Anyone for Scuba Diving in Chile? What about Fishing?

Today we are making a little detour to an area we heard about that’s about  an hour from Viña del Mar. Less by  car. Chile does not have a lot of good diving areas because of lack of clarify of the water, but for scuba diving in Chile, we hear this area  has crystal clear water.

First we walk the distance from Viña del Mar to Valparaiso to the area where the bus to our destination stops. We find that the bus does not run frequently, We just missed it. We would have to either wait an hour for the next bus–or flag a taxi. We decide on the taxi. 

One thing we notice interesting, one of the major modes of transportation is trolley cars. Only they don’t run on tracks. They run on wheels.  Chile is a country where things work. We can’t say that about every country here, but Chile works. Yet we still see some of these old things and we love it. 

 

We get into our taxi and begin the drive through thick pine forests on a winding road through what we would call “foothills” but they may call mountains here. For this writer, the beauty of the drive was worth the trip  The taxi driver deposits us on the sidewalk of a plaza next to a church and further surrounded by stores and a couple of restaurants that are about what you might expect in a fishing village which is, apparently, pretty much what this is.

A couple of cowboy-looking men trot by on horses. 

We walk toward the waterfront, observing the buildings as we go. Most are houses that appear to be made out of ticky-tacky, but there are also some elegant estates on large lots that slope down to the water. We pass one property that is for sale and we talk to one of the owners. This property is on two paved streets. On one street there is a small building used as a cyber-cafe, currently closed since it is off season. Behind this building, facing the other street, is a house. The house is livable and, in fact, is occupied, but appears to need a lot of work–or to be torn down and rebuilt. One of our group comments that in Chile they repair buildings that really need to be torn down. As this writer commented in a previous article, Chile people appear to be very practical. They fix things that hardly seem worth the effort. Argentines are much more concerned about appearances and Chileans more with practicality.

This man, who claims that he, along with a relative, owns this property and that they have decided to sell it, tells us that the price is $22,000 US. If this is true, and everything is in order, then we would say the price is right. We qualify that with “if it’s true” because often things don’t turn out the way you expect. In this part of the world, it would not be uncommon to find out that the property does not have a clear title.  Or it could be an inheritance property and there might be more people involved as owners than he is telling us. But still, if we were considering this area we certainly would follow up on it. The lot, however, does not have any view of anything unusual except the cyber business faces the plaza. But no waterfront view. 

We continue to the shore and this is our view. As you can see from the photos, it is an overcast day. Even though it is winter, the diving boats are busy. In the photo above, they’re all wearing wet suits. That’s for warmth. If it were summer they would be in bathing suits. 

 

If isn’t hard to imagine what this area would be like in summer. Even now there are quite a few tents set up along the water with foodstuffs, local crafts, clothing, tourist items for sale. There is a small house just off the public area that could be used for tourism. It is for sale and, inquiring, we find that they want $180,000 US for the property. We think that he is dreaming.

We counted two fairly inviting looking restaurants on the waterfront where you could eat inside or outside on the wood patio. In fact, we stop for lunch. The food is not remarkable, but the atmosphere is pleasant.

Well let’s see if we can find out why this is a popular fishing and diving area. 

Okay we hope you can the rocks on the bottom. Looks to us like you could see a quarter if there were one down there. This is one of only a few places in Chile with water as clear as this.

Here is a video of underneath the water–produced by the dive shop located here.

Okay, guys, we’re thinking of taking a little detour next week with Brad of Paraguay. Remember him? We’ve heard from him before. Brad has been in Paraguay for over three years now and he’s going to level with us about what it is REALLY like.

See you then . . .

Arlean