Navimag Ferry between Puerto Natales and Puerto Montt, Chile
4:30 sure came early this morning! The hostel hostess had left some breakfast out for us, so we had a bit of that before heading out for the shortish (~ 15 min) walk to the bus station to catch the bus to the ferry. We had to wait a bit before actually getting on board but the process went quite smoothly. They back the bus down the pier and crank a sharp 90 degree turn before disgorging the passengers. The staff were very helpful and showed everyone to their rooms. Not sure exactly what the timing was but we were all on board well before 7.
They are very clear in all their marketing material that this is not a cruise, but rather a cargo ferry that also carries passengers. Its route is largely among the islands off the west coast of southern Chile. The area is nearly totally uninhabited and includes some of "South America's finest scenery - at least when the weather clears in one of the earth's stormiest regions". The voyage takes about 3 days and covers about 900 nautical miles.
The loading of the cargo went on for some time. It was interesting to watch. The cabs of the transport trucks don't make the journey. They have specialized substitute cabs that snatch the loads from the yard across the street, back them down the pier, turn the corner and steer them onto the boat. Then the cab returns to the yard to go get another trailer. They sure put a lot of the trailers on board so there must be quite the art to parking them all.
I do indeed have a 4-bunk room + bathroom all to myself - yippee! The only thing that could possibly be better would be to be on the other side of the boat. Better view tomorrow, I think. Oh well - I don't anticipate spending much time in the room anyway.
It didn't take long to explore the boat. There are 2 outside decks that we can walk almost all the way around, and 1 (the top one) that we can get totally around on. One floor above me are more cabins and the dining room. The floor above that has the "pub" - although no alcohol is served on board. Apparently someone died of alcohol poisoning several years ago. Comfy couches abound.
They served breakfast at 8am and had a little introductory talk at 9:15. The boat started to pull away from shore about 9:30. Just before lunch we passed through the narrowest channel of the trip, at just 100m wide. The boat is 23m across so that doesn't leave a lot of room for error. They try to get through there at slack tide and during daylight hours so that has a bearing on the timing of everything as well.
It rained off and on this morning so we were treated to some lovely rainbows. Actually, I've seen more rainbows on this trip than I've seen in a very long time. As we came close to the narrowest channel today it seemed that we were chugging along just inside the ends of a tiny rainbow for a while. No apparent pots of gold at either end though.
It didn't take long to explore the boat. There are 2 outside decks that we can walk almost all the way around, and 1 (the top one) that we can get totally around on. One floor above me are more cabins and the dining room. The floor above that has the "pub" - although no alcohol is served on board. Apparently someone died of alcohol poisoning several years ago. Comfy couches abound.
They served breakfast at 8am and had a little introductory talk at 9:15. The boat started to pull away from shore about 9:30. Just before lunch we passed through the narrowest channel of the trip, at just 100m wide. The boat is 23m across so that doesn't leave a lot of room for error. They try to get through there at slack tide and during daylight hours so that has a bearing on the timing of everything as well.
It rained off and on this morning so we were treated to some lovely rainbows. Actually, I've seen more rainbows on this trip than I've seen in a very long time. As we came close to the narrowest channel today it seemed that we were chugging along just inside the ends of a tiny rainbow for a while. No apparent pots of gold at either end though.
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Just after lunch we passed by the (fake) towers and a glacier. They looked like the real Torres del Paine towers, but we're geographically not close to there at all right now.
I had a little nap mid-afternoon, but was up in time for the talk about our route; very interesting. I hope tomorrow is clear. It sounds like there will be some gorgeous sections.
I spent lots of time on the various decks today, just watching the world go by. Very nice, but cool and windy in some places! We had yoga at 6:30 and dinner at 7:30. Meals are cafeteria style. The food is OK, although not fine dining by any means. I don't think anyone will go hungry, though!
They were showing a movie about whales at 9 but I didn't have a good seat so I went out on the deck for a bit and early-ish to bed. The cabins are very quiet. Hopefully I'll sleep well in my solitude tonight.......
I spent lots of time on the various decks today, just watching the world go by. Very nice, but cool and windy in some places! We had yoga at 6:30 and dinner at 7:30. Meals are cafeteria style. The food is OK, although not fine dining by any means. I don't think anyone will go hungry, though!
They were showing a movie about whales at 9 but I didn't have a good seat so I went out on the deck for a bit and early-ish to bed. The cabins are very quiet. Hopefully I'll sleep well in my solitude tonight.......
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