OCC CRUISING INFORMATION SERVICE

Editor: George Curtis, Blacksmiths Cottage, Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire, OX11 9DQ, England

Tel/Fax:+44 (0) 1235 850794; e-mail cis@oceancruisingclub.org

OCC COUNTRY PAGE:

CHILE

Submitted by Beth Leonard

March 2008

 
1. Formal requirements for yachts entering from abroad:

Every foreign yacht must enter at a Port of Entry where, in theory, it will be boarded and inspected by Immigration, Customs, Marine Health and the Port Captain. Practice varies depending upon the port of entry. In Castro, for example, there are no Customs officials as of January 2008 so those arriving from offshore took a bus or ferry to Puerto Montt to clear Customs. In Puerto Montt, Customs searches random incoming yachts with dogs looking for drugs and guns. Health officials will confiscate the usual: fresh fruits and vegetables, refrigerated meats and poultry products.

The crew will be granted a temporary import permit for the vessel that is good for three months. It can be renewed without much difficulty every three months for up to a year. The renewal must be done at a clearance port, and is most easily done at a port with Customs officers. Renewals can take a week to ten days, so it is advisable to start the process early. After one year, the vessel normally must be taken out of the country for at least a few hours to avoid the assessment of import taxes and duties. This is easily done in the Beagle channel where Ushuaia in Argentina lies 30 miles from Puerto Williams, but can be a problem if the boat is in the north of the country. It is possible to get another year of renewals in the case of extenuating circumstances – engine trouble or crew not able to return to the vessel for health reasons. In some ports, a yacht left unattended for a long period of time can be put in bond with Customs, stopping the clock on the temporary import permit.

2. Visa requirements:

Upon arrival, crewmembers of any nationality will be given a 90-day visa. This can be renewed for an additional 90 days by paying US$100 per person at a port with Immigration officers. Alternatively, crossing the border into Argentina will restart the clock and can be done as often as necessary. Most cruisers heading south cross to Bariloche in Argentina before leaving Puerto Montt so they have a full 90 days to get from Puerto Montt to Puerto Williams. Similarly, cruisers heading north cross to Ushuaia in the Beagle channel before returning to Puerto Williams and obtaining their zarpe (cruising permit) to head north. There are a few places between Puerto Montt and Puerto Williams where the crew can gain access to public transport to cross into Argentina, however none of these ports is really safe to leave a boat on its own for any period of time.

3. Cruising permits and restrictions:

All vessels traveling in Chilean waters are required to have a cruising permit (zarpe). To obtain the zarpe, a formal letter must be presented to the Port Captain detailing the route the crew wishes to take through the channels. Many channels are prohibited by the Armada who wish to keep yachts along the commercial route (“ruta comercial”) for safety reasons. Any planned stops at ports with a Port Captain will require the re-issuance of the zarpe. It is best to be as general as possible in laying out the route in the zarpe – if a port is named and not visited it can cause problems, while slight variations from the route can be explained by the need to get provisions or find a safe anchorage. Be generous in your ETA – there is no issue if a vessel arrives early but vessels that are late can cause quite an uproar. Examples of zarpe requests can be found in the guides to the area.

VHF is compulsory in Chile, and lighthouses and the pilots on large vessels will contact yachts and ask for their information (often in Spanish) including their name, radio call sign, departure port (where they got their zarpe), destination port (where their zarpe has been issued to), ETA at destination port, number of persons on board, country flag, course and speed. They may also ask where the yacht intends to anchor for the night and how long the crew plans to stay there. All of this is reported to the Armada.

The zarpe specifies that yachts are to contact the Armada twice a day with a QTH (position report) at 0800 and 2000 local time. This is supposed to be done on HF radio (4146 kHz), but if the yacht does not carry an HF radio it can be done via e-mail. If the yacht is equipped with neither, the report must be made over VHF even if it is not heard by the authorities.

While the zarpe specifies the commercial route, the Armada does not care too much if there are deviations to secondary channels. However, certain channels are absolutely prohibited and yachts entering them have been towed out by Armada ships and then fined. These include Canal Barbara, a shortcut from the Straits of Magellan to the Cockburn Channel that leads to the Beagle and Canal Murray between Isla Navarino and Peninsula Dumas, a shortcut to Cape Horn from the Beagle Channel.

A separate zarpe must be applied for in Puerto Williams to sail to Cape Horn. This will specify the exact route and anchorages the yacht can use, and yachts are required to check in with lighthouses almost every step of the way.

