Quellón

The town of Quellón is in the distance, population about 14,000. I came to this swimming area for lunch today, at Punta Lapa, a point of land connected to the town. Great salmon!

My hotel overlooks the waterfront. Punta Lapa is in the background.

The low tide gives these boat owners a chance to make repairs. Some people are building boats nearby. The fishing industry is huge here, and unemployment is almost unknown. Salmon farms and shellfish extraction provide abundant work.

Sacks of clams are a daily catch to be loaded on to refrigerated trucks for shipment north.

These workers are loading seaweed to be exported for industrial use.

Chaitén

This shows about one third of the recovering town of Chaitén, destroyed by a nearby volcano. I arrived at the lookout about 15 minutes too late, as clouds are forming around the distant Corcovado Volcano. What looks like low tide to the right of this picture is ash deposit from the 2008 eruption of the Chaitén Volcano. You can see a little of the edge of the sea, about a quarter mile off the old waterfront. Ash spewed 20 kilometers up in the air and arrived at the Atlantic Ocean, several hundred miles to the east. 

View of the volcano, about four miles east of town, still spewing steam on some days.

The town still has a long way to full recovery. Many condemned houses are still standing. The volcano is in the background.

¡¡Llegó el Gas!! Gas has arrived. This store sells the propane that people need for heating water and for cooking.

Arrival of the Don Baldo from Puerto Montt. Before the eruption, the sea arrived to about where the picture is taken. The ash permanently covers the waterfront.

Preparing to offload large trucks, heavy equipment, cars and passengers. Here is a good view of Corcovado Volcano.

Monday morning at the landing, waiting for the Don Baldo. Colors are vivid at 9:00 am. I waited with others for four hours before it unloaded and uploaded.

We are underway, finally. The town of Chaitén is in the background, and further on, Corcovado Volcano. What looks like beach is accumulated ash from the 2008 eruption.

Chaitén is in a gorgeous setting, nestled under the mountains. After four hours sailing we arrived in Quellón, at the southern terminus of the Panamerican Highway, on the island of Chiloé.

Approaching Quellón on the Chaiguao Channel.