Preparing to Head South

We are getting ready to leave Puerto Montt and head south. From here, we expect to be in more remote places for the next three or four months. There are a few bigger towns, like Puerto Natales and Puerto Arenas, between here and Ushuaia (Argentina), but we don't know when exactly or even if we will visit them. Stocking the boat with provisions means buying and stowing enough food for five people for a few months. In addition to a few other projects this week, we have visited a variety of stores in Angelmo and Puerto Montt.

Porter standing in front of his favorite food stand where we bought 3 kilos of fresh mussels (the ones on the right) for dinner last night and paid less than 10 bucks. With 2 pounds of pasta, that was a brilliant meal for five.

 Smoked salmon. There are several stands like this that sell smoked fish. Most of it is salmon raised at the fish farms that fill the bays around Puerto Montt

This woman sells the best sausage we have found in the area. We also bought some of the smoked pork in the foreground because it will keep for a few weeks and will be a nice change from eating seafood. Scroll down to see a photo of the sausage hanging in Sila's main cabin.

We have frequented the cheese, fish, shellfish, vegetable and sausage stands of Angelmo many times. And of course, on the way out, we stop and buy Alfajores on the way out. The owner of the store knows us well now and gave us several extras during our last visit. Alfajores are plain two plain cookies with a thick layer of manjar (Chilean dulce de leche) in between then, dipped in chocolate. Que rico!

It may not be France, but the fresh bread is still a treat and a very cost effective way to feed two growing Barnes boys. 

Here is the Rabbit enjoying an empanada from our favorite vendor in Puerto Montt. They are filled with meat and onions but also have a couple of surprises inside: a whole olive and a complete half of a hard boiled egg.

Loaded down with several bags and backpacks of provisions, Porter and Jack ride the bus back to the marina. The next big project would be to dip most of the fruit and vegetables in a mild bleach bath to be sure we don't bring any bugs on board. And then we had to stow it all!

Two hammocks in the main salon, filled primarily with apples, but also carrots, avocados, oranges, pears and lemons. The ready to eat bananas and the sausage also hang from eyes on the ceiling

 We had to add another hammock in the back of Big Jack's cabin.

 Green bananas hang outside under the arch

 This is a picture of the aft lazarette- the big locker behind and below the cockpit. In the two red bags, we are storing 25 kilos of onions and about 20 kilos of potatoes.

 40 pounds of cheese live in baskets that hang under the floor in the main salon. Don't worry! We have 10 pounds of cheese more accessible in the ice box.

 Each of the lockers by the table are completely filled with food. This one is the pasta and ramen locker. And the overflow of pasta can be found in duffel bags underneath the bed in the forward cabin.

 Butter and wine! This space under the floor board will stay nice and cool as we sail into increasingly cold water. We have been told that we can trade these half liter boxes of wine to the local fishermen for fresh fish and shellfish as we travel farther south. And if we don't find people with whom to trade- no problem, we will, um, cook with the wine!

Wine and butter under one floor board, chocolate, werthers, and swedish fish under another.

 This particular locker is filled with 25 kilos of beans: black beans, lentils, pinto beans, some sort of white bean, and lots of chic peas.

The icebox itself is filled with no ice, but a wide variety of food: 6 dozen eggs, smoked mussels (pictured above), smoked pork, a little celery, cheese, some peppers, and a few essential condiments like dijon mustard and strawberry jam.

Of course, preparing to leave Puerto Montt is not all about provisioning the boat. Here you can see Big Jack sharpening the tool that we expect to need to cut kelp off of the anchor chain. By the way, Big Jack is Jack Fields, an alumnus of RMS 17 who also was an apprentice at HMI during our last semester there. He will be sailing and living with us for the next three months.

Big Jack has already proven himself a great addition to the Sila crew as he is eager to take on a variety of different kinds of tasks. Two nights ago he cooked a delicious dinner- Jack's Jambalaya, complete with local sausage. And in the above picture, he is making a protective case for the kelp cutter, which we will need to store in the forward locker while sailing. 

Coming back from the Lider (think Super Wal-Mart), we opted for a cab rather than two buses and a long walk. Notice that the driver has about 50 miniature smurfs hanging from the ceiling liner. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Puerto Montt area. Seeing soccer games, eating emapanads in the street, going for walks around town and hikes in the hills above the marina, and generally changing the pace after nearly two months of offshore sailing. But now we are all ready to leave the marina and head south into more remote channels and islands. The wilderness of the Chilean fjords lies ahead and we now have the food, fuel, water, and energy to go explore it! -Molly