Patagonia from the Navimag Ferry



Chilean fjords

 

Chilean fjords



We spent three nights on the ferry, sailing through the Chilean fjords.

 

Chilean fjords

Chilean fjords  

As well as being a convenient way of travelling the over nine hundred km south from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, it is supposed to have some great views and the chance of seeing penguins and whales.  It is not a cheap trip, far from  it, so we were hoping that it would live up to its billing.



Life on the ship was fairly basic.  The food was set meals canteen style.  They were OK, but not great and tricky with my no fish and tomato requirements, especially the day when we had tomato soup, fish in tomato sauce and a tomato side salad.  I could eat the rice pudding and thankfully they did eventually find me an alternative main course.

 



From the Navimag bridge



We went along to one of the briefings about the route and the flora and fauna of Patagonia.  Not overly exciting, but it did help us to identify the brown and black browed albatrosses and the steamer duck that we saw later in the trip.  I rather liked the steamer duck.  It doesn't fly, but it crosses that water by turning its wings in circles through the water, propelling itself along like a paddle steamer.  We saw a couple and recognised them by this very distinctive and somewhat amusing way of moving.  

We generally tried to avoid the entertainment though.  After the karaoke the first night, we were treated to a film on the second night.  Still not quite sure what was going on in the film, but it isn't ideal when you're in the bar and want to chat.  

 

Puerto Eden



And the third night we had the dual delights of bingo and a party.  This was so good that we and our stalkers put on our fleeces gloves and hats and sat outside on the deck instead!  Though not before we'd seen that winning on the bingo meant a Pontins style ritual humiliation of having to get up and dance to some dodgy tune before you could claim your prize.    



 But the scenery was pretty good.  A lot of it was general hills and mountains, but every so often you would have a beautiful snow capped mountain range, or pass through a narrow channel with little islands.

 The main attraction though was the Pio XI glacier.

Pio XI glacier

We took a detour into a glacier lake to see the huge glacier that was creeping down through the mountains and gradually melting into the lake.  It is apparently the largest glacier in South America and is 1265 squared km.  We could only see the end of it, but it was still pretty impressive.  With a mix of white green and blue colours, it had little caves eating into it and little waterfalls where streams ran through it.  It did look amazing. 



Capitan Leonidas

We also passed the Capitan Leonidas which is a wrecked ship that ran aground in the 1970s and now sits abandoned and skeletal in the Messier Channel acting as a warning beacon and covered with birds.



Albatross (I think!)



We also managed to spot a bit of wildlife along the way.  As well as the brown and black browed albatrosses and the steamer ducks that I mentioned before, we saw evidence of minke whales as they blew water jets into the air, other whales, penguins, and dolphins.  None were especially good sightings, and we didn't really get any decent pictures, partly because we are expecting better opportunities later, so we thought we'd just watch for now.

Lots of birds

We made our way through the Last Hope Fjord, so called because a ship trying to find the Magellan Strait to sail from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 1557 had failed in all its previous attempts and this channel was their last hope. It wasn't the right place do they failed again and gave up.

Penguin

However it was the right place for us, and we finally docked into Puerto Natales at seven pm, somewhat later than the advertised time of around midday, and made our way out through the bowels of the ship rather than having to wait while they unloaded the cargo.



Puerto Natales



Did the journey live up to it's expectations and price.  Well yes and no.  It was a good journey and we did see some nice scenery, and if this is the only chance you'll have to see scenery and wildlife like this then it is probably very good.



The Navimag Ferry



But it is really quite expensive, even if you take a dorm bunk, so whilst I would recommend the trip for itself, sadly I don't think it is good value for money.  But perhaps I would feel differently if we weren't in the lucky position of going to Antarctica later this year.



 



Puerto Montt and boarding the Navimag

From Valdivia we got the bus to Puerto Montt.  We didn't leave until midday as we had gathered that it wasn't the most interesting place to be.  We were only going there so that we were quickly on hand for the ferry in the morning.


Aboard the Navimag in dock, Puerto Montt



Arriving in the town it felt a bit like being back in Bolivia.  Many of the buildings we passed were little more than shacks of wood and corrugated iron.  Ramshackle and down at heel are the words that come to mind in describing it. As we neared the docks area, comparing it to Bolivia seemed generous and the words grubby and decrepit were more appropriate.  Many of the windows were broken and there seemed to be little care taken of the buildings, all of which made it a less inviting place to be.

Our hostel was really more of a house that lets out rooms, and gave no outward appearance of being a hostel at all.  Inside it was actually OK, but it still wasn't the kind of place to stay long or to be able to meet other travellers.  Uninspired, we really couldn't be bothered to look around the town for dinner, so just went to a chicken and chips place close by.  When we ordered the chicken, they said they didn't have any, but she could do a burger egg and chips.  We accepted this, and then watched in amusement as she went out to buy some burgers.  It appears that despite showing a sizable menu, heavily focused on chicken, the only things they actually had on hand were eggs, chips and some rather limp lettuce.  Weird. The food was OK, but I won't be including it on my recommendations page.



Chilean fjords from the Navimag



At beakfast it was quickly apparent that everyone else at the hostel was getting on the Navimag too.  We arrived at the terminal halfway through the 9-11 check in time and dropped off our bags.  We were told to be there for bus at twelve, others were told one o'clock, but in fact we were all hanging around until gone one, when they gave us a security and safety briefing. This had essential information like someone will check your tickets' and 'hold onto the handrails on the ship as the steps are steep and slippery.'  We would never have worked that out for ourselves!



When we finally boarded at about two, we found our cabin.  We were sharing with a young Romanian couple who seemed very nice.  We had seriously wondered if fate might put us with our 'stalkers', who we knew were also on the boat, but not this time.

We found the bar, met up with our stalkers, settled in for the journey, and then just sat in the docks for a few more hours.  We finally set sail at about six pm, when we all had to go for another briefing, which actually did tell us about life jackets etc, as well as the important information about meal times.



Chilean fjords from the Navimag



The scenery during the evening was pleasant, but not as good as we were anticipating for the next few days.  What we hadn't reckoned on though was the entertainment.  Tonight it was karaoke.  This clearly was not a strong point for most of the passengers, and after some terrible renditions of karaoke classics like Total Eclipse of the Heart and Wonderwall, and some lively if strange Spanish songs that were about our start and end port towns, they thankfully reverted to just playing music.