Feb 4-7

The weather was fine as we boarded from the stern of the Navimag Ferry, Evangelistas, some 240 passengers on our voyage from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, over 1500km and 4 days away.

I had booked a four share cabin and found my roommates had boarded when I entered the cabin.  It consisted of two bunk beds with a central aisle with 2 lockers each at the end of each bunk, next to the door. There was no window.  A private bathroom was located outside diagonally across from our cabin. Inside were Joy and Joff (Jonathon) in their late 30´s/early 40´s from the UK and Veronika, a middle aged lady originally from Austria but residing in Istambul.

Eventually stowing our luggage I made my way topside as we made our way out of port, the wind had picked up and would continue to be blustery as we continued southward.  Dinner and most meals would be in shifts. The passenger in cabins A/AA would eat as a group and those staying in the dormitories (C class or steerage) would eat separately. We had the privilege of eating first that night with the choice being, lasagna or meat loaf (It did get better with Salmon as one choice as well as Hake). Lunch and dinner would usually consist of 2 choices, sometimes fish or meat, a salad of some description, soup, a bread roll (they got staler as the voyage progressed!), fresh fruit, and for dinner a dessert complimented with juice (fruit drink) and tea/coffee.  Breakfast was a much simpler affair with scrambled eggs, that stale bread roll again plus jams, ham/cheese with cornflakes, yogurt etc…your typical South American breakfast in other words.

On that first night something didn´t agree with me , either dinner or those oyters in Chiloe (I have a suspicion it was that mussel empanada actually) but I had to make a hasty exit to the bathroom, need I say more and would feel under the weather as it were for the next few days.

The daily routine would consist of an 8.00am wake up call for breakfast (which was from 8-9am) from our German guide Lena or the Chilean guide Nicole both in Spanish and English.  Following breakfast at 9.30am we would be briefed on the day´s route and activities, then a talk about history/landscape later in the morning in Spanish/English.  Splitting the day was lunch at around 12.30/1.15pm and then dinner at 7.30/8.15pm.  A movie followed dinner.

In between these defined points in the day I´d spend my time either in the pub upstairs on the 3rd deck admiring the view as we cruised in between the channels and islands with their low lying vegetation and often snow speckled peaks or my cabin (where much of Tuesday was spent). The dinning room, AA cabins were on the 2nd deck and we (A cabins) were on the 1st deck.  I met a number of people contemplating Torres del Paine National Park once they arrived in Puerto Natales. There was Derian and Pat a couple from Ireland, Collin and Pauline, two light weight hiking enthusiasts from Oz, Tasha, somewhat of a gear freak (and who was also carrying a tent, sleeping mat etc….good to see I wasn´t alone yay!!!) from the States.

Highlights of the voyage included our venture out to the open sea on Tuesday night in the Golfa de Penas, nine or so hours of less than anticipated rocking, the stifling sauna like heat of our cabin on the first night (here I was thinking I had a fever from my food poisoning episode!!). The stop at Puerto Eden (unfortunately we couldn´t disembark) to resupply this tiny community of around 180 people which rely´s on the twice weekly visits as a lifeline (although I did find out they have Internet access!).  Notably the biggest highlight of the trip was our detour to visit the face of Pio XI glacier (the biggest in South America), truly spectacular, just on sunset on the Wednesday, to come face to face with a glacier on the water.

By the time Puerto Natales came into view most of us were glad we had arrived at our final port of call.  The skill of the crew was expertly shown when we navigated the narrowest channel, at 80m hours before entering port.  Ready for a well earned gourmet meal to fuel us for Torres del Paine we scattered like the four winds across this sombre looking city under the grey clouds that had gathered for our arrival in the early evening.