that are not very useful. For example, I will see a bird and remember that it was small, had a reddish breast and a black head. Then I look in the book and discover that there are several small red birds with black heads. Instead I should have been looking at the shape of it's beak or the colour of it's legs. Observing a bird for three seconds and remembering everything about it is not a skill that I have mastered, and probably never will. Thank goodness for digital cameras and instant photos.

Sliding still further down the slope I am now carrying binoculars while on dog walks, and I really should have used them before, but I did not want to become known as the geeky birder. With binoculars, "that yellow coloured bird" which could have been any one of four species, is  easily identified as a Grassland Yellow-Finch (Sicalis luteola) because I can now see that it's back has a pattern of streaky feathers (according to my book the only Chilean yellow-finch that is noticeably streaked above). These smaller birds flit around too fast and too frequently for a photo and without the binoculars my list of "birds I have seen" would be a lot shorter.

For about a week I seriously thought of trying to spot all 460 birds pictured in my book. This would have been difficult as some of them only live in the far north of Chile and a few have only been sighted once before.  Then I thought I would just try to see all of the birds living in the part of Chile where I am now, but even that is proving to be impossible - partly because I am unwilling to go crawling through dense bamboo thickets to see the Black-throated Huet huet. So far I have seen 55 species and my new bird sightings are becoming scarcer. Hmm - maybe I should go on a bird tour.

Fundo Chacaipulli

At the beginning of March 2012 we were graciously offered a place to stay for the winter, not on Curare, but at a farm! We did not know the farm owners, and they did not know us, but a mutual friend put us in contact with each other. After a flurry of emails to and fro and one "phone" conversation via SKYPE we arrived here on May 1 with a truck load of stuff we removed off of Curare.  That was over three weeks ago.  Since then we've been busily enjoying ourselves, learning how the farm operates and the type of things that need to be done while we are the winter caretakers.

The farm is named Fundo Chacaipulli and it is located on highway T39, 17 km to the northeast of the small town of Los Lagos and 45 km east of Valdivia, Chile were Curare spent last winter. It is easy to find as there is a large sign of a bear eating honey on the side of the road and local people call it el Fundo de Miel (Honey ranch). The owners of the farm (Ian and Maggy) set off from Scotland on their sailboat in the mid-1990's and after cruising through the tropics for several years they turned south to Chile, just like us. Unlike us they kept meticulous notes and sketches of the anchorages they visited  and eventually they co-authored a very useful cruising guide book on Chile from the Arica Desert to Tierra del Fuego.

When they landed in Valdivia they fell in love with the area and quickly swallowed the hook buying this beautiful piece of property. Over the past 15 years they have established a multi-functional farm, made friends and learned Spanish. On the attached Google Earth image we have outlined the area of the Fundo with a skinny red line. It doesn't look very large in the photo but it encloses 200 hectares and there are several long walking and horse trails for access to the river. The large fields, the rio San Pedro and, if you look closely, the houses, are evident in the image.  The fields are used for growing corn and some hay, grazing 100 or more cattle and around a thousand sheep. In addition to the four legged farm animals bee hives have been set up around the fields and provide tasty and medicinal honey.  Ian has created a niche business providing unique honey products to markets throughout the world and it is also delicious spread on our morning toast. The brushy areas surrounding the fields are precipitous hill slopes that have been planted in pine and eucalyptus trees. These have grown so quickly that they will be selectively harvested this winter with sustainable logging techniques. 

There are five houses spread around the farm.  On the upper bench of the farm beside the road there is a single level house that a neighbouring farm manager rents, then the farm owners main house and then further along the bench is the cabana that we are staying in. Lower down, near the southwest corner, are two other houses used by farm workers. Our cabin has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a bedroom loft and an open plan living room/kitchen/dining room.  We are living large!  The cabin is built in a typical southern Chile style with lots of wood, open spaces and large corner windows that extend to the building envelope.  Maggy and Ian have planted a large English style garden that extends between our cabin and their house, a distance of about 100 meters.  The garden has numerous hedges of rosemary and other bushy plants that hide smaller areas for vegetables, patios, rose buses and a couple of pools turned into fish ponds.  Even in late autumn the garden is very colourful and soon the camellia bushes will be in full bloom.

