A Passage in Pictures

Still in Algarrobo. Look at that clean bottom!

Sea Rover II has been on passage for 15 days and has ~650 nm to go before reaching Puerto Ayora in the Galapagos. The passage has been slow and rolly, two of Gary's least favourite things. While no one is seasick anymore, the Captain still finds it difficult to sit down below at the Nav Station to work on the computer. Instead, the Crew have been sending me select photos from their trip. In lieu of a written post, I thought I'd share the passage so far in pictures. 

As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words"...

Prepping the boat for passage. 

Motoring out of the marina in Algarrobo. Bye bye Chile! Thank you for a wonderful 6 years!

First boat invader! Brian and the Squid.

Watch your step!

No land in sight!

A new invader! Allan and the first flying fish. Must be in the Tropics!

Motoring along in light air...Brian and Gary.

Algarrobo, Chile to the Galapagos - Week 1

As conditions on board Sea Rover for the last week have left a bit to be desired, Gary has asked that I write a few posts about their progress to date. He and I have been talking daily, thanks to Starlink, which is switched on once or twice a day when they are running the engine to charge the batteries. It has been nice to communicate by means other than just emails sent through the satellite phone. It is so different from our last ocean passage in 2018!!

I think all on board would agree that the first week was a hard one. Algarrobo is not a protected port, and so once you are out of the shelter of the marina breakwater, you are in the full ocean swell. To make it worse, wind conditions were light, but the sea state was significant (over 7 feet with a 7 second period - perfect barfing conditions). Gary and Crew Brian and Allan all succumbed to the mal de mar fairly quickly. In an effort to get off the coast and find some wind, they motored a fair amount the first few days. Even though Starlink was running a lot of the time, we didn't hear much from the Crew. After a few days of this, they decided they needed to conserve fuel and so the boat went dark while they bobbed in the waves and all privately hoped to die. Here are some snippets from some of Gary's emails: "The first week was as expected, brutal. 2-3 m seas with no wind.  What wind we did get was luckily not as forecasted and came from the bow otherwise our progress out of that zone would have been even slower. We had a few things break on the engine and a couple of sailing blocks explode which kept us all busy fixing things when we weren't barfing.  None of us ate anything but dry crackers for the first 3 days."

South Pacific dive at 30S76W

But then things started to look up. The promised wind started to fill in and their stomachs started to settle. By Sunday the boat was moving, food started to be consumed and spirits started to look up. Then the first 'issue' happened. Our MaxProp refused to feather, and after repeated attempts to get it to lock in place, Gary thought 'oh oh' and looked out the back of the boat. Yup, they'd caught a line. Here is the story in Gary's words: "Yesterday we finally made it into some good consistent breeze and had the potential for our first 100NM day. That was thwarted by a blob of poly rope snagged on the prop causing the prop to rotate and heat up the gear. We had no choice but to dive the boat in 2 m seas and no way to slow it down below 1.5 knots. After an exhausting 3 hours in the water I managed to clear it without drifting away from the boat much to the relief of the boys tirelessly managing the many lines attaching me to the boat." 

Happy New Year from Sea Rover!

"Today (December 31st) we finally seem to be getting in a rhythm. We haven't had to change the sails since this morning and there is talk of raiding the snack cupboard for a post dinner snack. We are doing 2 hours on, 4 hours off which seems to be working for everyone on board. The boys have stepped up their game in the kitchen so we won't starve."

Thanks to Starlink, I was able to ring in the New Year with Gary on a WhatsApp call. He was able to talk to a small group of us for a few minutes before the clock struck midnight. I think the Crew were able to connect with their families as well, so it was a special moment for all.    

The wind continues to blow (apparently things are 'sporty' on board at the moment) but they are making reasonable time and distance north. From the tracker it looks like they are about a third of the way there. Fair winds and following seas. 

Permission Granted to Leave Chile!

Sea Rover and Crew in Algarrobo

Despite some paperwork hick-ups, Gary and Crew Brian and Allan managed to successfully leave Chile on Christmas morning en route to the Galapagos. 

