Day 53 The rain in Chile falls mainly …

Caramor - sailing around the world
Franco Ferrero / Kath Mcnulty
Wed 5 Oct 2016 23:42
Seaweed is growing on Caramor’s shorelines, we have been here so long. Caleta Puerto Obstrucción is nearly a home away from home.

Since setting off from Williams we have enjoyed mostly dry weather, sure it drizzled a day here and there but nothing to justify the precipitation statistics of 4,000mm per year for this region. As it doesn’t rain in the winter and it can’t possibly pour all summer, we wondered how four metres of rain could be accounted for. The answer is, in one foul swoop over the past five days. It has literally been coming down in(to) buckets (we have filled quite a few - useful for topping up our water reserve).

On the southern side of the Golfo de Penas, while waiting for wind, we enjoyed warm sunny days. Our sail across the gulf was as pleasant as it could have been. Summer was surely on its way and I dug out our sandals from the depths of the locker, scrubbed off the mould and dried them on deck in the powerful sunshine. Now they lie forlornly, abandoned in a corner.

Rain isn’t the reason we haven’t left though, it is the strong northerly winds and 60 knot gusts that have prevented us from rounding the cape. We need two days of good weather and moderate swell to travel the 120 miles to Bahia Anna Pink and back into the shelter of the channels.

It isn’t all bad though, Franco has had plenty of time to crack on with Pesda work and Mark Rainsley’s ‘Canoe and Kayak Guide to the River Thames’ promises to be an excellent read. Outside, the animals are growing accustomed to our presence and are less shy. Yesterday during a brief brighter spell a female otter swam into our caleta to do a little fishing. Wherever she went, she was followed by two caracaras (type of falcon), most likely hoping for leftovers.

A curious diver