While Ian and Maggy are away over the winter we get to look after the domestic animals - their two labrador dogs and the farm manager's retriever, a couple of cats, the gold fish and four horses.  It's certainly not a chore to take the dogs for a good romp through the fields every day, pick some apples and feed them to the horses. Every couple of weeks the horses need to get cleaned up and ridden so they don't feel so lonely.  The bees of course look after themselves and are mostly dormant over the winter so they do not require any additional work. Ian also operates the only SailMail station in Chile, a station that cruisers, like ourselves, use to send email messages over their SSB radios. This is perhaps our most important task, ensuring the radio and computer stay operational.
 
We've brought a number of boat projects with us to work on in the warmth of the cabin; projects such as varnishing floorboards and other removable pieces, sails for minor repairs, other sewing projects and various other stuff.  We heat the cabin with wood burnt in the airtight stove in the living-room which keeps us warm most of the time, but we can already see that we'll be going through several cords of wood to keep ourselves comfortable over the next several months. 

Birthday Travels, Again

It seems that every year on my birthday we are on the move, travelling from here to there. Last year I celebrated the occasion while at sea, sailing from Easter Island to Valdivia, Chile. This year, my birthday was spent travelling in a truck as we drove down the highway to our new winter hangout. It was actually quite a comfortable trip as I got to sleep on top of all of the cushions from Curare stuffed into the backseat . Although everyone recognizes that I am a princess, even if there had been a pea at the bottom of the pile I doubt I would have felt it - it was the best bed ever! And of course I got special treats in my kibble for dinner that night, I think it was steak, or maybe a hot dog, but I ate it so fast I can’t really remember. Was it worth a whole year to wait for it? Not likely, but getting a little bit extra now and then is always appreciated.

And now my days are spent lounging by the wood stove staying warm or going for pleasant walks with my new pack of friends. They still haven’t figured out who’s the boss here yet but we’ll get that sorted out soon enough. These young pups don’t respect their elders like they should!

Updated Article in Latitude 38 magazine

We’re not sure why we’re getting so much press from Latitude 38 (http://www.latitude38.com/eBooks/2012/L38201205.html) these past few months but the editor, Richard Spindler, emailed us a few weeks back asking what we’d been up to lately. We sent a brief update and some recent pictures, along with a comment in response to his last article about us heading a different path than mainstream west coast boats. With his editorial license, Richard wove a pretty good tale of our reasons for travelling the direction we do.

The article is on pages 132 and 133 of the Changes section of the May edition of the magazine. An excerpt of the article is provided below (note the typo of Linda’s last name – it isn’t there!) The full monthly magazine can be downloaded in pdf format from their website at latitude38.com under the tab ebooks.

Curare — Bowman 36
Geoff and Linda Goodall
Valdivia to Puerto Montt, Chile
(Vancouver, B.C.)

We have just arrived at Puerto Montt, Chile, about 1,200 miles north of Cape Horn, from Valdivia, Chile, where we'd spent much of last year. Why have we headed south toward the bottom of South America as opposed to across the Pacific? It's simple — we do everything for our dog. Since she can’t easily go to the South Pacific because of the various laws and regulations, we've decided to go to those places where she'll be welcome.

It's actually not a bother, because if so many countries didn't prohibit dogs, we'd never be able to decide where to go next. We’ll be here in the Puerto Montt area for the next few months before heading south to experience the wilds of the Patagonia canals.

On our way down here, we enjoyed two amazing months cruising the many islands to the east of Isla Chiloé in the Golfo Corcovado and the Golfo Ancud. Puerto Montt is at the north end of the gulfs, which are a combined 50 miles long and 20 miles wide. Check out the area on Google Earth and you'll understand what makes them so great. The cruising here has been very easy and comfortable, as the anchorages have been easy daysails apart. There has been good provisioning at the few small villages along the way, too. As it is now fall in the southern hemisphere, we have picked lots of berries and apples for baking pies and crumbles onboard.

The weather has been excellent for people like us from British Columbia. It's been sunny, but with the highs only between 50 and 68 degrees. We've had mostly southerly breezes, so our crossings of Golfo Corcovado and Golfo Ancud have consisted of pleasant beam- to broad reaches. In fact, we've enjoyed the sailing so much that we made a couple of extra trips across the gulfs. There is wonderful bird life down here, including the Magellanic penguin, and dolphins are everywhere. What we've rarely seen are boats in the anchorages. The scenery has been gorgeous. We spent a few days at some isolated hot springs carved into the rock at the water's edge inside a steep-walled fjord. Beautiful!
— geoff and linda 04/14/12

Dry Storage

On April 25th we hauled Curare out of the water to remain on the hard for the austral winter at the Club Nautico Reloncavi in Puerto Montt.  The club has a nice yard facility for dry storage (that’s a relative term in rainy Puerto Montt) with power and water available.  The travel lift was in the best shape of all lifts we’ve used in years, even those in Vancouver, although because of our high stern arch we had to go bow in and drop our two forestays.