4. Formal procedures when departing from one port and entering another:

Crews are expected to report to the Port Captain in any port with an Armada office. Once south of the Golfo de Penas, there are only a few settlements all of which have Port Captains: Tortel, Puerto Eden, Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams. While technically the zarpe should be reissued before the yacht can proceed, the Port Captain will often just sign and stamp the existing zarpe. If a new zarpe needs to be issued, the process can take up to two days, but is usually accomplished in a few hours. Yachts of 25 gross tons or more must pay a fee when entering and leaving any port in Chile. As of January 2008 that fee was US$41.40.

5. Recommended cruising guides:

Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego Nautical Guide (2nd edition) by Mariolina Rolfo and Giorgio Ardrizzi

Chile : Arica Desert to Tierra del Fuego (2nd edition) by Andrew O’Grady from original material by Ian and Maggy Staples

South American Pilot , Volumes II and III by the British Admiralty

In addition, anyone planning to cruise the channels should purchase the Atlas Hidrográfico de Chile, which contains all of the Chilean charts, full color and about one-third size, in a single volume. No other charts are sufficiently detailed or complete for safe navigation. Though beautifully printed and clear, the charts are reduced and require a good magnifying glass, preferably one with a light built in, for use underway. The Atlas can be obtained upon arrival in Valdivia or Puerto Montt from local chandleries for about US$100, or it can be ordered from Blue Water Books in the States for US$229.95 (www.bluewaterweb.com). Don’t plan on picking up the Atlas in Puerto Williams, though it can be purchased from ship chandleries in Punta Arenas.

6. Web links providing local cruising information:

http://www.sunstonesailing.com/chile/chilea.html

http://www.bethandevans.com/chile.htm

http://www.cruiserlog.com/wiki/index.php?title=chile

www.directamar.cl

www.meteochile.cl

7. Some of the Ports of entry:

From north to south: Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, San Antonio, Talcahuano, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Castro, Puerto Chacabuco, Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams.

8. Recommended harbours to leave your yacht for a month or more:

In Puerto Williams you can leave it tied to the Micalvi, a sunken barge that serves as the yacht club.  In recent years this has become increasingly crowded.  You can also leave it at marinas in Puerto Montt and Valdivia.

9 Recommended sources of weather and climate information and reliability:

With the exception of the GRIBs, all of the weather forecasting along this coast comes from the Chilean Armada. While the overall picture tends to be quite accurate, systems move so quickly that the timing can sometimes be off – observing the barometer and wind shifts will help to determine whether systems have moved faster than anticipated. The Armada issues an aviso de malo tiempo (bad weather advisory for sustained winds of 50 knots and over with gusts of 70 up to 100 knots). In the area around the Straits of Magellan, winds of this magnitude occur about once a month in the summer months and less frequently in the winter.

The Chilean Armada broadcasts weather faxes several times each day. Updated frequencies and times can be found in the cruising guides.

English-language forecasts are sent twice daily by Inmarsat C, at about 1330 and 0100. Spanish-language forecasts are read out by the lighthouses twice a day, usually around 1030 and 2230, but not to a definite schedule. The forecast is announced on Channel 16 along with a channel to switch to – usually 14.

Gridded binary files (GRIBs) can be downloaded direct from the NOAA site using HF radio equipped with a Pactor modem or a satellite phone. Though the GRIB files cover the open ocean and are not intended to show coastal effects, they are still quite useful in the channels. South of the Golfo de Penas, winds will be light to moderate west or northwest in the channels with even moderate southwest winds shown on the GRIBs. Northerly quadrant winds shown on the GRIBs will tend to be 5-10 knots stronger in the channels if light to moderate, and 10-15 knots stronger with higher gusts if strong.

10. Where to obtain tidal information:

The Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada (SHOA) produces N3009 Tabla de Mareas with complete tidal information for the country. It can be obtained at chandleries and from the Armada.

WxTides 32, a free shareware program, includes most of the major reporting stations and is accurate to within ten minutes between Canal Chacao and Cape Horn (www.wxtide32.com). It does not include the more inland reporting stations like Puerto Natales or Tortel, so those planning on some excursions off the commercial route should be sure to obtain the Armada publication.

11: How to contact the search and rescue organisation:

The Patagonian Cruisers Net broadcasts at 1200 UT on 8164 kHz USB. The controller calls for emergency or priority traffic before beginning the check in. The Armada monitors 4146 kHz at 0800 and 2000 local time for the QTH or for reports of any problems from vessels in the channels. In addition, major ports and lighthouses monitor 2182 kHz. We saw about one ship a day on average along the commercial route, and the pilot always offered to broadcast our position or any traffic to the Armada. Therefore, if you have a working VHF or HF radio, sat phone or e-mail, you should be able to notify someone of your location and needs.

12: Any comments on radio and communications:

As above, the Patagonian Cruisers Net broadcasts at 1200 UT on 8164 kHz USB. There is a Sailmail station in Chile which provides relatively good coverage for doing e-mail.