Sea Rover's boat visa expired at the end of September, but due to a number of issues, we knew we would not be able to go down to Chile to sail her away until December. In July we started the process to request a 3 month boat visa extension. We sent in our request and received a nice letter back stating that we had to wait until the visa expired before we could formally request the extension. So, on September 30th we sent in our request. And heard nothing. We flew down to Santiago on December 1st and rented a car from the airport. This would enable us get to Algarrobo, a 1.5 hour drive from the airport, where Sea Rover was patiently waiting on the hard in the Confradia Nautica del Pacifico marina. But more importantly, it would also enable us to drive to the town of San Antonio, an hours drive south of Algarrobo, where the nearest Aduana (Customs) and Immigration offices are located. 

As we were very concerned  about Sea Rover's official status in the country, we immediately headed to the Aduana office in San Antonio after we arrived. San Antonio reminded us a lot of Puerto Montt - a working port and definitely not a tourist destination. The drivers are impatient and generally insane. After a very scary drive through town, we found the office and went in to find out what we needed to do to make Sea Rover legal. Thankfully one of the staff spoke excellent English and we were able to show her our previous correspondence with the Aduana in Punta Arenas, where our last boat visa had been issued. The wonderful staff immediately got in touch with the Punta Arenas office and promised they would get it sorted in a day or two. And true to their word, we received our extension until December 30th a few days later. There had been talk of us potentially needing to pay a fine, but the extension letter didn't mention it and we didn't hear anything further so we assumed everything was in order.

On December 16th we returned to San Antonio to start the official clear out process. I was flying back to B.C. on the 17th and would be returning the car to the airport and we hoped to have all the San Antonio trips completed before Gary no longer had a set of wheels. Gary's first stop was the Aduana, where he was informed he couldn't clear out until we had paid our fine. No problem, he said, but we haven't been contacted about a fine. Could they tell us what it would be? He would happily pay it that day. Of course fines are dealt with by a different department, the 'Illicit Traffic' office, to be precise. While this office had been contacted by the Aduana a full 10 days before, they had not responded to us. The kind Aduana staff contacted the Punta Arenas office again, who then contacted the Illicit Traffic office, who then assured us we would have the fine by the end of the day. The end of the day came - no fine had been received. No fine was received the next day as well. On Wednesday, Gary emailed the Punta Arenas office and was once again assured that the Illicit Traffic office had been contacted. Nothing was heard on Thursday. At this point our Crew were running out of jobs to do on the boat and were getting antsy. Spirits were low as they wondered if they would ever be allowed to leave.

On Friday Gary found his way back to San Antonio on public transit. He returned to the Aduana and pleaded his case. The next week was Christmas, and if he couldn't get this sorted before then, it was very likely we would overstay our visa extension, which would cause an even bigger problem than we already had. Despite it not really being their problem, the Aduana staff once again went above and beyond to help. One of the staff, who also thankfully spoke a bit of English, started making phone calls. After a long day of backing-and-forthing, the fine was agreed upon and issued. Thankfully it was reasonable and Gary went to the bank and paid it right away. As the Aduana was closed for the weekend, he returned to the boat (on the 'chicken bus') to make final preparations to leave early the following week. 

Gary and Crew Allan and Brian

On Monday he was back in San Antonio. The Aduana cleared the boat and stamped the official exit paperwork (known as a zarpe). The visit to the Immigration office was a bit rocky, but in the end they also stamped the zarpe. Another trip to the Port Captain's office, and Sea Rover and Crew were cleared to leave the country.

The boys set sail the next day. As conditions have not been conducive this last week for sitting at the computer for long periods of time, Gary has asked that I write a few posts on his behalf based on his texts and emails to me. Stay tuned. 

Change of Plans

As all good sailors know, sailing plans are made in the sand at low tide. And such it is with us. We had, of course, planned to leave Chile and sail the boat to Ecuador this season. Then Ecuador declared a state of emergency in January due to the rampant drug crisis, which meant we had to change our final destination from leaving the boat on a mooring ball in a river (used to be very safe) to pulling her out of the water in an uber-fancy, expensive marina in the heart of gang-land. Then Sea Rover needed much more TLC than expected to get her ready for the challenging, 2500 nm sea voyage we had ahead of us. This took a huge amount of time and energy. Then we got the price to enter Ecuador back from the agents, which was somewhere between $2000 and $3000, just for the privilege of clearing in to the country – to a place we didn’t really want to go. Then the season started to change and the comfortable weather windows for traversing the Southern Ocean were becoming fewer and farther between.

