With Navimag from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt

One part of our trip that we hadn't had a chance to post pics about was our 3 day, 4 night ferry trip from Puerto Natales (south of Torres del Paine in southern Patagonia) to Puerto Montt (the main city in the Lake District in Northern Patagonia). But with this post, we are sharing some of those pics.

View of Puerto Natales, a surprising gem of a town,
from Navimag ferry.

Ready to play cards in the bar.

Sunny day brought everyone out on the deck.

The trip takes that long because it covers about 800+ km. Chile is a very long country with about 4,000 km in total. The route mostly navigates the many fjords of Patagonia and in one part also goes out into the open Pacific. That can be a bit choppy, but Jan and I were just fine with the waves and rolls.

Being on a boat that long was interesting because of the people on the boat. There were a few truckers transporting livestock and other goods. But to the most part there were about 100 backpackers of all ages and from a few countries, mostly European, who had all trekked or hiked in Torres del Paine. There was even one Chilean family on board.

We had a lovely cabin mate from Zurich and met some other Swiss, German and French people who we chatted with, hang out with and played some cards with. All around very pleasant, really and a real break from being physical. Even though it was a bit of a shock to the system not to have a great deal of exercise.

There was a little bit of traffic.
Also saw some big fishing huts
being moved by sea.

Waves. Wooohoooo!

Sun and navigating through some narrow channels.

A couple of our travel companions
playing chess. That and the bar was it
for "entertainment." Backpackers are
pretty self-sufficient on that count though.

Heading to Northern Patagonia

It´s Monday. We are back in Puerto Natales - a 3-hour bus ride north of Punta Arenas. We have just checked in to the Navimag ferry to Puerto Montt. Tonight we embark and tomorrow when the tide and winds are right we take off into the choppy Patagonian waters. We will be on the ferry - it´s a large one - for 4 nights and 3 days. On the 24th in the morning we will arrive in Puerto Montt and spend a day or so to see a doc for Jan´s wrist and get ready, if all is well enough, to head to Cochamo to do some more hiking.

Us, Cassilero del Diablo and the beach camp at Grey Glacier

A guide we met in Torres del Paine told us about this gem of a valley. The only way in is a 5-hour hike, after a 2-hour bus ride from Puerto Montt and a 6 km cab ride to the trailhead. I think you can see why this has such appeal to us :)

We could have flown up, but where´s the adventure in that? I look forward to heading up through the fjords of Patagonia, amongst glaciers and ice flows. With a bit of luck we might see some cool aquatic life, like dolphins or whales. Also, we hear they sell some pretty good pills against seasickness on board, as there are some choppy spots along the way. We´ll be sure to let you know how that all goes at the end of the week.

We are also working on finding a spot to stay in Valparaiso or Viña del Mar for a few days over New Year´s for some beach time and more exploring of the Chilean coast.

Should be good!