Landfall

After 23 days at sea we arrived at the entrance to Valdivia Chile. The last four days seemed tediously long as the wind was blowing from the direction we were headed, we were sailing very slowly and Curare's motion was rough and erratic. It was almost too rough to cook, and anyway we had very little propane, so we cleaned the fridge of leftovers and ate packaged snacks and cookies.

During our passage from Easter Island we used the ships clock (AKA ship's time) and our sunset was 4 PM - when we arrived at the entrance to Bahia Corral it was 4:40 PM and dark. Valdivia is located 10 miles up the Rio Valdivia which flows into Bahia Corral and we did not want to travel up river at night but we had heard via the local radio net that there was a good place to anchor just before the river entrance so that was our destination. By this time it had started raining which was great because we got a free boat wash but it meant navigation became a little tricky. The electronic chart plotter did not provide enough detail to keep us centered in the channel and rain reduced the visibility but we arrived safely to  Isla Mancera by following a freighter and using the navigation marks. By 7:40 PM we were snug at anchor, the stove was lit and we were enjoying a hot meal.

The following morning, May 4, we moved our ships clock ahead three hours to match the local time, and set off up river just before slack water. It was a lovely, crisp, fall day with patches of blue sky, some low lying clouds blanketing the hilltops and coloured trees on shore. Navigation was easy in the daylight following the well marked river channel and we arrived at marina Estancilla without any drama. This small marina is part of the Valdivia Yacht Club and many of the 12 boats are transients like ourselves. There is a dock with water so that we can clean everything on the boat, showers in the clubhouse so that we can clean ourselves, and a grassy field for Jessie to roll in. We will leave Curare here for the winter while we once again travel back home to Canada for the northern summer.

Comments

[Bob]

The captain and mate are looking more alike.

Bob

[kathi]

Hi,

you made it to chile! I did send you a couple notes and never heard back. How did jessie do? I thought you were headed through the Panama Canal? Why Chile?

Kathi