Pos: here
Loc: Canal Costa
Acc: tent
Dist: 42,6 km
Start: 8:10 End: 16:00

The night “on the rocks” was better padded than expected and quite good. I had the light noise of the rain and waterfall near me to fall asleep. Getting up in thick fog and rain was not really a pleasure, but it was no reason to stay.

I got quite sucked out of the gap between the small and the big island, and was riding a strong current in the middle of the channel for most of the day. But against a headwind again, not as strong as yesterday, but still blowing around my ears with rainy showers. I paddled again mostly convenient 6-7 km/h, so no complaints abut the speed.

But paddling in the middle of the channel is quite boring, and the low view in the rain is not making it really more exciting.

When I was aiming for that small land spit on the left with the small island, it took a while to get out of the eddy of the big headland of Punta Pescadores on the right and into the main current again, when you can’t really see the landmarks early enough. The GPS chart is basic again in this area here. I should have stayed more left.

But paddling eventually through the gap of the land spit and the island was a fun pleasure in a moderately rough tidal race. It was like a tongue going through the gap, to the right and left you could see the heavy back eddy flowing.

Five boats were passing me today, I think most of them were belonging to those floating platforms I saw in the distance where they have some salmon business, what I have heard. I didn’t come close to any of them.

After passing the wide area where four channels cross and leaving Isla Raimapu to the right, I decided to paddle rather on the right side of Canal Costa than on the left. After lunch, the current would change, and I would have to find the eddy line close to the coast again, which is on the right side without big bays which may have made things ugly.

I eventually was hugging the coast, but without really knowing where and if there would be some beaches to camp. I found a beautiful sandy one in a small bay, but this was really too early to stop – 1 pm. Two or three marginal ones came up, and I had the hope to find at least in one small bay which was just about visible on my basic chart a reasonable beach, as the next stretch looked very straight on my chart.

The beach came…beautiful in the just coming up sun light after all day’s rain, white, clean gravel besides a wide river. I stopped, and looked at the watch and GPS track – was 42,6 km and 3.10 pm really enough to call it a day already? I was really thinking today I’d be paddling over 50 km again – if I’d be staying on the left side.

I was calling Peter for mental support – should I stay or should I go? I had seen no sun light all day, had a soaking wet tent and damp gear, and when would be the next beach coming? No idea…I got “weak” again, found more “excuses” to stay already, likeI started early, and if I’ll be paddling all days until Puerto Montt, with no likely weather day (the weather seems to be stable easy and mostly reasonably calm here in this area), I could rather take a bit shorter days each days instead of one or two full rest days…

Honestly, I’m as well a bit sick of paddling Fjordland, and maybe a bit worn out overall from the long trip. It can be so boring with green mountains allover, “Man sieht den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht mehr” (Can’t find the forrest for trees. E) is a well matching German proverb. And paddling in the middle of the channel with low view is not exciting either. Hopefully it will be a bit more interesting again the next days between smaller islands, and maybe a bit less rainy? I have to stay positive…

42.6 km is not *that* bad, and eight hours of paddling is a solid work day’s time. Plus making camp, drying gear, cooking, eating, office work and writing before I can even think of reading a few pages or repaint my toe nails…but I have also to calculate my food. 467 km to my hosts direct line close to Puerto Montt. So about 12, maybe 14 paddling days. I should have just about enough food, with a bit smaller rations of oats in the morning…and the gas can should be just lasting as well. I’m not even sure if I’ll check into Puerto Aguirre for possible food. We’ll see. If I’d know they are having fresh fruit…but I doubt it…