13. Any comments on emergency and health services:

Health services very good where available, which includes all large towns and the naval base at Puerto Williams.

With respect to emergency services, the Armada does everything it can to keep tabs on yachts so they will be able to locate a vessel in distress. But this is a vast area with almost nothing in the way of settlements and only a few Armada vessels, mostly in the Beagle Channel and Straits of Magellan in the south. Crews routinely spend weeks without speaking to any Armada vessels, freighters or lighthouses. When yachts have gotten into trouble, the Armada’s performance has been mixed, hampered as it is by the size of the area, the fierce weather, communication problems, and the frequent failure of yachts to report positions on a regular basis. The best way to be sure you can get help if you need it is to regularly report your position. But those cruising the channels should assume that if anything goes wrong, the crew will be on its own in finding a solution to the problem.

14: Any comments on importing spares:

Anything that can be sent in a box up to the size of a small book carton via regular postal airmail will be delivered to the final address, generally without having to pass through Customs, except in Puerto Williams. Larger items are more problematic. While yachts are supposed to be able to receive spares marked “Rancho de Nave” duty-free, the courier companies’ agents often charge duty anyway. It is best to contact the agent to make sure they will not charge duty before the part is shipped. Even this is not full proof, and many crews just ended up paying the duty rather than fighting with the officials.

In Puerto Williams, it is not difficult to get things shipped within the country. So if you can organize an address in Puerto Montt or Valdivia with a person who is willing to go to the effort, you can mail small boxes there and then have them forwarded to Puerto Williams via regular mail or Chilexpress, the next-day in country mail service (which means two or three days to Puerto Williams),

15: General advice, places to go, warnings:

The complex labyrinth of channels and islands that make up the Chilean channels average about fifty miles in width along some 1,200 nautical miles of coastline between Puerto Montt to Puerto Williams. Different parts of that coast have quite different characteristics. From Puerto Montt to the Golfo de Penas (from 41°S to 47°S), the summer climate can best be compared to southern Ireland or Nova Scotia with many days of bright sunshine, almost unlimited visibility and moderate winds from southwest through northwest. This varied cruising ground includes everything from the charming island of Chiloé with its own microclimate similar to Vancouver Island in British Columbia to the most equator-ward sea level glacier in the world at Laguna San Rafael.

Golfo de Penas is the one place where yachts must leave the shelter of the channels and head out into the Roaring Forties for an overnight passage to reach the southern part of the channels. From Golfo de Penas to the Straits of Magellan (47°S to 53°S), the weather becomes more challenging, the land becomes windswept and rocky and rain increases to some 300 days per year. Settlements all but disappear, and the few that exist are little more than fishing encampments. The 16,000 square kilometer Southern Patagonian Ice Cap (Campo de Hielo Sur) which lies draped across the Andes from about 48°30'S to 51°30'S extends blue rivers of ice down almost every valley to end in glacier faces at the head of almost every fjord in the area. The famed Torres del Paine national park can be reached from this area, though the windswept anchorage off Puerto Natales can be quite hazardous to small yachts.

Further south, the Straits of Magellan is a wild, rugged area with battered mountains, unpredictable weather and indifferent anchorages. But when boats reach the Beagle Channel at 55°S, they enter a different climactic zone with drier, less violent weather and another set of glaciers many of which calve into the Beagle itself or into fjords that open off of it. The southernmost towns of Argentina and Chile, Ushuaia and Puerto Williams respectively, both lie along the eastern end of the Beagle Channel, offering southbound yachts their first real options for provisioning, fuel and communications since crossing the Golfo de Penas.

Chile ’s location far off the main cruising routes makes getting there and getting away again one of the greatest challenges of cruising its intricate canals. The first question is whether to come down the Atlantic or the Pacific side of South America. While the run down the Atlantic is easier, the 1,200-mile voyage up the channels must then be made against the prevailing winds and currents. But once yachts have made the slog up the channels, the South Pacific islands can be reached with favorable winds and currents.

If coming down the Pacific side, there are several alternatives none of which are particularly easy. But once in the channels, a comfortable voyage south can be made with favorable winds and currents using less fuel and in less time than the voyage north. Once in the Beagle, those whose boats are up to a Southern Ocean passage can head for South Africa or Australia, but the easiest route is to return up the Atlantic.

One alternative for those coming from Europe or the east coast of the US who are interested only in Cape Horn and Antarctica is to come down the Atlantic side, cruise north up the channels only as far as the Straits of Magellan or Puerto Natales, and then to return to the Beagle before visiting the Horn and Antarctica and heading back up the Atlantic. This alternative allows cruisers to enjoy some of the best of the channels without getting into the gloomy, rainy weather and consistent headwinds (for northbound boats) that characterize the channels between the Straits of Magellan and the Golfo de Penas.

