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Day 5
When we were in Poland, we agreed to e-mail with Pedro, owner of a diving school in Quintay, near Valparaiso, that he pick us up from Valpo and drive us to Santiago. However, the day before the planned dive he called us, saying that his car is broken and he cannot to take us. He explained us how to get to Quintay from Valparaiso (about 40 km). From the center of Valparaiso (Av. Argentina) we had to catch colectivos – necessarily yellow, because only those going towards our desired diving. The cost of a taxi (CLP 8000, about 48 zł) was to be covered by Pedro. We were supposed to come as soon as possible.
According to Pedro, approx. at 8:30. About 7:30 we were in downtown Valpo and after 30 minutes we arrived to Quintay. Despite the morning cold, the wind and the fog good humor never left us. Everything and everyone in the bay was still asleep, as it turned out our owner too. Therefore we had the opportunity to admire the views and stay with each other.
I guess you would like to see the pictures immediately. Well, here is the problem, because for safety reasons (water) and lack of knowledge, how the diving will be organized, we didn’t bring our camera (we left the luggage by Ivan). Therefore, all the pictures are from our phones. Unluckily, when I was diving, I broke my camera strap and there are no photos from under the water.
Quintay in the past was a fishing port, specializing in catching whales, hence we dove on the wreck of a Japanese whaling boat – El Falucho. Located at a depth of about 15 m. and kept in very good condition is the attraction of this region.
Of course we were diving in turns. I went down as the first one and Karola stayed with Mania on the shore. I was afraid that the water will be very cold, like diving in Capo d’Acqua, but was acceptable – 14 degrees. As later Toto said (our underwater “guide”), my diving was a tad better than the Karola one, because I had bigger and better visibility. Of course, we had some surprises. I lost at the cutter a flipper, but I managed to put it on back. When Karo was on the bottom, she lost her weight belt, and when she was leaving the water it turned out that she had only one flipper.
Our visit to Quintay we completed in one of the few pubs in the bay – Mirrador. As we both agreed, on that day we had our best seafood chowder ever. Mania had a chance to try (and really it tasted her!) a St. James mussels, a fish Congrio and so far the most delicious avocado. Of course, some of these things found its resting place on the floor. As we discussed about this later, we came to the conclusion that during these travels Mania has the opportunity to try things that we – as we were at her age – not even dreamed of.
To Valparaiso we returned by bus about 5 p.m. Two hours later we were already sitting on the bus to Pucon (CLP 18000 per person), where we had to spend another 10 hours. This meant that we began our adventure with the south of Chile.
