Another Beautiful Day on the High Seas

Friday February 21, 2020

Navimag Ferry between Puerto Natales and Puerto Montt, Chile

We continued to sail on the open ocean during the night but it was pretty gentle going.  Looks like another beautiful day out there - not a cloud in the sky.  And the temperature, even first thing in the morning, seems quite a bit warmer than anything we have experienced since leaving Buenos Aires.

Soon enough we were back amongst the islands and on incredibly calm water.  In places today there was a bit of wind, but nothing like our first day.  As we got a bit deeper into the channels, we started to see snow-capped volcanoes in the distance - very nice!

We also saw some evidence of humans - some fish farms and associated small buildings, and some boat traffic.  Still pretty remote territory, though.

And finally - we saw some whales.  They were pretty far off so I'm not sure of what type they were, but one in particular was having a grand time flipping his tail out of the water for quite a while.

Eating, yoga, tai chi, reading, and scanning the ocean for signs of whales - that pretty much takes up the entire day!  By afternoon it was hot, hot, hot out there.......

Dinner was very good - baked salmon & rice.  And of course, fresh bread.  That alone has added untold pounds on this ferry ride.  In fact, the fresh bread has been delicious throughout this entire trip.  I'm sure going to miss it when I go home, and that's probably a good thing. 

As we travel further north sunset is coming earlier every day.  Shortly after dinner most people headed out to the deck to watch the sun sink into the ocean.  Beautiful! 

I managed to stay up for most of the movie/documentary tonight.  We saw "180 degrees South".  It was dark when I went back out on deck.  The sky was full of stars and the Milky Way was spectacularly visible.  Somewhat surprisingly there were quite a few lights visible on shore.  We are in the Gulf of Corcovado now so perhaps it's not all that unexpected as we head back towards civilization.  The gulf is the body of water separating the Chiloe Island (where Joan has spent much of the last week) from the mainland of Chile. 

The ferry is due to arrive in Puerto Montt around 8am.  We'll have breakfast on board and then disembark.  It has been a wonderful few days!