When we put it all together, we decided that maybe we had done enough for this year. Maybe it was time to think about a change of plans.

The plusses of leaving the boat in Algarrobo:

1.    We made it out of Patagonia, where travel is dictated very much by the weather. We are now far enough north that we aren’t weather-dependent. According to the pilot charts, the wind and seas are similar in April and September so there is no advantage to leaving now versus in the Chilean spring.

2.    We had a chance to explore some of our favourite places this season. We actually enjoyed our time in Puerto Montt – it surprised us with its hidden beauty. And we loved checking out old haunts in Valdivia, a place where we have very fond memories.

3.     We discovered an interesting, cool new place. So far we like Algarrobo. It is a resort town with an interesting malecon and lots of heladerias (ice cream shops). It has an abundance of interesting wildlife, from penguins and blue footed boobies, to pelicans and marine otters.

4.    The marina is top notch. The yard guys are professional and know their stuff. The climate is ideal: 15-20oC in the summer with no rain, 5-10oC in the winter with some rain (but only about 20% of what they get in Puerto Montt).

5.   El Nino might be over in the fall and the Humbolt Current will be back to carry us north.

The negatives of staying in Algarrobo:

1.    We are delaying our inevitable departure from Chile.

2.   Conditions might not be favourable when our boat visa expires in September and we are asked to leave.

We carefully weighed the Pros and Cons and decided to haul the boat out for the Chilean winter.

Sea Rover and friends

While having foreign Cruisers haul out here is not the norm, the marina has been gracious and accommodating. We hauled out on Friday morning with a minimum of fuss. They blocked the boat better than she has even been blocked before (Gary was delighted). And, best of all, Sea Rover will not be lonely this winter. She has lots and lots and lots of little new friends to keep her company!

We will be returning to Piers Island at the end of the week where we will rest up and dream about the adventures that next season might bring.

Champagne in a can...delicious!

This brings Season 10 to a close. Fair winds and following seas. See you next year. Cheers!

Algarrobo

Cofradia Nautico del Pacifico

Following a tough passage from Valdivia, we have spent the last few days licking our wounds in Algarrobo. We had been given some intel about the marina before making the decision to come here, but still didn’t really know what to expect. A google maps search showed a resort town, and indeed the first thing you see when you sail in from offshore are the miles and miles of tiered hotels on the seemingly endless beach. But as you get closer, you can see it is much more than that.

Bird sanctuary in the marina

The marina itself is situated in the middle of a National Park that was obviously formed after the marina had been developed. To generate the marina, they made a breakwater between the shore and a very large, distinctive white rock. As it turns out, this rock houses a colony of…..PENGUINS!!!! Yes, we have Humbolt Penguins living 100 metres away from us. They look a lot like the Magellanic Penguins in the south, but they have slightly different markings. There are also hundreds of gulls, pelicans and other shore birds that call the rock home. Things get noisy in the evenings.

Humbolt Penguins - found on the coast of Peru and Chile

Back to the marina. It is quite small and as mentioned in our last post, uses a med-moor type tie up system for all the boats. Despite the breakwater, the big seas just outside the walls do make their way into the basin in the way of surge. The mooring system alleviates any issues that would occur if they were using a regular dock-finger type system like we are more used to. Plus, they can fit in more boats. This is not a Cruisers marina. All the boats here are owned by locals (ie, people from Santiago) and are used primarily for day sailing (yes, out in the big, 2.5m+ swell just outside the walls – as I said before, Chilean sailors are crazy). In addition to the bigger sailboats that are kept in the water, there are fleets and fleets of different kinds of race boats lined up out of the water. There are also small sailing dinghies and a few powerboats. On a weekend, the place resembles the Jericho Sailing Club with people doing every watersport imaginable. It has been fun to watch. During the week, it has just been us and the marina workers. They all seem a bit perplexed that we are here, but have accepted it. The facilities are more geared to day use than overnight, but there is a large bathroom with toilet and shower stalls. Unfortunately there is no laundry… I think we are back to hand washing for a while. Sigh.