Those who decide to come down the east coast of South America sail down the Argentinean coast to the Straits of Magellan or the Beagle Channel. Contrary winds and currents, both very strong, make the Straits of Magellan difficult and dangerous to enter from the east, and Punta Arenas offers nothing in the way of shelter or facilities for yachts. The sixty miles from Cabo Buen Successo, the toe of Tierra del Fuego, to the Beagle Channel can be uncomfortable with large Southern Ocean swells, strong winds and fairly strong currents, but there are some good anchorages, so boats with plenty of time can make it through this area with minimal difficulties. Once in the sheltered waters of the Beagle yachts find much more favorable conditions than in the more open waters of the Magellan.

Two different alternatives exist for sailing the Argentinean coast, known for strong north/south tidal flows, shallow water and the north-flowing Falklands current. To avoid the confused seas that often result, many boats choose to make the trip from Mar del Plata at 38°S to the Beagle nonstop and well offshore (150-200 miles). The other alternative is to sail the 50-meter contour line under the shelter of the mainland where the waves never build up, and to put in to an anchorage if the weather deteriorates. The few anchorages on the 1,000 miles of coastline south of Mar del Plata are located up estuaries with strong currents, 15-20 foot tidal ranges and shifting sand bars. However, those who choose to stop along this coast will be rewarded with sightings of prolific wildlife including Magellanic Penguins and Commerson’s dolphins – about a third the size of Bottlenose dolphins with a striking black and white coloration.

The best option may be a mix of these two approaches. Sailing the 50-meter contour from Puerto Madryn at Peninsula Valdéz to Puerto Deseado at just north of 48°S does keep yachts out of the worst of the waves and weather, but south of that the contrary current increases to the point where the offshore route is preferable. By sailing the rhumb line route to Staten Island just north of 55°S from Puerto Deseado, crews avoid the confusion of wind and current off the entrance to the Straits of Magellan.

Most boats sail down this coast in November or December in order to reach the Beagle Channel at the start of the summer sailing season. That time of year, low pressure systems and their associated fronts move through the Drake Passage every two to three days, so weather windows tend to be measured in hours. Those crews that waited to come down the coast in January or February generally had longer periods of settled weather, and they also had the advantage of some easterly winds when they reached the channels to aid their progress westward. But their season was shorter, as were the hours of daylight available for sailing.

Those who arrive on the west coast of Chile come one of three ways: along the coast of South America, offshore via Easter Island or from New Zealand. The southward journey along the South American coast opposes both the prevailing southerly winds and the north-flowing Humboldt Current. Harbors are few and far between from Ecuador to halfway down the coast of Chile, and as of January 2008 Ecuador and Peru were less than yacht friendly. But those wishing to do some inland travel in these countries may find this the most attractive option.

The offshore route from Panama is designed to carry boats around the center of the South Pacific semi-permanent high, centered at about 90°W and reaching as far south as 45-50° in the summer. The traditional sailing directions instructed vessels to hold a course close-hauled against the southeast trades between 90 and 120°W until encountering the westerlies around 35-40°S, then to run into Valdivia or Puerto Montt. In practice, most of the boats arriving from the Pacific sail from Panama to the Galapagos to Easter Island (110°W 27°S) then turned southeast aiming to make landfall at about 40°S. Crews following this route try to arrive in Chile in October or November so they have as much of the summer sailing season to cruise the channels as possible. Those who have the time should consider spending the first summer season cruising north of the Golfo de Penas and then heading south in the spring of the following year.

Boats arriving in this area from New Zealand and Australia followed the classic 5,000-mile clipper ship route between 40°S and 50°S directly from New Zealand. They left in late November or early December, getting to Chile in good time to spend most of the summer cruising the channels.

16: Any comments on safety and security:

Chile is one of the safest countries in Central and South America. Marinas all have security guards who are quite diligent about vetting people who wish to enter. Theft off yachts almost never occurs in anchorages off small fishing villages and larger towns where there is an Armada and police presence. Ashore, normal precautions apply especially in tourist areas around bus stations and markets, but even in those areas theft is the exception rather than the norm. There have been a few incidents of fishermen stripping valuables from cabins or boats left unattended for a lengthy period of time in a remote area.

The OCC Cruising Information Service is provided by the OCC. The information is supplied to the OCC by members and is for OCC members only. The date given in the above is the date that the members supplying the information visited this place and the information may have changed at any time. The OCC has taken no steps to verify the information, which should be confirmed independently. The OCC accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the information and cannot be held liable for any damage howsoever caused whether directly or indirectly or any consequential losses.