We were out of the water by 4:30 PM, and after a thorough pressure wash the travel lift majestically conveyed Curare to her new winter space. This was a tight squeeze and the lift got extremely close to the neighboring yachts, so close that it took more than an hour’s worth of maneuvering to get us in place. Then Curare had to be placed on a stand.  The stand they presented us with was an ancient, rusty, heavy cradle, previously custom built for another yacht, and despite shoving this contraption around until 7:00 PM the yard workers finally admitted it “was not going to happen” today so we were left in the slings overnight and they completed the job the next morning.

Jessie no longer has to negotiate the open mesh grating of the dock, but now she has to get on board via a ladder. Luckily this is a task that she and GG have perfected in the past and although the popular saying is “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, you could just as easily say that old dogs do not forget the tricks they already know.  With Jessie pseudo-sitting in GG’s  arms he slowly walks up (down) the ladder and she delicately gets off at the top (bottom). As a friend of ours would say: easy-peasy.

Since our haul-out in Valdivia back at Christmas time there hasn’t been much growth on the hull, although the red bottom paint GG applied has oxidized to a mossy green colour due to the high copper content  (we think).  Removing the remnants of years of bottom paint has been on our list of chores for  a long time but the heat of Mexico and Costa Rica have always been excuse enough to avoid the messy, time consuming  job.  This year there were numerous tradesmen in the yard looking for work so we decided to help the Chilean economy and hire someone to do this for us.  We saw some of the work that Sergio and his helper had done on other boats in the yard and both of us are suitably impressed with the quality of their work. 

Curare has a few blisters below the waterline that will need attending to but these are far fewer than we had expected so the work should not be too difficult and we expect the job to be completed (between rain storms ) by August 31.  With a few coats of barrier epoxy, primer and fresh anti-fouling we’ll be all set to go again come spring time.

Club Nautico Deportes de Reloncavi

We arrived in Puerto Montt on April 15th to stay at a marina named Club Nautico Deportes de Reloncavi (Nautical Sports Club of Reloncavi, the name of the bay in the area).  There are two other marinas in Puerto Montt but this marina is the only one with the ability to store boats out of the water on the hard, something we have decided to do this season.  Since that time we have been busy preparing Curare for her winter on shore and that is our excuse for neglecting the blog postings. Having unreliable internet  has also not helped  very much.

The marina is relatively small with slips for approximately 40 boats, the majority of which are owned but members of the club.  The floating docks have both power and water available and we used them a lot; the former for recharging the various electrical devices on board and the latter for cleaning  the accumulations of salt off the rigging, decks,  lines and canvas .  Available electric power also meant that we could turn our heater on for an hour or two each evening  which took the chill out of the air: cool and wet fall weather do not make an unheated boat very cozy.  The only drawback is that the docks are made from open mesh metal grating that Jessie had a difficult time negotiating with her wobbly sea gait.

We have met several other cruisers also staying at the yacht club including two other boats from Canada, a Kiwi, a few Germans and a handful of French boats.  The week before we arrived three of the six boats in the Volvo Round the World race stopped at the club to make repairs for a few days before heading south  around the bottom.  We stayed in the water for 10 days and then it was time to haul-out.

End of Fall Sailing

Curare is now in Puerto Montt,Chile where she will stay for the winter (summer in the north) but we had an excellent final week of sailing, after re-provisioning in Castro, Chiloe Island. We were very lucky because a large high decided to hover over us and almost every day was clear and sunny. The vegetation was dense and luxuriant, the trees were starting to turn colour, the ocean was crystal clear, the sky was (mostly) blue and the anchorages were deserted.

From Castro we had a lively romp east, crossing Golfo de Ancud on a beam reach in 25 knots of wind, and anchoring at Isla Llancahue. There is a small inlet on it's southern side named estero Bonito (Pretty estuary) which the cruising guide describes as "a small bay full of fishing installations with intense commercial activity all night long". We were not looking forward to the "intense activity" but it was the only available spot to anchor, and it was only for one night. We arrived about 5:30 P.M. and dropped the hook in the center of the bay - it was a tight squeeze to find enough room between all of the floating styrofoam mooring blocks. Then we waited for the fishing boat traffic, thinking we might have to move. Nothing happened. The small village appeared to be deserted and even the fishing boats on shore were vacant. It was a peaceful night.

