Navimag Ferry between Puerto Natales and Puerto Montt, Chile
What a luxury of having my own room and sleeping in until I woke up around 7:30! Shower, wash out a few clothes and up to breakfast around 8. I peeked out my window first thing and, yes, yesterday's winds, clouds, and wet weather are a distant memory! We had almost cloudless blue skies all day and only a whisper of wind once in a while. Stunning! The scenery didn't disappoint but for some reason I had thought we would have some close-up glacier and icefield views. Instead we had many small islands, mountainous terrain, and some narrow channels to navigate through. Around 9:30 we came to our only scheduled stop of the trip - Port Eden. Population about 150. What an idyllic setting! At least on a day like today it is. I imagine that during stormy, windy, wet days it is another story. We dropped anchor in a very deep harbour and several small boats came and went with people and goods. There are no roads (or cars) there, so this ferry is their lifeline. Two other points of interest this morning - English Narrows (which the boat must pass through in daylight) and Cotopaxi (where the ship Capitan Leonidas ran aground on the Cotopaxi rocks in the Messier Channel in 1968, or maybe 1963 according to some sources).
The day continued to warm up and before long it was sandals weather. We had a tour of the bridge in the afternoon, which was quite interesting. I spent much of our free time walking the deck, and pausing to look for whales. Over the course of the day we saw lots of spray in the distance but no breaching activity.
I eventually sat down inside in one of the bean bag chairs in the pub - out like a light! I was awoken by the increased swaying action of the boat. I guess that means we've hit open water (vs the myriad of channels that we have been weaving our way through since our departure yesterday)..... It now is over 5 hours later and the swaying action is still pretty noticeable. It really isn't bad at all, though. We were told that the boat's medic would be handing out seasickness pills in the hour before we reached the open water. However - because of the uncommon calm that we are experiencing, no pills were provided. In preparation for this trip I had read that you would be seasick; it was just a matter of degree. Not us, though. We didn't even need help in carrying our food trays to our tables at dinner. Again - very uncommon we were told. I didn't know how my body would handle the motion so I proactively put a Transderm V patch on. No ill effects so far! Just as we were going out to open water we could see quite a few snow-capped peaks in the distance. Apparently they belong to the Northern Patagonia Ice Field, which has 27 different glaciers whereas the Southern Patagonia Ice Field has 48.
The multi-talented Christian put on a little classical guitar session for us just before dinner. Very nice! He's also the one who leads yoga, pilates and other things to keep us entertained.
We had a choice of a documentary or a movie tonight. I chose to return to my room, write my journal and watch the sun drop into the ocean - beautiful!
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