41:16.0 S  76:30.0 W

Greetings all from the Pacific Ocean!

We were excited and relieved on 4 May to re-launch Providence back into the water at Puerto Montt.  It had been an intensive but rewarding time on the hardstanding at Club Nautico Reloncavi doing such jobs as anti-foul and painting, rigging work, engine exhaust, electrical gremlins, steering bearings, lots of cleaning, sail repairs, winch servicing… to name but a few!

She certainly looked like a different boat from the one that came out of the water, and we look forward to posting some photos once we are back in the world of decent internet.

Thanks again to Meghann our Aussie friend who joined us for a couple of fun filled weeks helping with the above.  Very appreciated and we will catch up one day, somewhere, for another beverage or two!

During our time in Puerto Montt we realized that our Chilean visas were due to expire so we were ‘forced’ to spend the weekend in Bariloche: an Argentinian lakeside resort famous for its chocolate and spectacular views.  We made the most of our time with some walking and mountain biking (as always.. photos to follow!) and it was fun meeting up with our friend Nancy from Mar del Plata.

After completing the inevitable last minute jobs, we departed Puerto Montt on Tuesday 7 May to head north for warmer (and less rainy!) weather, and we are now 500 miles south of Vina del Mar (resort town near Valparaiso).  We have a new crew mate, Julie, from England who has joined us for our adventures north.  Quite a baptism of fire as we entered The Pacific through Canal Chacao in some less-than-ideal conditions (it can only get better..?!?).

Finally, we would like to mention that, despite all the hard work required to get Providence back up to speed, we really enjoyed our time in Puerto Montt thanks to the great people we met.  At the risk of mentioning just a few new friends: big thanks to Chris and Margie on yacht ‘Storm Bay’ (Tasmanians!), Thomas and Frauke on yacht ‘Walkabout’, David the expat-local-fixit-man, Christoph our French friend, and of course Carolina our new Chilean friend J

Will write more soon…

Rohan, Matt and Julie