Petersontravels

Our next stop on our way up the Chilean coast was the city of Castro, which is situated on rather large Chiloe Island. We had some beautiful skies as the sun rose while we were still en route to Castro.

There have been so many great photo opportunities on this cruise it’s been hard to keep track!

Once in Castro we had an excursion with Turismo Pangue, a local operator. We originally were going to book via Viator but we worked out a deal by booking them direct and paying in US cash. Our guide was Magdalena and she was excellent!! Our first stop was the gorgeous Tocoihue waterfall. There are two very short hikes to get the view from the top of the falls…

…and then the bottom of the falls.

We then ventured to a long boardwalk that leads to tiny Aucar Island, known as the Island of the Sailing Souls. It was named by a local writer that compared it to a ship who’s dead sailors await to set sail.

It was surprisingly crowded, and it wasn’t even a weekend.

Here is a shot looking back from the island. Yet another gorgeous day in Chile!

On the island is this gorgeous church which was unfortunately closed.

These buzzards were lurking on the cross of the church, which gave it a rather foreboding feeling, like a setting of a Stephen King story.

One last shot as we departed the island.

On the way to our next stop we ran into a little bit of traffic.

We then stopped at another church, this one the Church of Colo, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000. Note the buzzards on the cross. WTF?

The interior is quite colorful, and the ceiling is said to mimic the hull of a ship.

We’ve seen a lot of these small ship models hanging in the altar space of the churches in South America, a tribute to the local fisherman.

Guess what we visited next….another church! This is the Church of Tenaun, yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site. A total of 16 churches on Chiloe Island were declared World Heritage Sites in 2020.

Once again the ceiling is said to mimic the hull of a ship, a trend here on the island.

The final stop of the excursion was in the small town of Dalcahue, where we had plenty of time for lunch and a little bit of shopping. Be cautioned, there isn’t a lot of English spoken here, but our guide helped us translate like a pro. My first impression when we arrived was “they have their own version of Pier 39 here”.

The town has it’s own UNESCO World Heritage church, and best of all, no buzzards! I will say I was unimpressed with the church interior, to the point I didn’t even take a photo. This town needs to up their game!

We had the tour guide drop us off in downtown Castro, which was only a 10 minute walk back to the tender dock. Just off the central square is our last church of the day, the UNESCO World Heritage Church of San Francisco. Built in 1912 completely out of native wood with no nails and using only traditional carpentry techniques.

The wooden interior is stunning!

Coming up, we visit out last excursion port of the cruise, Puerto Montt, Chile, where instead of churches we see plenty of volcanoes!

After departing Punta Arenas our ship spent two days cruising the Chilean fjords. While these fjords are pretty, they are nothing compared to the Norwegian fjords. Regardless, there were some interesting spots along the way. As I was watching the scenery go by I spotted this shipwreck.

This is the wreck of the SS Santa Leonor, which ran aground in 1968. It started it’s life in 1944 as the USS Riverside, a US Navy Transport ship that served briefly at the end of WWII. The ship transported reinforcements to Okinawa, arriving just two days before the war ended. After the war the ship was decommissioned and sold to a Chilean company to transport cargo. I was surprised that the bridge crew didn’t get on the PA and let everybody know about the wreck!

That first sea day it pretty much rained the entire time, but at least there is a positive to that rain.

The second day was cloudy and cool, but clear enough to produce some nice views.

I was impressed with how extensive the fjords are along the coast of Chile. They definitely allowed us to avoid any rough seas.

There were literally a thousand waterfalls along the way.

Yet another incredible rainbow!

The sunset on our final night was excellent!

This is the view from the ships tender of the small fishing town of Puerto Chacabuco, which really has nothing to see, but is an excellent starting point for excursions.

We had a bit of a confusing time trying to find our guide in this port, and I wouldn’t recommend them at all, so I won’t mention them here. We boarded the crowded van and our first stop was about a half hour away, Cascada La Virgen, a pretty decent waterfall.

Decent enough that we had to get a photo to prove we were there.

We had another stop to view the Simpson River, which is apparently a fly fisherman’s paradise The sun came out just in time.

This is a view of our next destination, the largest city in the area, Coyhaique.

We stopped in Coyhaique for about 45 minutes, so not really enough time to have lunch or do any serious shopping (the major downside of the tour I selected). I did take 15 minutes to walk to the best wine store in town!

I asked the owner for his best 4 bottles of Carmenere, what has become my favorite Chilean wine (think Pinot Noir with the heft of a Zinfandel). I was shocked at the prices! First up, an $11 bottle, followed by an $8, another $11 and finally the best he had at $20. Breaking the bank! I told him I wanted to move here!

There are excellent views of the surrounding mountains just as you exit the city.

Another part of our tour was going to our tour guides house to have German cake and coffee. This was NOT in the description that I read. Pretty odd, so no photos or further mention required. Our last stop was this bridge over the Simpson River, that mimics a bridge I’ve seen elsewhere?