Across Bahía Quintero, in what otherwise appears to be an industrial sacrifice area with a major power plant, the Estero de Puchuncaví is a wetland reserve that appears to be a environmental mitigation project.
Just to its north, at the tiny fishing port of Las Ventanas, salvage crews have finally finished pulling scrap metal off a grounded LPG tanker whose rusting rim barely sticks above the water. Despite the coal-fired power plant nearby, this is one of the north coast’s primo surfing spots.