The local beach on Easter Sunday

The marina is at one end of the National Park. From the gate, there is a trail that travels for a couple of miles along the shoreline to another large, white rock (probably filled with more birds…). There are a couple of stunning beaches in between. We went for an exploratory walk on Easter Sunday and were expecting to have the trail to ourselves. We came around the corner to….thousands of people on the beach! It was a sea of umbrellas for as far as the eye could see. We watched the people for a while, then walked up through the neighbourhood back towards the marina. It is a nice little town that reminds me of a mix of California and the Galapagos. The backstreets in the neighbourhood are sand, not paved. And it has a sunny, ‘California’ vibe. We haven’t walked the whole beach yet as I’ve been busy this week with work, but that is on the agenda for one day soon.

We are slowly recovering and enjoying our interlude in this quiet place.

Shakedown Cruise #2

After a bumpy ride from Puerto Montt to Valdivia, we were ready to re-explore the town where we first arrived in Chile 6 years ago. The marina was much the same, and much to my delight, one of the marina dogs, Samantha, was still around. Like me, she is older and grayer, but seemed happy to see us again. 

We spent our time wandering around the town. We had a delicious banana split at the EntreLagos chocolate store, visited a few of the local fish, fruit and craft markets, caught up with some old friends and made some new ones. Gary was excited that the movie Dune was still playing at the local theatre. We thought we were being smart by going to see the English version (with Spanish subtitles), but it turned out that much of the movie was spoken in a weird alien language instead of English and so the Spanish subtitles didn’t really help. We did our best, but we may need to watch it again as I’m pretty sure we missed some key information. Overall, it was a relaxing week. 

Typical street market in Valdivia

As a weather window started to open up the week of March 25th, we began discussions on next steps. Even though we had run the engine for a solid 30 hours on the trip up to Validivia, Gary was concerned about leaving for a long offshore passage where checking on and working on the engine would be difficult. The new engine belts and a bolt or two were all quite loose by the time we pulled into the marina in Validivia and he expected he would have to make a few more adjustments after it had run for a few more hours. As such, we decided to do a second Shakedown cruise to the town of Algarrobo, 450 nm north of Validivia. 

There is a small, local marina there, with a haul out facility. Algarrobo is just south of Valparaiso at latitude 33oS (same as Santiago) and effectively out of the Patagonian ‘weather’ zone.

The weather window looked good. Seas were expected to be mostly from the south between 1.7 and 2.5 m, with winds in the mid-teens to early 20’s from directly behind. Sounded pretty perfect. 

We planned to leave at first light (ie, 8am) on March 27th. As usual, things didn’t go as planned. We were up early to do the final preparations. As it was Gary’s birthday, I was making a special batch of banana pancakes. Halfway through cooking the propane sensor went off. I shut everything off and waited for Gary to get back from the shower. We did some quick troubleshooting to determine whether we had an actual propane leak or if the sensor was malfunctioning. We had an actual propane leak. It was like Sea Rover didn’t want to do the passage... We determined that the leak was on the tank side and not at the stove, so we pulled apart our very carefully packed back lazarette and got to work. Gary found the cracked fitting and spent the next few hours replacing the defective part. We put everything away and were ready to go again. 

