After a few weeks cleaning up and preparing in Puerto Montt, we were ready to explore again. Roger and Ulli arrived December 15 to spend Christmas and New Years with us, and to see the San Rafael Glacier.

We headed out on a lovely summer morning for Isla Mechuque. Sealions seemed to be everywhere and we saw a few large ones near the salmon farm, or salmonaria, at the entrance of the canal that splits Mechuque into two islands. It was a gorgeous evening.

The following morning was the long, weaving trip to Castro. We made a lunch stop at Dalcahue, a lovely town along the east coast of Isla Chiloe. On Saturdays a variety of vendors come to sell their wares, ranging from handicrafts to used clothing. We have found fresh produce and wire animal figures. It's always fun to visit the people and browse through the stands. Then there's the restaurant area, seen as the building with the steeple in the photo. Here, it is possible to indulge in a variety of Chilote cuisine, but if you're on a low cholesterol diet, forget it! The salmon is delicious, as is the merluza (a hake like fish). Better yet for those on the high fat diets, there is a delicious (albeit very greasy) potato cake with meat inside. Better eaten hot!

Castro is always one of our favorite locations to visit. The Copec station is nearby, so refueling isn't too difficult. The attendants at the station have even been kind enough to loan us tanks for refueling (very trusting as they take the new tanks off the shelves and don't charge us!). We have enjoyed the kindess of the Chilean Armada office. Some of the younger officers and ourselves have had a wonderful time practicing one another's language, and they have given us some wonderful insights into the training of Armada officers.

Our next stop was Isla Quehui, now a frequent visiting place for us. The location to the east of Isla Chiloe makes it a good "jump off" spot for the 8-11 hour trip to Bahia TicToc on the west side of the mainland. This trip is always one that we hope for a little luck with. It's a long stretch, about 60 nautical miles, but open to the swell of the Pacific Ocean at the tip of Isla Chiloe. Fortunately, our timing was good and we had a quiet crossing.

Bahia TicToc is always interesting, and we always spend an extra day to explore the wildlife. The penguins were still braying at night, and we spotted a pair of steamer ducks. The weather was glorious, just what we needed, especially for my next task!

Boat life is always with its work component. Those who think we sit and drink cocktails all day should join us and see what really goes on! This time the aft head (toilet) was not behaving correctly. It had clogged up a few times and was letting off a most horrible odour. I decided it was time to take it apart. Indeed, the entire lining of the septic lines were coated with about 1/2" or more of calcium deposit! This despite flushing the system with acetic acid. After some "practical" research, it was clear that acetic acid does work very well in dissolving this material, but that we should be using at least one litre each week. Anyways, at one point during this exercise I had to swim for our septic hosing, which fell overboard. Very, very cold water indeed!

Our next destination was Isla Gemmel, in Canal Jacaf. The Isla is just off of the mouth of a long, deep fjord (estero), occupied by several salmon farms. The workers at these farms live in floating houses located at the end of the salmon floats. They spend several weeks in isolation, feeding the fish, cleaning the pens, and generally looking after the facilities. It's difficult work in isolated areas that are very exposed to the elements and weather.

The next few days cleared up and we enjoyed some hiking in the park Ventisquero Colgante just outside of Puerto Puyuhuapi. Another good place for provisioning, and quite surprisingly, there's a private marina with docks in immaculate condition! Marina Puyuhuapi is able to provide electricity, water, and fuel can be delivered using tanks.

We arrived in Puerto Aguirre in time for Christmas. It was an overcast Christmas morning, but in keeping with what we knew for a northern hemisphere Christmas. No snow, but overcast with rain - just like Victoria. Port Captain, Jaime, came to visit with his family and his assistant, Alex, joined us. We kept our radios on VHF 16 and HF 2182 during their visit, just in case they were needed.

After recoving from our Christmas festivities, we had to get moving to Chacabuco to pick up our New Year's crew. We rounded the corner of Seno Aysen and made a "lunch stop" at Cinco Hermanos where it is said to have hotsprings. Well... more like hot water bubbling up into the ocean. Unfortunately, a salmon farm had placed itself right infront of the best location, so we had to dodge around the mooring lines to investigate the springs. Steam rolled over the ocean surface, with a hint of sulphur in the smell. Bathing was out of the question as the water would go from about 5 C to bloody hot in unpredictable waves. After pulling my leg out of the water, it resembled the shell of a cooked lobster - rather red... Nope not worth it, but one heck of an interesting experience!

We spent the night in the well protected Caleta Dagny, with its massive mooring. This is one of the best spots (okay, it's the only spot) to stop along Seno Aysen. It's easy to get trapped in Chacabuco as the weather funnels down Seno Aysen, and we have found ourselves doing 0 knots (seriously!), hacking our way into the protection of Dagny.

