blah blah blog: Chiloe and Castro

Considering we have had pretty regular internet, I should have been posting more, but I am a slacker. Back at Melinka, we were on the Armada mooring buoy for about 4 days waiting out some serious wind before crossing Boca del Guafo up to Chiloe Island. Remember when I said that the northern channels were more populated and we saw many more boats and fisheries? Chiloe is even more crowded, and we have to admit to ourselves that the days of serene isolation are officially over. This isn't to say that there isn't beautiful scenery to enjoy up here as well, but it is certainly different from where we began. Small, cute villages dot the shoreline and we are never far from people. Lots of very old churches, including several that are World Heritage sites. Matthew and I are pretty excited to add them to our growing list of World Heritage places we have been together.

In Chiloe, the tide shift is drastic (6 meters in most places) so our anchorages are less snug than they were down south. Our first stop was just off the southwest side of Isla Chaullin (43,03S 73,26W) – the weather was really good, so we didn't need to tuck in too much. The next day, we set out for Estero Pailad (42,50S 73,37W) which we had heard was very pretty and also that a woman named Mary from Milwaukee was living with her Chilean husband. The two of them are in the process of turning an old house into a sort of yacht club/refuge and they have several moorings out front. Obviously, I really wanted to meet this other Mary with Milwaukee connections, but they weren't home! Too bad, so sad. We moored there for a few hours anyway had a hike into the small village, saw sthe famous black necked white swans, then decided to take advantage of the nice weather and sail over to Puerto Queilin for the night (42,53S 73,28W). We ended up staying 2 nights anchored in Queilin due to bad weather, and Wednesday (May 20), we hopped up to Marina Quinched (42, 34S 73,45W) in the eye of the system. This awesome little marina had plenty of space for us to wait out the end of the system, and we got to go to Castro which is a really cool little city. It was a great break to spend a day walking around and checking out the big fish and artisan markets (fresh smoked salmon for so cheap!).

We left Quinched this morning (Saturday, May 23) and are heading north – we plan to be in Puerto Montt (the last stop for this journey) by Monday. It's sunny and calm, and maybe even a little warmer (wishful thinking?), so no doubt we will have a gorgeous trip up to Puerto Montt.