Circumnavigation of Pozo Delfin

A few days ago, Porter and I had a fun adventure. We rowed in the dinghy around Pozo Delfin, the cove where Sila was anchored.

First of all, it was nice to have some time off of Sila. We have been on the boat a lot since leaving Puerto Montt. It has been hard to get ashore, so we don't go for hikes or walks as often as normal. Unfortunately, the anchorages where we have stayed have been too big for solo dinghy adventures. It was especially nice to have some time with only Porter in the dinghy.

A fun part of the adventure was circumnavigating Pozo Delfin. I learned that the word caleta means cove in Spanish. And a pozo is a very sheltered cove. Pozo Delfin has two long narrow entrances so it is well-protected from the ocean swell. This meant Porter and I could row around the entire thing by ourselves. We rowed around the perimeter of the cove doing small hops from beach to beach.

On the beaches, we did some looting. Looting is when we pick up the discarded junk that we might be able to use. By the time we got back to Sila, we had collected lots of old line and rope, a large mesh bag, some foam, a bottle for crabbing, and a frigate bird skull with the top half of its beak still on it.

While we were rowing, we noticed that the water in Pozo Delfin was brown. When we dipped the white oar in the water, it looked orange near the surface and then brown as it got deeper. Porter hypothesized that the color came from tree roots that were in the water. Later, we noticed a creek that was even browner than the ocean. We then realized that the brown water was coming from the creek, not from the roots in the cove. This made the rowing adventure more interesting because it was not just looting and getting off Sila but it was an adventure with several layers to it.

Big Jack told us about an otter he had seen in one of the Pozo Delfin inlets. We went to investigate and saw it swimming from a distance. We thought it disappeared and we were about to leave when we saw it again on the rocks near us. This time, we could tell that its slick fur was light brown and its tail was as long as its two-foot body. I especially liked seeing its small paws and twitching whiskers. I had never seen an otter outside of a zoo before this and I thought it was fantastic to see one that close in the wild.

When I set out on the rowing adventure, I was expecting to go to one or two beaches, walk around, and then return to Sila. Instead, it transformed into a memorable, two-hour adventure with many different elements that were all fun.
-Jack Rabbit