Tours and Activities:

Sailing on Captain Haase

Lake Llanquihue is the ideal setting for a pleasure cruise and an amazing view of its coastline, delightful beaches and villages.

Captain Haase, a living legend of German colonization, is the first thing we see as we near the coast of Lake Llanquihue at Puerto Varas. Its colorful outline stands out against the horizon and the mountains on the opposite shore, welcoming everybody who wishes to come on board.

This 65 foot vessel, designed and made of native wood in 1999 and equipped with an auxiliary motor, is an exact replica of the ships the settlers used long ago.
We boarded on a warm afternoon, looking forward to lying in the warm sunlight on deck before the sun set. However, as soon as we had set off we were surprised by the drop in temperature as we left the coast behind, so we had to bundle up.

We slowly sailed along the coast of Puerto Varas easily spotting its popular restaurants and tea-houses. We could see a lot people strolling along the street or lying on the beach, happily basking in the afternoon’s last sun rays.

We continued towards Ensenada, admiring the typical wooden architecture with its larch shingles. While we took in the incredible native flora, we were told stories about the first settlers and tried to imagine how they felt when they arrived in the then virgin forests, when travelling was so much harder.

We were looking through our binoculars, not to miss a thing, when a distinctive sound made us turn our heads. The sails quickly unfurled until they were tight, and we were overcome by a feeling of having traveled back in time.

The ship then circled round to head towards Llanquihue, another town on the coast dating back to the arrival of German immigrants in 1850.

Rocked by the water, we made out the mouths of rivers and streams where some anglers were fly casting, their lines undulating through the air in search of trout.

We went to the bar below deck to have a drink. We sat comfortably enjoying a pisco sour, Chilean wine, empanadas and cheese while looking out of the windows. ‘Have you noticed how the colors are changing? The warm colors of sunset.’

Lake Llanquihue and the outline of snow-capped Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes in the background were imprinted in our memories. It was the last stretch of our outing and we headed towards Puerto Varas whose street lights shone like diamonds, magically changing the scenery we had set off from a few hours before.

It had been a relaxed outing, we had seen a new world from a different perspective. We bade farewell to Captain Haase, safely anchored for the night, its two masts gently rocked by the waves.

See also: Hotels in Puerto Varas and other accommodation venues