We said goodbye to our new friends at the marina and were motoring down the Validiva River just after 2pm. By 3:15 we were in the open ocean and hurtling along at 8 knots with winds on the beam. The Crew instantly felt ill in the big swell and so the Captain manned to boat for the first few hours. The Crew dragged her carcass up on deck by dusk for the beginning of our 3-hour on/3-hour off watch schedules. As the evening wore on and we made our way north, the wind and seas clocked around to be directly behind. Unfortunately, the short period of the waves and the brutal cross swell made for an ugly and uncomfortable combination. Doing anything below was out of the question. By morning the seas were up and the motion even more uncomfortable. The Southern Ocean was not going to let us go without making us remember her awesome power. I was awoken on Thursday morning by a particularly violent wave that caused our 3-tier hanging fruit basket to blow apart. I spent the next 10 minutes in a groggy daze chasing avocados, tomatoes, plums and Easter eggs all over the inside of the boat. After securing them the best I could in one of the lee clothes, I dragged my carcass on deck for my watch while Gary gratefully fell into bed. As so it went. It was too rough to cook so we ate what we could grab from the fruit basket, although neither of us felt hungry. I hadn’t intended to give up caffeine on the trip but ended up doing so as it was too hard to boil the kettle. Trips to the bathroom were a nightmare. Sitting down was fine, but we were literally beaten to a pulp for the 10 seconds needed to pull up our pants. I had read an article years ago where a woman described this bathroom experience as being in the ‘hurt locker’ – an apt description. You’d think you were in a good brace position but then a sneaky wave would come from the opposite direction and you’d find yourself hurtling in a whole new, unexpected direction. It got to the point where we both stopped tying to undress when we went off-watch. We lay down in our foul weather gear, with our boots and life jackets still on. The seas moderated a bit on the second night as we were blanketed by a thick, drenching, bone chilling fog. A meal was eaten and we both got a bit of sleep. But the seas and wind were up again the next day when the sun finally burned off the fog. 

Despite the hardships on board, we made good time. By Saturday morning we were beginning to believe that we might make it into Algarrobo by dusk. We shook out a reef, sucked it up and pushed to get there in daylight. Sea Rover seemed to want out of the mess as well as she bore down and picked up speed. By 5pm we were rounding the headland and heading towards the marina. 

Walking the plank

And then came a new challenge. Weekenders!! Despite the 2.5m seas and breezy conditions, there were people out on the water doing everything you can think of – paddle boarding (on knees), sailing in small dinghies, small and big sailboats, jet skis, water skiers, kite surfers, etc etc. God Chileans are tough. Gary didn’t know which way to turn. We finally made it to the mouth of the marina, not having a clue where to go. 

Luckily one of the marina guys saw us coming and made the correct assumption that we needed help. He jumped in his dinghy and came out to meet us. The marina uses a med-moor style of docking that requires you to grab a mooring ball at the bow and then back into a dock, where you then tie up. I told the guy we had never done this before – he said ‘no problema’ and beckoned us to follow him. He took us to the far end of the marina – this required an act of faith on our part as we could see that the fairway was getting narrower and narrower and there would be no way we could turn around. For once the wind gods were with us and had piped down to a gentle 7 knots, which made things much easier. With the help of our bow thruster and the marina attendant, we got attached to a ball, and Gary managed to back us up to the dock where another kind soul was waiting to take our stern lines. We were fully moored by 6:00. Phew.

Time to rest, reflect and think about next steps. And to explore Algarrobo which supposedly has the worlds largest swimming pool!

Out of the Roaring Forties!

Well, we did it. We managed to get Sea Rover II back into the water and on her way North. 

Sea Rover going back in the water

We had a less than auspicious start. We had tested the engine while on the hard to make sure that is would actually run. No problem - she started on the third try. A few days later, on Tuesday March 12, they put us in the water, we turned the key.... and nothing. The engine turned over but didn't really try to actually start. We started going through the checklist. Is it getting diesel? Yes. Is there an airlock. No. Is there an issue with the starter? No. But wait, the glow plugs aren't working. Why? Hmmmm. Hard to troubleshoot properly when you are sitting in the slings with 3 yard guys standing around waiting for you to get your boat going. After a long painful spanglish conversation, the yard guys agree to tow us over to one of the outside slips in the marina so we can sort ourselves out. Great. They drag us out, drag us close to the slip, then let go of the line and let us coast into the slip. Thankfully all the yard guys were all there to catch us and it went off without a hitch. We (ie, Gary) then started to troubleshoot the problem. To make a 2 hour story short, he figured out that the wire to the glow plugs in the control box had broken and was hitting the case, which shorted out the start solenoid. A new wire fixed the issue and the engine started right up! Yippee!

