Pos: here
Loc: Caleta Sierra
Acc: tent
Dist: 35,7 km
Start: 9:00 End: 17:20

Tomorrow:
Estimated landing: Limari Sur
Estimated starting time: Right after sunrise
Estimated landing time: Well before sunset

Yesterday night, two local fishermen came by for a chat with a red truck which we already saw on top of the cliffs on our 2 km turn-back. I wonder if they got confused about our direction we were heading tomorrow? But I think I could “tell” them we just had a look at Caleta Mala…
They also dragged 3 dogs along – a huge shepherd dog, a tiny beasty one always barking at the shepherd and chasing him away, and a cute puppy with no mom…

The puppy behaved cute like puppies do, and unlike the two others who were easy to chase away, he stayed curious and sticked his small nose everywhere. The dogs were living here, the fishermen said, themselves they’d live “d’arriba”.
The fishermen went home, the dogs stayed…the small beasty one continuously chasing the big one away with barking in it’s highest voice. We got a full bag of sausages given by the youngsters who eventually left from their weekend stay, but Peter couldn’t eat them all, and this morning they got fed to the two small dogs! What a feast for them! But did they deserve it??

The whole second half of the night, the barking continued, in the highest and loudest dog voice you can imagine…eventually, finally, they got obviously tired of that “game”, and Peter went out for a pee. Did he leave the zipper of the apsis a bit open, or did the cute puppy sneak inside the apsis later? When Peter woke this morning, he found a very tired rolled up small bundle lying in his apsis, obviously feeling very safe here from the big dog chasing them. He probably was also missing some parents…

But we had to leave the place and the puppy behind, and launched into a headwind day. 15-10 knots, not that much, but enough to stir uo the swell again for some hours, and enough to make the reflecting waves from the cliffs ugly.

A huge field of about 80 windmill generators reminded us to our area at home where we were living – they are still quite a new way of making energy here! I even saw on the highway on Saturday a Danish “Vestas” windmill in pieces just being transported to a field…

The paddling day was tedious due to the headwind, ad we opted to go in 4 km earlier into the very sheltered and inviting Caleta Sierra. Tomorrow will be following wind again, and we should be able to make it to Limari Sur.

The locals were greeting us with a bunch of curious kids and a few adults, this place here was not an abandoned summer place like Caleta Oscura, this was an alive small fishing village! About 10 boats were floating in the shallow harbor, and men were busy dragging their catch up the shore. Plus they were harvesting also sea weed here. we heard some chicken, and a few cows…what a life! But at some point I had to close the “show curtain”, means the tent zipper for some privacy…

The very local “harbor master” with an important looking hat paid his visit, and he reported in our presence to Coquimbo. All has it’s order! Even the smallest harbor need his master!

We made camp on a gravel beach a bit to the side of the village.Glad we didn’t decide to camp on the local “soccer field”, as it became busy this night!