The fort on a good day
Niebla is a small seaside resort where the Valdivia River flows into the Corral Bay and the Pacific Ocean, less than 15 kilometers west of Valdivia. Taken normally as a gateway into Valdivia, the small size of the town belies its historical importance. First visited by Spaniards in 1544, the river next to Niebla was named in honor of the conquistador and governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia -who would in 1552 found the city which bears his name.
Valdivia was the port of entry into Chile after taking the Magellan Strait or rounding Cape Horn and had to be fortified against pirate attacks. The “Castillo de la Pura y Limpia Concepción de Monfort de Lemus” was built into Niebla’s rocky coastline between 1671 and 1679 and was one of the four important Corral Bay fortifications protecting the entrance of the bay and river. Valdivia’s designation as “The Key to the South Pacific” (meaning that he who holds Valdivia controls the navigation of the Pacific) explains why these fortifications, which eventually would number 17, would be so important in the 17th century. When Darwin visited in 1835, he only saw ruins. Niebla’s fort was declared a “Historic Monument” in 1950. Partly restored with Spanish help in 1992 to commemorate the V Centennial, the site was further restored in 2013-14 and now is on the tentative World Heritage list as an exceptional sample of the Hispanic-American school on fortifications and as part of the southernmost such system in America.
We were here in 2015 on our trip on the Explorer from Ecuador to Ushuaia when we travelled from the fort inland to Valdivia . This was a much better trip, then our tour this time. This year we were dogged by bad weather and by bad planning
We had an early lunch before disembarking for the zodiac transfer for a catamaran trip to Valdivia ; it turned out not to be a catamaran!. It took about 90 minutes for the scenic trip but unfortunately it was raining all the time, so we could not go out on the deck - the cabin on the clapped out ship was not really conducive to anything. Tapas and pisco sours were abundant though.
By the time we reached Valdivia the market had just about ended and there were no sea lions to be seen, only a few still hungry vultures. This was bad planning by the shore excursion people - even if it had been sunny, they would have known that the market would be finished. We just wandered around in the rain for almost an hour before returning by bus to Niebla where we were ejected in the pouring rain to visit the fort.
We spent 30 minutes doing this, hurrying back to get thr 5pm coach; this had already gone and we had to sit drenched for 25 minutes before the next coach made the 2 minute hop back down to the jetty! The children in charge os us that day were clearly not up to the job.
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Back on the Explorer, once dried out we had the captain's farewell.
March 17th A sunny day on a calm sea heading up to Valparaiso. Had a long leisurely lunch up on deck; the staff obviously needed more training!.
Went up to the bridge and Captain Freddy explained operations there to ten of us at a time - the Boyzz took the oportunity to drive the ship. The voyage video was shown, but lacked the detail/ warmth of our voyage . Lea said Goodbye to 4 of her "fantastic" team
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