Next morning we motored south to estero Caheulmo, part of Parque Pumalin and the location of some hot springs that we really wanted to visit. This estero is what we would call a fjord back home, with steep sided rocky walls and very deep water (100m+) right up to the shore line. We finally found a shoal spot to drop the hook, at the outlet of a small creek, and anchored in 20 meters depth, letting out all of our chain. Luckily it did not blow up during the night because we were barely hooked to the bottom. We anchored on the north side and the hot springs were on the south side, at the head of the inlet, a distance of 1 nautical mile. It would have been better to anchor closer to our final destination but the estero shoals rapidly, exposing a drying sandspit, and we got as close as we dared. We put the dinghy in the water on a rising tide and zoomed across the bay looking for the wooden structure marking the springs location. During the tourist season there is a park caretaker stationed here collecting a modest fee but we were off season so the area was deserted. From the caretaker structure it is a short walk along a boardwalk to the steaming, sulfurous hot springs. This sounds ideal, but the boardwalk was submerged because of the extremely high water on the full moon so we had to remove our pants and Jessie had to swim. The hot spring emerges at the base of the cliff and flows through hand carved channels into various shaped pools that have been hewn out of shelly limestone. We have been told that the pools were carved a long time ago by the indigenous population, but some of the more geometric ones look like they were carved with the aid of a rock saw. Almost all of the pools were too hot to touch and the colder pools were too cold to enjoy. we finally figured out that by blocking some channels and increasing the flow in others we could regulate the temperature. It was a relaxing, soothing experience but we could not get Jessie to take a bath - she was very happy lying on the rocks in the sun.

The hot springs were great, but the northerly located anchorage was cold, so next morning we moved north to the fjord of Quintupeu where we could anchor on the south side in the sun. This fjord has an entrance of only 50 meters in width but it is 100 meters deep so it was not tricky navigation and once past the entrance the fjord opens up into a broad inlet with sheer slopes and numerous waterfalls. Our cruising guide books mention that "the German battleship Dresden hid here for a short while in 1915" but nothing else. A few minutes of internet research and I found this excerpt which adds a bit more detail. "In February 1915, SMS Dresden, the last surviving cruiser of von Spee’s fleet (battle of the Falklands), slipped into the narrow entrance of the Quintepeu fjord with squeaks from her damaged machinery echoing off sheer walls that towered 1,500 feet over the ship. At dusk a sailboat appeared, piloted by a German-Chilean merchant, Enrique Oelkers, flying a German flag and bringing supplies, coal, and mechanics. The sailboat was followed by other small craft and soon the deck of the warship became the scene of an impromptu party as Chilean-German settlers served sausages, strudels, beer and other delights. The sailors were enchanted by this warm welcome, the laughter and the jokes, but especially the archaic language of their visitors. Early the following morning, the rejuvenated crew began repairing the rudder and other equipment, and damaged parts were sent to Puerto Montt and Calbuco to be fixed. Very soon the Dresden was ready to make a dash for the Pacific ocean." The crew of Curare was not entertained in quite the same style but the anchorage was perfectly calm and secure and we spent a pleasant afternoon soaking up the sun's warmth and drying out our damp bedding.

The next day we continued onwards to the northern end of Isla Pelada. The scenery on passage was superb with glaciated mountains to the east, the ocean a milky blue-green colour from glacial waters, and the forest covered slopes of Isla Pelada to the west. We found a lovely cove on the northeast end of the island, with birds for L to spy on and close enough for G to cross the channel by dinghy to the small town of Hornopiren for supplies. This location would have been a good spot to stay a day but our cruising permit had almost expired and we had to keep moving onward. It was at this point that the weather started to change, although we still had two more days of pleasant conditions before the third and final day of an upwind bash with spray flying over the bow. Our next two anchorages were extremely pleasant and both had good holding but they looked similar to many of the ones we visited while in Chiloe and I did not take any photos. Curare is now firmly tied to a dock and in a few weeks she will be up on the hard where we will complete our page long list of maintenance chores.

