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The sun is peeping through an opening to the south. Between the next mountain and that sunshine is another rain cloud and a curtain of rain drops between us and the blue skies over the southern ice field. It sweeps down the fiord and sprinkles new moisture over our already soaked camp. |
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It is another morning where we dressed immediately in our wet suits in the vestibule of the tent. This morning, as in many other mornings, we shared our dressing room with a collection of biting black bugs. Not as fierce as the black flies of Canada but most annoying none the less. Perhaps that is the inspiration for Julio's Chief Bunga Bunga impression with the loggers helmet and face shield that we found the previous day at our break spot. |
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We leave camp in sunshine and a 15 knot headwind until we reach the west end of Isla Theresa. Once there we turn east toward Caleta Tortel and our pickup tomorrow. The spirited paddle into the wind is rewarded with a little nice surfing on the downwind section. |
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.Caleta Tortel is built on the side of a cliff at the end of Rio Baker. The entire town has only one road coming into it from the outside. There are no streets in town. All the houses are on interconnecting wooden boardwalks from 10 to 40 meters above the harbor. The only sewage system here is a pipe leading down to the water. As a consequence the harbor is quite polluted. There is some tourism here but the town seems quite forlorn with so little source of work. There is some fishing and some logging, but most of the citizens depend of government stipends. |
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At the far end of the boardwalk, which must be at least a half mile from the parking lot, is another long boardwalk that leads out to a small campground with picnic tables and a latrine next to a large sandy beach. A channel from the many part Rio Baker delta comes by the north end of the campsite. While we are camping there several caballeros come by, their high stepping spirited horses making the sand fly as they pass. Several other horses are staked out to eat the grasses growing on parts of the campground. |
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By the time we finished exploring the harbor by kayak and then set up camp, it is almost dark. We walk into town but everything is closed for the evening. By the time we finish walking the entire length of the boardwalk it is almost dark. We go back to the camp and spend the night with some strong winds but no rain for a change. |
Continue the trip...........
Back to the start of the trip...................
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