Puerto Montt - 27th March 2013

Providence
Matt Stafford and Rohan Buckley
Sat 30 Mar 2013 13:21

41:29.43S 72:58.93W

 

It´s been a few weeks since we have left Puerto Natales and have been a little slack with keeping up with the blog.  We did do the ‘W’ walk in Torres del Paine National Park and had a great time as it has some amazing scenery that gives it its reputation.  Fun as it was it was nothing like our previous long walk at Puerto Williams.  That was a hard 5 days with no facilities with trails marked by small piles of rock cairns that were easy to miss and if you had seen more than six people a day it seemed crowded.  The Torres del Paine walk, challenging as it was, had signs everywhere and facilities at every camp site which at a few meant the opportunity to purchase meals and beers, and people everywhere….  Though not what we were used to we had a great time. 

 

When we returned to Puerto Natales we spent a few days sorting the yacht out but more importantly we had a good send off for Nigel who sadly left us after a little over 5 months on board.  A good, but long night was had by all celebrating what we all had done since Nigel joined us in Buenos Aries.  Nigel had an early bus the next morning after the festivities the night before, so feeling rather below par we put Nigel on the bus and we must have looked a sight.  I still don’t know how we did not kill ourselves, and we hope Nigel’s wet clothes dried out well enough on the bus…. Yes, the big man fell in as he left the yacht for the last time… ;)  Good luck with it all mate and see you soon.

 

Now with only three, we left Puerto Natales and decided to make some miles north so we exited the fiords as soon as we could and went offshore into the Pacific Ocean for a few days.  En route we stopped at several places for rest and shelter from big winds.  All were amazing in their own way but one in particular, Caleta Suarez, was also a popular stop for local fisherman in rough weather, and we rafted up next to five Chilean fishing boats.  Using our best Spanish, we soon made some new friends and were amazed at the generosity and hospitality of the fisherman.  They just kept giving us gifts of fresh fish so you can guess what we ate for the next four days, and Tina does not even like fish meat.. ;)   With contact details swapped we hope to catch up with them in their home port of Valdivia in April.  We had one more anchorage at Isla Kent the evening of 23rd March to shelter from some strong northerly winds, then departed once more for Golfo Corcovado.  Leaving Golfo Corcovado also signified our officially leaving Patagonia for the Lakes District of Chile.  Our time in Patagonia was incredible and we were sad to leave, but as always we are looking forward to what is next.

 

We arrived in Puerto Montt on the morning of the 28th March, 13 days after leaving Puerto Natales, and set about sorting ourselves out for the next few weeks.  The plan is to get the yacht lifted and paint the anti-foul and hull, amongst other things, before sailing north once again.  It´s been a while since we took some time out and TLC for the old girl for which she so rightly deserves considering what she has got us through in the last few months.  Tina also leaves us here in a few days as she has to return to Australia for work and the real world…. Good luck with that ;)  Otherwise we all are well and though it will be a lot of hard work we are looking forward to our stay here.  Let´s see shall we……….

 

Matt, Rohan and Tina……..

 

Photos on the way….