Limbo: February 2014

Limbo and crew left Club de Yates Higuerillas around 10:30 a.m. January 16^th. She had been hauled and pressure washed giving us optimum hull speed. The yacht club offers 7 days free dockage, which we extended significantly due to weather. There was a regatta of German one design boats our first week there and in talking to a couple of young captains, I told them we were waiting on the wind to die down before departing further south. This got a chuckle and a snort! They said 35 knots was common and we might be waiting till next year…. Yes, we are aware of the common wind conditions, we just did not want to start out in it. Once you’re out and it pipes up, you deal with it, it’s the starting out in it that makes us question our sanity (I’m grateful Captain Don has the foresight to not do this because it usually takes hindsight to make me question mine).

For our cruiser friends reading this, an overall review of the facility; our 21 days slip fees, haul out, and pressure wash was approximately $995.00 US. Fuel in Chile has been averaging $4.85 US gallon. All in all a good facility, buses easy and plentiful, shopping good; laundry was expensive but available, potable water available at the docks. Check in and out was done at marina, no need to visit office of Armada. Assistance from staff at the marina, excellent.

Day three of our 485 mile passage to Valdivia, 9:40 p.m. and dusk is finally upon us. It has been a lovely, calm three days, no sailing only motoring. So glad we waited for a calmer start.

full moon

January 19th 7:44 a.m. we are at the mouth of the Valdivia River with a heavy fog that had plagued us since daybreak. Slowing speed, Captain Don proceeds with caution. He had always wanted to try his fog horn and while I was standing watch on deck he turned it on. I think I jumped out of my skin and back! I couldn’t hear if he apologized or not but I did notice a bit of devilish grin… Horn working, Limbo and Windarra fall in behind a ferry boat from Niebla heading up river.

fog at the mouth of Valdivia River

The fog can be beautiful as it blankets the land with a cloudy mist, then slowly rising, revealing the curvatures, topography of what lies beneath. How beautiful the view. This is the first green coast land we've seen since Ecuador. Rich, Elaine and Don all from the northwest, marvel at the similarities between their home state of Washington and Chile.

Two hours later, fog forgotten, under a vibrant blue sky, air crisp and cool, we tie up in a slip at Alwoplast, www.alwoplast.cl. They manufacture catamarans but also offer slips, a boat lift, minor repair work, potable water at the docks and 220V electricity. Amazed at the timing, for we had just finished securing both boats, Limbo and Windarra, when the armada boat appeared to take us to the office in town for clearing in. Simple and quick, we are officially in Valdivia. Lunch and a walk-about now our priority.

Valdivia has a strong German influence and with that comes beer! I haven’t met a boater that doesn’t consider themselves somewhat of a beer connoisseur. “Kunstmann gute bier” signs all over town, their brewery hit top of the list to visit. They offer a sampling of the 11 beers they make, so we ordered 2. The regions specialty is crudos; raw, lean hamburger meat served with onions, peppers, and tartar sauce that you spread on sliced bread. We ordered a large to share. (I still can’t believe I ate raw hamburger, the whole time my mother’s voice ringing in my head, don’t eat raw meat!) The other house specialty was a bowl of mixed sausages, pork and beef covered with a layer of french fries. (Can you say cholesterol?) They offered a tour which we declined because we needed a good walk to clear our arteries, or a nap. Guess which we opted for? Other noted places of interest for Valdivia are the chocolaterias. The largest is Entrelagos. Simply walking past the doors and window displays can capture the senses and demand your attention.

Beer samples

Rich and Elaine from Windarra

crudos

Both Windarra and Limbo were going south and wanted to see marina options for wintering our boats. Sailing season in Southern Chile and the Patagonia area is only from December to February, maybe the first of March. We do not know if we can see all we want and make it around Cape Horn with the time we have left.

We decided a re-con mission in order to check out Puerto Montt, the marinas there and some of Chile’s interior lake region. Car and hotel reserved, we left on another beautiful sunny day for a 4 hour drive to Puerto Montt stopping along the way at areas of interest, one such place being Frutillar on the coast of Lago Llanquihue. A German settlement, we walked along the water, shaking our heads at the brave souls taking a swim. We ate in a German restaurant where I had wiener snitzel for the first time

kept looking for the little boy and girl to come out the window when the clock struck on the hour - they did not

super cute three wheeled coffee truck - my next job (ha)

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Lunch, walk about, pictures taken & back in the car miles to go. We drove around the lake and onto Puerto Montt. The lovely weather did not hold as we looked at marinas in the rain. End of the day marinas looked at, we headed to the Hotel Manguehue. A fantastic find Elaine had arranged. The first night there offered an all you can eat sushi, lucky us.

There was an annual regatta this same weekend of our arrival so we were not able to reserve a slip at any of the marinas but was assured that by the 15^th of February there would be plenty available.

The following day the guys went to the Armada’s office gathering information on anchorages, checking in and out procedures while Elaine and I wondered the artisan shops like tourist.

no stop complete for us without looking at the fish market

fresh flowers and vegetables

After an inclusive breakfast at our hotel, Captain Don visited with the bar manager to find out about the wine we had with dinner the previous night. He got a full lesson in Spanish on wines from Chile, her personal favorites with the best place in town to buy it, the supermercado JUMBO. The following is a reprint of her favorites: Viña Casa Silva, Pérez Cruz, Viña Montes, Manso de Velazo, & Misiones Renga Reserva, Adobe Reserva and Oveja Negra Cabernet Franc Carmenere Reserva 2012. The Jumbo had a vast selection of wines as well as many items we as Americans,ok maybe just I, consider staples, i.e. peanut butter. The malls here in Chile continue to amaze me with selection:

We enjoyed the evening sampling the wine selections from earlier in the day with Rich and Elaine, and two of their friends, Margie and Chris from s/v Storm Bay of Hobart, Australians actually from Tasmania. (I had never met anyone from there before.)

The next day was our drive back to Valdivia stopping again at points of interest, the most mesmerizing being the view of Volcan Osorno, a snow capped peak, 8700 feet. We took RUTA 5 to Cochomo and Cochomo Valley, ate at an obscure but delicious restaurant called Otilla, took some pictures, walked a river bank, and stopped to photograph a beautiful waterfall we’d spotted from the road. The end of a great trip ended with provisioning for our departure from Valdivia.