Through various experiences we have determined two ways for securely mooring in this beautiful Caleta. The mooring buoy is large and hard. If there is weather, it presents no problem, but without something to keep the boat off of the buoy, it will chip paint from our aluminium hull. The best solution has been to use our Fortress stern anchor and position Darwin's Passage so that her bow points out towards the Seno. The predominant weather comes from this direction, and the holding for the stern anchor is very good. The second method, used in better weather, is to use the mooring can (yes, there's a second one to the west of the bay). Because it shallows quickly in this area (all mud) we anchor and back down on the can, using it for a stern tie. This leaves us in a better protected area than the more centrally located mooring, so we ride a little steadier, but the 3 metre depth on the south side of the can makes us a little nervous - we draw 2.2 metres!

Puerto Chacabuco was crisp as we motored in. We dropped anchor in the east corner - bad mistake. Puerto Chacabuco is not particularly good for anchoring as the rachas can cause havoc, and this particular time I had to reanchor DP several times. I was greatful for the cockpit windlass control as running the 49' length of DP to deploy and raise the anchor by myself would have been a pain to say the least!

Roger and Ulli headed off to the airport to collect our crew while Barry organized fuel and groceries. We received a call that "half an eagle has landed". Okay. Didn't sound good. Turned out that of the Jeremy and Edith combination, we only managed to get Edith. Poor Jeremy had put out his back before leaving and was in too much pain to be able to come! But at least we had Edith!

As by some bizarre luck, as we left to Estero Odger we encountered a pod of Killer Whales. Great introduction to the south for Edith! We enjoyed exploring Odger with it's clover-leaf end and the thick, overhung branches. King Fishers swooped from branch to branch, and flowers hung over the water, tantilizing hummingbirds to visit. As it began to drizzle, we half expected dinosaurs to emerge from the dense, coniferous forest.

We still had overcast weather and Ulli was coming to the conclusion that the Andes mountain range was in fact a group of flat topped hill. We forged our way through the first of the two narrowings into Laguna San Rafael - Paso Quesahuen - and managed to time things okay. The currents were strong, but we were on the flood. Camerson's dolphins joined us for the ride. The second narrowing - Paso Vidts - was a little more challenging as the passage is very narrow. We had our first view of icebergs, and the game of "find the navigational marker". It felt rather like a puzzle, but we eventually figured it out. Why the markers are white in an area full of floating icebergs...

The tide was changing and we had to get into Rio de Patos for the night before we found ourselves fighting the currents of Rio Tempanos, not to mention the drifting icebergs. The entrance was a very unlikely spot - a tiny openning amongst trees and mud. The GPS said this was it, but ye of little faith. I launched the dinghy. Sure enough, this was it. But as an example of the changing conditions in this area, the proposed anchorage according to Gooch & Staple's RCC Pilotage guide would leave us in the mud at low tide. We passed the tourist boats for the Skorpios, which are used to take tourists closer to the glacier face. We turned around at the elbow, not wanting to venture further. Good thing for this as we later discovered that the river shallows considerably from this point, and the turbidity of the water allows for zero visibility of depth. We tried to anchor in 15 feet - right in the middle of the river - but our 65lb delta refused to set. Four shore ties, one from each corner, worked well.

What a bizarre place. Low, gnarled trees, many dead from dry rot, and marshland to the west. We had had nothing but overcast, wet days, and we were hoping that the following day we would get some kind of glimpse of the glacier. Surprise! The following morning we had the first sunshine in two weeks. Not a cloud in the sky. Remarkable! And so the day began.

We left the security of Rio de Patos into the flow of Rio Tempanos. The current was strong and icebergs sizzled past us. The variety of the sculptures was amazing. A cat here, a dinosaur there... Oh look, there's Snoopy! Or was that a rabbit? The colours ranged from white, intense turquoise, bright green, to deep blue. And the textures.
We loitered around watching and listening to the glacier while navigating through the ice. Smaller, clear pieces tinkled against our aluminium hull like chimes. The day began to warm, and the glacier was calving. Huge chunks of ice crashed into the ocean. We would hear a crack or a rumble, and off would fall a tremendous mountain of ice. Then the wash and the ice debris. We stayed 1/4 nautical mile off. Then we moved off for lunch. Time for a barbeque! On went the ribs, and the bottle of champagne was openned. We collected glacial ice for Pisco Sours later. It was a brilliant day.

To see more photos of the calving glacier, please follow this link...

It was sad to leave, but we had to start for our anchorage for the night. We discovered that we were having a problem with our main alternator - we were not charging. While I was down below in the engine room, a Catamarans del Sur tour boat careened past us at high speed, throwing ice chunks and swell at us. The engine room was not a comfortable place to be at this time! Obviously, the captain of that vessel could take some lessons from the Canadian and US navigation and safety rules.

We made Caleta Lynch with plenty of light to spare. The fully protected anchorage was warming up and, for the first time, it felt like summer. We found a good BBQ beach, and that evening did a clean up of the beach using our fire. We were amazed at the amount of plastic, particularly bags from salmon food, that had washed up or been left behind. Before we left the beach, we had cleared almost all signs of human contamination.