Chileno Cuisine (or lack thereof)

Although we have spent the better part of a year in Chile, we have not visited many restaurants for dinner. The few times we have gone out for an evening meal the menus always seem to offer the same basic items: meat and potatoes. Some restaurants provide a somewhat more extensive menu but it is still limited to basic fried chicken, grilled pork, fried fish or tough steak, usually served with boiled rice or potatoes or french fries. We've also noticed that relatively few Chileans go out for dinner and when they do their meal starts at 9:00 PM or later, a little too late for us boaties. Another obstacle keeping us out of restaurants is the sticker shock - generally the equivalent of $40 or $50 for the two of us without wine. We have heard that the restaurants in Santiago offer many more choices and the food is of much better quality (and more expensive!) but Santiago is not a convenient place to go when you live on a boat.

So we have gotten very good with providing excellent meals onboard Curare and we don't have to worry about finding our way home after dark. We can roast, bake, BBQ anything we want in a fashion we enjoy although that does take away a certain adventure in guessing what the "mystery" meat is.

Most of our meals are prepared and eaten on Curare but we often eat out at lunch, the main meal of the day for most Chilenos, and a meal which fits in well to our cruising lifestyle of remaining aboard after dark. Another plus for lunch is the Almuerzo (an inexpensive fixed price meal) consisting of an appetizer, salad, main course, dessert and a beverage. These start at noon and finish around 3 PM and often a group of "lunchers" will sit at the table for that entire time, eating and enjoying each other's company. The Almuerzos vary from day to day and from place to place and are usually very good, although like with most restaurants, some of them have been better than others. While being the equivalent cost of a full meal deal at the local McDonalds, the almuerzos provide a far tastier experience.

GG's favourite lunch restaurant is the parrillada (which LE has named the "meat fest"), a platter of various types of meat products, and possibly a potato or two, barbecued on the large restaurant grill and kept warm over a charcol grill at your table. Whenever we have occasion to rent a car we are always looking for one of these on the side of the road because a parrillada is more of a country restaurant, not one that you would find in the middle of the city. If, in the parrilladas, you do not want to partake of the mountain of meat you can order off of the menu instead. One common item is "lomo (steak) or cerdo (pork) a lo pobre" which I always translated as "poor steak or poor pork". I was slightly surprised to find out that "a lo pobre" had nothing to do with poor and only meant that your fried meat was served on a pile of french fries topped off with fried onions and a fried egg. Hardly a dieter's choice.

To add some roughage to a mainly meat food order I am always on the hunt for a good salad and Chile has one that I particularly enjoy, the ensalada chilena. This is a salad of finely diced tomatoes and thinly sliced or shredded onions in a vinagrette; very simple but very good and a salad that I would regularly make myself if it did not involve so much chopping. A close rival on my favourite list is the ensalada mixta; a plate of chopped salad vegetables which you mix together yourself depending on which veggies you like the best.

Seafood is very good, especially near the coast, and the best place to eat fish is at the small reatuarnts attached to the local fish market. You order your meal, the waitress runs across the street, and 15 minutes later your plate of food arrives. The only way to eat a fresher piece of fish is to catch it yourself, or, as we do, buy it from a fish boat. The other day we could not even buy seafood, the fisherman wanted food in trade; so for a few cans of coke, a couple of bags of pasta and 2 packets of cookies we were presented with 4 kg of clams. As much as I like steamed clams 2 kg would have been sufficient. From that modest trade we ate three lunches of clams steamed in white wine, a lunch and a dinner of New England style clam chowder, and a dinner of clam linguine.

As mentioned earlier most of our meals are eaten aboard Curare. GG is an excellent barbecue chef and also makes a delicious garlic pizza, while LE experiments with bread making and desserts. Lately we have been able to pick bagfuls of apples and buckets of blackberries, so apple crisp has become a breakfast favorite. With seemingly months worth of provisions aboard, we are never lacking for anything on Curare. It is always an enjoyable experience to sit in a restaurant and to eat what the locals are eating, but we probably have better meals aboard.

 

Marina Quinched

We recently stopped at Marina Quinched (www.centronauticochiloe.cl) again on our way north up Isla Chiloe. We had previously enjoyed our stay here heading south so we wanted to visit again. The marina is centrally located on the island approximately eight miles south of the main town of Castro. It is a small marina with berths for maybe 15 boats and 10 or so moorings. In the summer it is a very popular place for locals to spend their weekends and vacations. The owner, William Bannister, says that every year he receives 15 to 20 foreign boats as they move between Puerto Montt to the north and the canals of Patagonia to the south.

