Disclaimer - I do not sail
offshore.
I did go to
Chile (Santiago) by air and then on down to Puerto Monte and Chiloe' Island by bus.
After that trip and now reading this thread, I more firmly believe than ever that the Pacific coasts of North and
South America are mirror
images of each other.
Both coasts are extremely arid around the latitudes in the 20's with barren, hostile, exposed coasts (North
Chile,
Baja Mexico)
Both coasts start to "green up" in the latitudes in the 30's (Santiago, San Francisco) with gorgeous evergreen forests.
Beginning in the latitudes of the 40's, both coasts have an absolutely fantastic "inside passage"
network of channels and islands that allow (mostly) protected
passage down/up to the higher latitudes.
Both coasts lie along major tectonic faults and feature hundreds of miles of beautiful, cone shaped, snow-capped volcanoes (some active) springing up all along coast.
Both coasts have
current and
wind (both very cold) making coastal progress difficult toward the higher latitudes. (Baja -
Seattle is best Via
Hawaii,
Panama - Puerto Montt is best via Polynesia).
I live in a small town in
Washington State (Port Townsend) that is accessed from the mainland by passenger
ferry. Lots of tourists came from the city. Based here is a thriving wooden
fishing boat fleet maintained by local shipwrights.
Ancud Chile was like a homecoming for me. Small town - check, Accessed form the mainland by
ferry - check, tourists from the city - check, thriving wooden
fishing fleet - check.
Steve
Chile. (my wife and I climbed this to the smoking rim).
Washington State. Mount St. Helens and Mount
Adams. Pic taken from my glorious old (beat-up) Piper Apache.
Port Townsend (pic of Panope slipped in for posterity

)
Ancud, Chile