09 February 2010; Chacabuco, Chili.

The Chilean town of Chacabuco lies tucked away at the end of a fjord and a fair distance from Puerto Montt and therefore we had an official arrival time of 10.00. This was our first full night inside the Chilean inside passage and I was quite happy with that as outside a whopper of a storm was building up. Building up very quickly, moving very quickly and being of great intensity. The weather map gave a wind indication of 60 knots or more and then you are talking hurricane force winds. Where we sailed it was windy, very windy, but nothing more than 35 knots, until around 3 am when we passed a side channel that was perpendicular to ours and directly in line with the open sea. It blew this storm force wind in with a sort of funnel effect increasing the wind velocity even more. So suddenly we had 70 knots of wind blowing around the ship. However there was no movement of the ship to accompany it as we were sailing in sheltered waters; only the howling of the wind around the ships superstructure gave away that is was extremely windy out there and of course the foam streaks on the water. 10 minutes later we had passed this side canal and everything was back to normal.

To reach the bay of Chacabuco you have to go through a small entrance (about 3000 feet wide) while making a 90o turn to port. As soon as you through this one another 90o turn has to be made and now to starboard. Normally that is not an issue but with 30 knots of following winds it is a different story, because the moment you change course that wind starts pushing on the funnel. So I put all engines and thrusters on line in case the course changes of the pilot would not work out and I had to take corrective action. However he made two very nice turns and then it was time to take over for the anchor maneuver. As luck would have it a large fishing boat lay on my pre selected anchor location and I had to shift to plan B. Not ideal as the water at that area was over 70 meters deep and that meant paying out a lot of chain. Also this location was more to the middle of the bay and that meant also catching more of the wind coming through a gap in the mountains opposite the town.

The metropolis of Chacabuco just over the hill.

The weather turned out quite good for the day, gusty winds at times accompanied by showers, not ideal but a lot better then being outside. We were able to maintain a safe tender service without any problems and that was the objective of all the work. The anchorage itself due to its great depth was not so safe, so I was called to the bridge several times, when yet again a strong wind gust came down the mountain. However the anchor held and the ship did not drift away. We call at Chacabuco for the tours and especially the tours going to the National Park nearby. The town itself is hardly existent. While I kept a close eye on the ship and its anchor position I was as well evaluating the situation of when we would get into the Pacific Ocean later this evening. Although the heavy storm was moving away very rapidly, there is always a heavy lingering swell and the Prinsendam would have to go through it. There is no other way to get south. After leaving Darwin channel, you have to sail through open waters for the night to get to Fallos channel for the next inside stretch.

Thus we decided to prepare for the worst. On departure the guests were alerted and the Chief Officer went on inspection rounds to see if all had been secured as I had sent out a memo to all crew earlier. By 9 pm. He could report that all was safe and secured. Ready for whatever might happen. We exited Darwin channel around 10 pm. and then got the swell full on the bow. The problem was that apart from the swell from this bad storm that had just passed, there was a second slower swell still lingering from a previous storm of a few days earlier. When those swells combined, it created really huge waves (I noticed one of at least 25 feet) and the Prinsendam slammed heavily on a few of them. So I reduced speed to 12 knots to give the ship a better ride.

The wind had died down nicely, there was only about 15 knots blowing when we got outside. However we will have to contend with the swell until we reach Fallos channel sometime tomorrow. While I am writing this it is 2 am in the morning and the ship is still moving considerably. I am waiting for the next course change and will then figure out a speed that will create the best and least ships movement. I might be in bed by 3am and that means it will have been one of those 24 hour days again.