Summer finally!

Our cruising guide to this area says that once we are north of Golfo de Penas, summer is actually a possibility. It has been so! Five days out of the week since that passage have been blessed by sunshine, warmth and reasonable winds. We rarely even feel the need to run the furnace any more.

The desire to make a few memorable SCUBA dives is now able to occupy more of our attention as survival and safety demand a bit less.

Of course it is still not easy! We wanted to dive a site immediately next to a current-swept channel. The current generally promises more vibrant life as the sessile invertebrates have more food delivered to them.
Our cruising book promised a secure tie-up amongst the trees just next to the channel we wanted to dive.

The first problem was that the aforementioned current swept laterally across the opening to our little mooring cove with such gusto that there was no way to line up to back in to the spot. We waited about an hour for the tide to reverse at low water and tried again. The nook was so narrow that the plan was to anchor and reverse to a point just outside the opening, run several lines ashore and winch ourselves into the opening under perfect control. We needed the anchor to hold firmly to the bottom until we were all the way into the protected cove and had four lines securing us to trees. That would leave us immovable and out of wind and current.

After the first line was secured ashore and the rocks very close, it became clear the anchor was not holding to the rocky bottom. The hurried disconnect from our first tree went well and we escaped unscathed just before the tidal current returned sweeping in the opposite direction. On to plan "B". Of course, there is always a plan "B"!

We secured ourselves deeper in the bay with anchor and shore lines but, alas, too far from the desired current-swept channel to dive the site we wanted.

But, of course, we dove anyway along the rocky shore we could reach. We had been a bit tired of dive sites dominated by only one life form - typically the galatheid crab or squat lobster - and we entered the water hopeful of change. There WAS change but no real variety. In thirty minutes of swimming about in depths of six to twelve meters, the bright pink rocks were carpeted with fluffy white metridium anemones. They were far thicker than summer wild flowers on an alpine meadow but, alas, there was little room for anything else in this rather magic scene. The for-sure, though, is that the next dive will be different; that's why we go down and take a look.

The bonus of the day was not underwater but above. A large colony of sea lions graced a rocky islet just outside our bay. Every bay or channel offers something to see!

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At 2017-12-07 23:08 (utc) our position was 45°24.96'S 074°01.65'W