The following day continued to be warm and beautiful, and we were running downwind! Out came the sails, and we coasted along in a gentle breeze. Oh, what a day! At last, Ulli saw mountain peaks! Lots of them! Snow capped and high up. We pulled into Caleta Gato, a suitable final stop for Ulli and Roger, who had left their two felines to the care of others for this vacation. Another well protected anchorage, Caleta Gato is at the southern side of the entrance to Seno Aysen.

Before leaving Roger and Ulli for their travel north, we had to make a stop at Punta Tortuga. Operated by one of the salmon farm companies, Pesca Chile, there are hotsprings at this site. We had called ahead and were permitted to use them. Furthermore, we were offerred the use of the dock to leave Darwin's Passage for 2 hours.

The pools were beautiful, surrounded by stones and overhanging branches of flowers. There were about eight different pools, each of a slightly different temperature. No smell of sulphur, and beautifully maintained. We were sure to send a donation for the use of the pools when we returned to Puerto Montt.

After leaving Roger and Ulli with their transportation to the airport, we started out of Chacabuco. The weather was turning and we barely made it to Caleta Dagny to wait it off. Once things settled, we aimed back for Gato. The weather cleared again in the following days as we retraced some of our steps back north.

We sprung off to the Guaiteca Islands this time, just south of the gap below Isla Chiloe. We circumnavigated Isla Valverde, which appears as a single island on the charts but which are, in fact, two islands separated by a channel that widens in the middle. What appeared to be a large channel between Valverde and the island to the west turned out to be quite narrow, but we still had 20 feet of water below us. The area was devoid of obvious animal life, except for seabirds. Not even a sealion. We crossed back over towards the mainland when we noticed sails in the distance. Then Martin came on the radio "Darwin's Passage... Darwin's Passage, this is Pilgrim"!

We followed Pilgrim and Cosadia into Seno Gala. We were a few minutes behind and watched as the two boats disappeared into a bay. Then one of them came out. Then the other. Then one went back in. Ummm... first we thought they were being polite, waiting for us to choose anchoring spots. Perhaps we would raft. But later we discovered that it really wasn't clear which of two bays was actually Caleta Karina. Whichever way, the one that they chose turned out to be perfect. It was a little more open, but we could fit the three boats easily, and an emergency exit was clear. We dropped anchor and tied two crossed shorelines for spring. Pilgrim rafted to Cosadia. Then off exploring! We took the dinghy while everyone else took off in kayaks - what a brilliant idea! The barbeque would be aboard Pilgrim that night and we met some wonderful people who would become good friends - Pablo, Mario, and Francisco.

We headed north to Isla Refugio where we encountered a pair of blue whales, the first we had spotted this season. We had a better "penguin explore" in Bahia TicToc, and were privy to some marvellous sunsets. The braying continued, although the number of penguins visible on the shore were fewer.

We left Edith in Castro, where she took a bus to Puerto Montt and visited with friends. As for Darwin's Passage? We wanted to visit Caleta Pillan in Estero Renihue before heading back to Puerto Montt.

In Pillan, there is an estancia that produces honey and jams. We navigated Estero Renihue, but were hardly prepared for the entrance to Caleta Pillan. We had understood that it was important to stay 10 metres off of the cliff wall to our port, but we had no idea how blind we would feel. As we made our approach, our B&G depth gauge started flipping between 2 and 20 feet. The Interphase Probe, meanwhile, read a speckled black pattern. Talk about operating blind! The water Darwin's Passage was in was a turbid turquiose, but it was impossible to see beyond 6 inches depth. To our starboard the water was a milk chocolate brown - it looked shallow. Back to old methods. I pulled out the plumb line and started throwing the lead. Nothing in 30 feet as we approached. Time to launch the dinghy. Our newly purchase Pirahna depth sounder would pay for itself this trip. The milk chocolate brown was still 12 feet deep, soft mud by the looks of it. But stay near the wall. It didn't help that the current was with us. DP shot around the corner into one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. There was the estancia in full sunlight, surrounded by green and yellow fields. The snow-capped mountains behind peaking over to watch the activity below. The depth rapidly dropped to over 100 feet, and we started looking for possible anchorages. Nothing. One small, rocky corner, but we had to get around a rocky ridge first. Okay. Thirty feet. Down went the delta and out came the two stern ties. The large horseflies were a nuisance, but not so bad. They only seemed to appear in the heat of the day.

We had a wonderful visit ashore where we met Karen and Carlos, who help to run the place. The following day, Susan gave us a tour of the factory - small but very modern. We were sure to buy some preserves, which we enjoyed immensely. That evening we were invited to a fogon barbeque across the bay at the home of Douglas and Kris Tompkins. They were very kind and very interesting.

Unfortunately, we had to leave when conditions were good and we were a little anxious considering the adventures of our arrival. At 0700 the following morning, the seas were flat and we simply motored out. The light of the sunrise across the mountains overlooking Pillan was undescribable. A mystical place.