The next day (Wednesday, March 13) Gary put the engine through it's paces and all seemed well. Thursday we completely rigged the boat, from going up the mast to pull out all the halyards (we sky them up the mast when we leave to boat so they don't bang and can be kept semi-clean), putting on the genoa, putting on the main, installing 3 bags of lines (ie, all the running rigging), and fully soaping and cleaning the deck. It only took 12 hours...did I mention that I also worked 8 hours at my day job that day?

Friday, March 15. The weather window to move North that we were watching seemed to be holding so we headed to the Port Captain's office to obtain a zarpe (exit papers) to Validivia. After a 1.5 hour wait (we are convinced this was part of a social experiment) it was done and we were officially cleared out of Puerto Montt! We paid our bill at the marina, did a bit more shopping, went out to dinner with some friends and then put our exhausted selves to bed.

Goodbye Puerto Montt!

Saturday (March 16) morning. Prepared to leave at first light (7:45 at this time of year). Delayed by a huge rain squall with a beautiful rainbow - a fitting way to leave anywhere in Chile! After the squall had passed, we quietly slipped away. Winds were light, but we were OK with that as we wanted to test the engine. A 6 hour motor southh brought us to beautiful Puerto Abtao, where we shared appis with Swiss neighbours also heading to Valdivia on the same weather window. 

Sunday morning (March 17). Left just before first light. Almost got the damn mooring ball stuck under the boat! But thankfully it popped up just as I was truly starting to panic. We got it and the anchor on deck, and officially began our first offshore passage of the season.

To leave Patagonian waters, one has to traverse a 20 nautical mile pass that funnels all the water from the southern Pacific Ocean through a 1 nautical mile wide area. Currents can run up to 8 knots in the channel and so it needs to be timed. We had an 'exciting' entry into the area 5 years ago when we first arrived in Chile, where we encountered huge standing waves that knocked the boat down, causing our salon table to topple over (yes, it was our fault as we hadn't gotten around to screwing the floorboards down in our haste to leave Validivia on a favourable weather window). Thankfully nothing 'exciting' happend on this trip. We lamented during our transit that this would likely be the farthest south Sea Rover II would ever be again (41o49' S), at least with us as owners. Hopfully it is all north from here! 

Marina Estancilla, Valdivia

The penguins and albatross led us through the pass and into big, confused seas on the ocean side. Right. We remembered why we don't love passage making. We hoped the seas would settle out a bit once we got out of the mouth of Canal de Chacao, but it was not to be. We had confused seas with a main swell of 2.7 m from the SW and a 0.5 m NW swell which magnified it every 2nd to 3rd wave. Did I mention we had 10 knots on the nose most of the night, so there were wind waves in there as well? It made for a long day and night. The Captain didn't fare well, but the Crew was smart and took seasick meds before we left. While the Crew didn't want to spend a lot of time down below, she didn't actually feel sick. Needless to say, the planned lunch and dinner were not eaten and the Captain spent a lot of time lying down. The Crew snacked on power bars, crackers and peanut butter, chips, fruit. It was a violent night where the waves tossed the boat around - you never knew which direction things would be tossed. I thought I had done a reasonable job at securing everything, but I definitely missed a few things, which made themselves known by hurling themselves from one side of the boat to the other. Sigh. We stood 2 hour watches so sleep was at a premium, but the little bit we both got was the good, solid sleep of the truly exhausted. Sometime between when I went to sleep at 4am and got up again at 6am, conditions had moderated to a gentle roll. By sunrise we officially crossed out of the Roaring Forities (latitute 40o-50oS) and into the (hopefully) calmer 30's. 

By noon (March 18) we were in a slip at Marina Estancilla, almost 6 years to the day of our first arrival in mainland Chile back in 2018. We cleared in with the Port Captain, caught up briefly with old friends we'd met 6 years ago, and are now ready for a good nap. 

The Captain and Crew need a few days to recover and will enjoy the quiet and peace of Validiva, which will be a nice change from 7.5 weeks living in an acitve boat yard. We will be watching the weather and looking for a window to move north starting next week.