Sober Sailors - Taking the Navimag Ferry from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales

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K - We booked our Navimag ferry trip between Puerto Montt in the lakes and Puerto Natales in southern Patagonia way back in August. 3 nights/4 days cruising through the beautiful Patagonian fjords with the opportunity of seeing glaciers and a bit of marine life sounded much more attractive than yet more airports or tackling the notorious Carretera Austral, a challenging 800 mile road route.

Once booked we hadn’t thought about the ferry much more until a couple of days before arriving at the departure town of Puerto Montt. That’s when I went on line and saw that the new Navimag website had some beautiful photos but that everyone in them was wearing Gortex and woolies. Further research identified blogs highlighting how rough part of the crossing can be. This is when the ferry moves out of the fjords and in to the Pacific for 12 hours or so as it crosses the ominously named Gulf of Sorrows. Sea sickness pills were highly recommended / mandatory. And then the kicker- the boat is alcohol free. They don’t sell it and you can’t bring it. Years ago it used to be a Booze-Cruise with a disco but I suspect it was too chaotic/dangerous looking after a boat-load of party goers in rough seas so they banned alcohol. This certainly wasn’t shaping up to look like a Caribbean cruise!

The ferry is a 1970’s boat and it looks it’s age but was more than fit for purpose. We were upgraded to a 2-person cabin from the shared 4 person cabin we had booked and it was comfortable, albeit basic. The shared bathrooms were clean and the food was plentiful and pretty tasty. Unfortunately, the first 2 days were very wet and grey so although we could appreciate the beauty of the surroundings it was not as blow your mind spectacular as it clearly would have been had there been sun. Mark spotted some Chilean dolphins (tiny at about 3 feet long) but I confess I holed up in the lounge for most of the time so only saw the views through the rain splattered windows. This weather was not unexpected – according to the boat’s guide one of the places we passed through gets 10,000 mm of rain a year! That said you still always hope to get lucky.

Things improved weather wise on Day 3, which is when the mountains get larger and more snow covered and we were able to spend a couple of hours on the deck looking for glaciers and appreciating the Captain’s expertise as he steered us through tiny channels. One can only be passed through at a certain time of day when there is slack water as any current would drive us on to the rocks. So, we circled for a couple of hours waiting for the sweet spot and he expertly steered us through.

In the end although the sojourn in to the Pacific itself was rough (5-metre swells per the crew) we both felt that the rocking of the boat lulled us to sleep as opposed to causing any issues. The sea sickness tablets they handed out at dinner helped with sleep so to our relief the worst we had to deal with regarding the rocking of the boat was whether or not we could do standing poses in our Yoga class the next morning.

All in all, the trip was extremely relaxing and we were amazed how quickly the time passed with a few yoga classes,set meal times, lots of books and the odd excursion on to the deck in all our waterproof gear.

We planned to spend a couple of days in Puerto Natales and then travel south to Puerto Arenas for 3 nights. However, we found the town so relaxing and enjoyed the view from our accommodation so much that we decided to take a ‘travel break’ and stay in Puerto Natales for the extra days before our 8-day hike in Torres del Paine.

M - After lying at anchor for an hour waiting for the wind to drop the boat finally berthed at Puerto Natales. Another hour whilst we waited for the bags to be move down to the cargo deck below and we were finally allowed to walk off the ship. Although the weather had not been our friend for viewing the scenery it had been a very relaxing three days. That said we were still happy to be on land and one step closer to our “O” hike at Torres Del Paine.

Back in August booking the accommodation for the hike had been a painful process and we had had to resort to using a couple of agencies who it is obvious control the key sites. As a result, we had four or 5 days to kill in the region before entering the park for the eight day hike.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve at The Last Hope Distillery, the world’s most southerly distillery. A fantastic little bar very professionally run by a couple of Aussies.

Lamb roasted over an open fire is one of the specialties of the region and several of the local restaurants obliged. So, we had to try it a couple of times..… This was not the only reason we wanted to stay in town though!

We had left our bookings open and had thought about going further south to Puerto Arenas. Perhaps doing some more hiking or and taking a boat to look at penguins. However, the view of the Bay of Last Hope and the snowcapped mountains from the warmth of the living room at our Puerto Natales accommodation was too tempting. So, we extended our stay and began a lazy few days exploring the town.

During our short stay we walked along part of the lake, visited the museum and cemetry and took a two-hour walking tour but mainly relaxed and planned for later parts of the trip in Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia.

Although very windy the weather stayed dry despite the ominous dark clouds that were always visible in one direction or other around the town. Our hope as we write this is that it stays that way for our “O” hike!

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Photos

Messier channel - the wreck of the MV Captain Leonidas used as a marker for the rocks
One of the deepest fjords in the world.

Mylodon-Sloth
The skin of this creature which became extinct about 5,000 years ago was found close to PN.