Melinka - life at the edge of the sea -

Melinka, Chile
March 16, 2018
Temp. Range:  42F-57F
Cloudy with sunny periods

MELINKA - according to local legend the
 word melinka comes from Russian and
 means 'lovely.'

 Yes, the sun did shine and it became pleasantly warm for our visit to this small,

Interesting town on Ascención Island.  Not originally part of our itinerary, we stopped

 here as the storm had put us too far behind to make our scheduled landing on

 Chiloé Island further north.

Melinka, pop. 1,411, is a very isolated fishing town with access to the rest
 of Chile by ferry boats plus a small airport.
 An additional population of around 200 transient workers make it the largest town
 in the Southern Chilean Archipelago. It is nestled in a setting of endless verdant,
 pristine islands ideal for fishing, sailing, boating and sea kayaking. 

The town sits on a small peninsula off the main island of Isla Acensión and
 shelters a small harbor.

Heading from the Hebridean Sky to Melinka via Zodiac boat.

Salmon and seafood is the main industry here as in all small Chilean coastal

 towns and villages, both by fishing boats with nets, and diving for shellfish.

Arriving ashore, easy dry landing onto a jetty.

A big part of this area's mythology revolves around Melinka's beautiful

 mermaid statue in the town square. It's said that if she faces the sea it

means good luck for the fishermen. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . of course being an unmovable statue she always faces the sea!

Wooden Church.

Colorful murals painted along the streets.

Do you know that daily earthquakes occur in Chile?

Thankfully they are mostly small causing little damage.

There was one in the past 24 hours, 13 in the past 7 days,

 49 in the past 30 days, and 560 in the past 365 days!!!

On December 25, 2016 a huge earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale

 was centered in this area. Melinka suffered heavy damage to many buildings and

 boats in the harbor area.

Hazardous tsunami waves up to 3 meters were forecast as possible, however

 thankfully that did not happen. Along every small street we noticed the the 

Tsunami warning signs. Many homes and boats were still being restored from

the severe 2016 quake.

The tiny harbor.

Re-building damaged fishing boats.

Earthquake damaged house still in need of repairs - but this big guy doesn't seem to mind.

Below:  Lovely flowers along Melinka streets.

Weather was close to perfect for sightseeing and we enjoyed a smooth

 ride back to the ship.

The following day was to be the final day sailing the magnificent fjords of Chile

as we headed to Puerto Montt.

"HAPPY MAY DAY"