In the most recent edition of the mostly electronic, free publication of Latitude 38, the editor provides a profile of Curare and her crew during the past year. This publication (available at www.latitude38.com) covers racing and cruising boats along the Pacific Coast including those making the passage to the South Pacific. There is a chapter called "Changes in Latitudes" that provides updates on people further afield than North America. We have met the editor a few times on our travels in Mexico and he is a great proponent of the cruising lifestyle. An excerpt of the article is provided below with the full Changes of Latitude article provided on the side bar under the heading "Comments from the Crew".
Travels to Southern Chile
It's been over a year since we've updated our travels aboard S/V Curare. After departing El Salvador in 2010 we continued on down the central America coast with stops in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where we had to put in for some emergency repairs due to a leaking stern tube. By the time we completed our repairs the window to cross the Pacific had closed so we ended up leaving Curare on the hard at the Costa Rica Yacht Club in Punta Arenas. After four months absence we returned to a very moldy boat that required lots of scrubbing to get her back to a livable state. We re-launched Curare in October, 2010 and sailed southward to Panama, spending Christmas in the western islands, an isolated area of amazing beauty. During this season there were very few boats in the anchorages and we enjoyed some of the most beautiful sunsets we had seen since leaving Mexico. We 
crossed the Gulf of Panama on New Years eve and spent a few days in Las Perlas islands before moving on to Panama City. What a dynamic and entertaining place, where anything seems possible and every imaginable boat repair can be accomplished. Within a week we had our liferaft inspected, the radar/chart plotter repaired, parts ordered in from Miami (including new batteries) and new charts on board for heading on south. Of course the best entertainment was watching all of the cruisers preparing for or finishing off their canal transits with tires hanging from every stanchion.
The biggest highlight of 2011 was the sail from Las Perlas islands southwest to the Galapagos Islands. We sailed in radio contact with five other boats and all of us experienced the most idyllic conditions of broad reaching in 15 to 20 knots of wind with a positive current. We covered the 950 miles in seven days - most of it under spinnaker and Curare attained her personal best of 180 miles in 24 hours. The five boats arrived to the Galapagos within 20 hours of each other and all of us agreed it was a sail of a lifetime.
After a week at anchor off of Santa Cristobal, and observing as many of Darwin's creatures as we could find, we set off for Easter Island, 2200 miles to the south-southwest. We again had reasonable weather on this passage, making the trip in 19 days. Although there is no secure anchorage at Easter Island, we did manage to get our dog, Jessie, ashore for some much needed exercise. We made a quick trip around the island before winds starting building in the Hanga Roa anchorage, but we left it too late to leave so we ended up riding out a three day blow with winds to 25 knots and seas in the 
five metre range. During all of this, a single hander with a partially disabled boat (mast crown broken, sailing under jury rig with an inoperable engine) managed to anchor up wind of us with the assistance of the Armada. Later that morning one of her anchor rodes parted but two other cruisers came to her assistance and managed to secure the boat with a second line and anchor. While pitching around on the boat's foredeck trying to secure the ground tackle, I watched the Armada attempt several times to pass a tow line. At one point, their 20 foot open launcha went vertical and a wave crest broke over the bow soaking all five of the sailors. Fortunately the weather abated shortly after that.
After provisioning with fresh produce at Hanga Roa, we departed for the 2300 mile trip southeast to Valdivia, Chile taking 23 days for this passage as we had some contrary winds and current, a brief gale and periods of calm. We tried to avoid getting below 40 degrees latitude but had to duck one weather system that took us to 42 degrees south. Curare has now been at the Valdivia Yacht Club since May 2011 while we returned home to secure more funds for the next leg of our voyage. Valdivia has been a comfortable place for us and our boat, something the Spaniards figured out back in 
1550 when they made it their safe hide out for the Pacific coast. We enjoy trips into town and the local fish market where we can buy salmon for $6 per kilo, have a four course meal including a glass of fine Chilean wine for $4 and are able to provision conveniently with fresh produce from the local area. We've just returned to Curare to start the next cruising season during the austral summer but we are in no hurry to move on. It's summer time here, the weather is great, and there is a large coast to explore. As usual our plans are uncertain but currently this looks like a fine place to be.
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