The facilities at the marina are basic but include a washing machine to take care of several weeks’ worth of smelling clothes, shower and toilet facilities, garbage disposal, Wi-fi service so we can post our blogs, a large kitchen/BBQ area known as a “quincho” plus acres of land for walking, berry picking and collecting apples. There is limited water and power available on the dock. During the summer there is a small café and artisan shop that opens a few days a week and has some very nice hand made products. There is also a large house available for rent that can accommodate up to 12 people. William is very hospitable and offers up anything you need without problem. He often provides rides into Castro or Chonchi for reprovisioning and can take care of most anything that is wanted. On this second trip to the marina there were two other boats staying so William arranged for a parrillada in the quincho complete with an assortment of meats, salads and wine. It was a great evening and a nice way to meet the other boaters as well.

William is also involved in boat design and building making use of local woods for the hulls and decks. Basic repair work can be completed at his workshop and given the large tidal range of three to five meters it is possible to beach or careen a boat for below the water line repairs or to clean and paint the hull.

We hope to return to the marina again when we head south next summer.

North from Tic Toc

We left Bahia Tic Tic, escorted by dolphins and headed north. According to Geoff's calculations this was to be a 35 mile journey, 7 hours max, but the ruler must have been incorrectly calibrated because by the time we anchored our chart plotter had recorded 51 miles! However the day was lovely, we had a great view of volcan Corcovado looking like a fang and we got to put up the drifter - downwind sailing again.

We arrived in Puerto Auchemo close to high tide and dropped the hook in about 10 meters of water. There was not much of a shore for Jessie to romp on but by the next morning, at low tide, there was a small sandy beach where we could all stretch our legs. Low tide also exposed an uncharted pointy rock in the middle of the channel. Luckily we had angled towards the shore well before this hazard or the previous evening would have been an abrupt ending to our sailing trip. Puerto Auchemo is very busy with fishing boats of all sorts: small boats using a hookah to collect mussels, larger boats taking the bags of mussels across Golfo Cocovado to Chiloe and little skiffs transporting people amongst the salmon pens. Mountains to the east provided a scenic backdrop and we stayed here for an entire day enjoying the views and the sunshine.

The next day we left for Bahia Pumalin, a distance of 25 miles. Almost as soon as we departed we ran into a fog bank, but with Jessie barking at imagined dolphins we did not need a fog horn and our radar showed no ship traffic. We sailed past the port town of Chaiten, where a similarly named volcano erupted in 2008 after a resting period of 9000 years. Tourists are not allowed to stay overnight in the town or in the area, which is a shame as there is a beautiful snowy volcano (Michinmavida at 2,404 m) which looks like it would be a pleasant hike.

We entered Bahia Pumalin using an almost overgrown set of range markers that guided us through a rocky reef, and anchored to the east of a grass covered sand spit. There is no road access to this area but there is a small, bumpy, grass airstrip that is used to bring people and their supplies to the scattered houses on the shores of the bay. Looking to the south, on the evening we arrived, I saw smoke/steam at the top of a nearby mountain. Binoculars clearly showed this was an active volcano with several vents and fumaroles - this was the infamous volcan Chaiten. To a geologist this was a thrilling sight and I was very disappointed that the next day was cloudy and drizzly and I could see nothing. However the dolphins in the bay made up for the gloomy weather. Using a guide book I identified the dolphins as Cephalorhynchus europia (Chilean or black dolphin) a dark coloured marine mammal that is shy and difficult to spot. Unlike the dolphins of Bahia Tic Toc this species does not play near moving boats and all you see are therir rounded dorsal fins as they move through the water fishing. Jessie never saw them.

This anchorage had a great dog walking area with a wide stony beach as well as the grassy sand spit. Unfortunately it was also home to a herd of goats, some horses and a few cows so walking was a minefield and we had to wash off our boots before getting back into the dinghy.

To the east of the Bay is a large tract of land, the privatly owned conservation area named Parque Pumalin. The land for the reserve was purchased by an American, Mr. Douglas Tompkins, who made a fortune of millions selling either North Face outdoor gear or Esprit clothing (depending on which source you read and who you believe). Originally the land was supposed to be given to the Chilean Forestry Agency but they said they could not protect such a wide area (790,400 acres) so Tompkins created a Foundation that manages the park. The park is divided into two separate pieces of land and we hope to be able to visit the northern part and it's hot-springs at a later date.

From Bahia Pumalin we set sail west, back across Golfo Cocovado towards Chiloe. We were out of fresh food and needed to re-supply so we returned to the convenient port of Castro for a quick provisioning stop. We are currently back at Marina Quinched for a couple of days before moving north again.