We planned to leave the anchorage in Puerto Antão as early as the first daylight would strike in the morning, which would be around 7:30am. For my surprise, our delay wasn’t that much and by 8am we were already lifting anchor!

Our departure time was crucial: we needed to pass the 20nm Chacao channel with the outgoing tide, which started at 7am, to avoid 3 or 4 kts of current against us.

Our departure was perfect and we enjoyed the 8kts boat speed we were doing, effortlessly, while leaving Chacao channel behind. It was a glorious moment: we were leaving Patagonia behind and entering the Pacific Ocean! We officially concluded this chapter of our trip! And we started a brand new one: The Pacific Crossing!

Exciting!!! Time for new - and warmer - adventures! A change in scenery is always good! Time to get ourselves tanned again 😬

Once out at the sea, we met the big swell that we were expecting, and surprisingly it wasn’t that bad.. 2,5m waves, long period. Only  Christopher felt a bit seasick, but we gave him medication in time and he was soon playing again 😃

We had a smooth downwind sailing through the day and a calm and cold night. We even had to switch on the engine because the wind was to weak and we were more wobbling around than moving forward.
 
The wind never really came back, but at least the waves only got smaller :) by the morning we were arriving on almost flat seas - and with a thick fog at the entrance of Valdivia River.

Our Friends from SV Boaty McBoatface, SV Long John Silver and SV Rantje were all in Valdivia and very happy that we were coming! Thanks to Starlink we organised a bbq for our arrival, we even invited another sailing yacht that was sailing close to us, some Chilean guys that we met in Puerto Montt minutes before leaving the marina. They wanted to go to Valparaiso but also had to enter in Valdivia because of the bad weather that was coming next day.

The mood onboard of Songster was great! Since we left Puerto Montt, 3 days ago, it has only been sunny, including the morning of our arrival in Valdivia. After more than a week of non stop rain in Puerto Montt, we were happy to see the sun again! And looking forward to arrive and be reunited with our Patagonian cruisers friends ❤️

By the time we actually entered Valdivia river the thick fog was gone. We followed the buoys marking the channel and we were welcomed by everyone on the dock, ready to get our lines. It’s doesn’t happen so often that there’s so many friends waiting for your arrival at the dock. It’s was a ver special moment and a good ending for a easy and smooth sailing trip.

Puerto Montt to Valdivia (Part 2)

Crew

Crew Logs

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