December 23 six year ago was a memorable day in that I had a close call with Mother Nature. Not the closest one I’ve had, but close enough to say that at the time and for a minute or two, I thought the game was up and my goose was cooked. My friend Mike, a Houston Attorney and I were cruising in my 17’ Boston Whaler down the middle of Lago Todos Los Santos in Southern Chile. We had just finished an early morning fishing excursion from our base camp and had enough brown trout (marrones) by eight a.m. to feast on, with plenty more left for the smoker. Because of the volcanic rock underneath, the color of the water is emerald green, and because the lake was flat, the reflection of Volcán Puntiagudo could be seen all the way to the middle of the lake. So distracted were we with the scenery in front that neither of us noticed a 12’ wall of water approaching us from the side. Although not a regular event on the lake, it happens often enough so that the locals have a name for it, “Puelque”, but not often enough that anybody thought to warn us.
Puelque, a Mapuche word, is basically a bad omen: a mass of frigid air that drops from the volcano like a rock, hitting the lake at eighty plus miles per hour, causing the surface water to explode. When the wave hit, it flipped the boat over and me under. Of course, I wasn’t wearing a life jacket—considered a wimpy getup in those latitudes. I did manage to get back to the boat and was trying to climb on top when the next wave hit, righting the boat. Next thing I knew, I was sitting inside the boat. A Whaler, by the way, is unsinkable, even if you cut it in half, or in thirds, and the reason I chose it in the first place. I stood up, tried to start the engine, and miracle one, it did. Soon I was moving forward, the water was moving out through the scuppers and the boat was beginning to rise. That’s when I remembered Mike. I went back looking for him and, miracle two, I found him. We also found our cooler, our fish, one tackle box, one empty gas can, etc. In the end, I think nothing was lost, except for Mike. He asked me to take him to Petrouhué, the nearest hospedaje and within minutes of changing into to some dry clothes, he was in a taxi, beelining to the airport at Puertio Montt, a hundred miles away. Two days later he left a message at the front desk of the same hospedaje saying that he was back to Houston, dry, warm, happy and safe at work.
Later, back in the States, I went to Houston to return his camping gear, (fly fishing equipment, waders, etc.) and he told me that two years earlier he had been fishing for Marlin out of Puerto Vallarta when there was an engine fire and the charter boat sunk. He spent six hours in the water waiting to be rescued, with three other people, all clinging to a cooler with no life jackets and sharks all around—the answer to why he never went out without a lifejacket, and why he had bothered to clip the motor-stop lanyard to his fishing vest. Pull on it and the motor stops—the reason it didn’t suck water and ruin itself when it went under.
Lots of miracles that day and all of them welcome. Welcome too, is 2017. More adventures ahead, Francisco’s new baby girl to keep track off, more coffee at El Chap with my friends. Nowadays, I always wear a lifejacket, even when driving in the rain— don’t care what is fashionable anymore. Safety first, I say.
Feliz Navidad,
mt
44 thoughts on “A close call . . .”
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