We were relieved and overjoyed to return to Curare last week and find her happily lying to her moorings at the Estancilla Marina in Rio Valdivia. She has sat there for the past six months weathering through the occasional periods of high winds, ash fall from the nearby volcano, minor amounts of snow and a fair amount of rain. Although nothing was amiss on the outside, except for some slime on the hull, the inside was mouldy and we spent a lot of time cleaning with bleach.Once mould gets started it is almost impossible to get rid of and our mould problems started last year when we left Curare in rainy and humid Costa Rica.
The location of the Valdivia Yacht Club's outstation five miles up the river from the mouth of the Pacific Ocean at Bahia Corral provides good protection from most winds except easterlies, and then there is only a two mile fetch so the wave action never gets to large. The river is tidal so there twice a 
day there is potential for choppy conditions but during our week stay on board Curare this was a rare event. In fact we had a wonderful week of spring weather, with a record breaking high of 26 C, which meant we could wear shorts and T-shirts once again. When we arrived in May it was miserably cold and we were wearing all of the warm weather clothing that we had aboard.
We spent our week cleaning (mostly Linda) and rearranging lockers to ensure everything was fine. After a few days of relaxing, drinking beer (Geoff), eating out (cheap almuerzo), sightseeing at some nearby areas, bargaining in the market, and barbecuing a leg of lamb for the marina staff, it was time to return to work in Bolivia.
Geoff will return to Curare in December and Linda will go back to Vancouver to spend Christmas with her father. Cruising aboard Curare, with the whole crew intact, will hopefully begin again in January 2012.
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