Friday, January 20, 2012

Boardwalks and termales

After a late evening at the Fundo Los Leones Lodge in Chile, we had a late morning start and did not leave our sunny anchorage until 11:30 to head for a group of about 7 islands, where there is a fishing village perched on the rocky banks of 2 of the islands and about 2 km of boardwalks joining the buildings and islands.

Click on photo to enlarge and see adjoining boardwalk

We set anchor once again at 20:15 on January 18th at Grupo Gala (S44°15.301' W073°12.522') where right away a fishing boat came over and gave us a fish for dinner. We have found Chileans everywhere to be so very friendly and hospitable.

It was our first windy anchorage so Jordan tied a stern rope to the foundation of a gazebo on a tiny rock island in front of the village.

Luminescent green water where shallow

The next morning, we strolled the boardwalks and footbridge that spanned the little channel between the 2 islands. The walk was not just horizontal - we climbed stairs up and down. Boardwalks and stairs are everywhere!

Bright blue and white boardwalk crossing the landscape

We left around noon on the 19th, motoring past the east side of Isla Refugio and then heading first up Canal Jacaf and then up Canal Puyuguapi. With light winds blowing, we put up our bright orange spinnaker, but as the winds picked up and became fluky, a gap wind suddenly gusted and blew out the spinnaker. We had just had a new sail bag made for it in Puerto Montt (cheaper than what it would have cost us to buy material). Oh well, the spinnaker was a bit too large for Sea Turtle so now when we get it repaired back in Puerto Montt we will ask to have it made a bit smaller.

We saw several blue whales today that were quite close, and after about 7 hours of motoring and sailing, we finally tied up to a mooring ball at the 5-star Puyuhuapi Lodge & Spa (S44°24.882' W072°38.618') where we saw no sailboats other than 1 belonging to the Lodge owner. We quickly rowed ashore to soak in the termales (hot springs). Yachties are welcomed at this 1992 Lodge & Spa and can use the natural outdoor hot springs and other facilities, however the fees are expensive. What a treat in such beautiful surroundings. We were the only ones using the outdoor HOT springs right then.

Jordan soaking up the heat

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