The driver of the refugio dropped me off at the Lago Amarga ranger station where I hopped into a bus that would carry me to the border. There I had to wait for another bus that would bring me to Puerto Natales, where I would board the Navimag ferry to Puerto Montt. At around 8:00 pm we reached the harbor, at the Navimag facilities. Navimag runs two ferries along the coast from Puerto Montt southbound to Puerto Natales and vice versa. Typically the northbound route is much less crowded then southbound. More info about the route and pricing and booking at www.navimag.cl . I checked in quickly, ran into town to get cash, go to the next store to buy 4 bottles of wine and some other items, had a very quick dinner with some Spaniards I have met on the bus. Finally at 9:30 pm we boarded the ship. My cabin was a cabin for 4 people, no window, bunk beds, bathroom out in the hallway. No idea how 4 people could actually "live" in this "cell" for 4 days with all their luggage. However, since going northbound I was not expecting the ship to be full, even hoping for a cabin by myself. Well, that did not work out exactly, but I only had one room mate (Lynn from Chicago) and we got along really well.
The Navimag ferry "Magellanes" is basically a ferry and cargo ship for trucks and containers. The only have a small number of cabins (maximum occupancy 250 people). As I found out the hard way later this vessel is not really built for open ocean travel in rough seas (at least in my opinion).
You know my weakness for "Kitsch" photos, so bare with me here .... just a little sunset.
At 4:00 am we heard a bell ringing, announcing our departure from the harbor and soon felt the boat moving. 2 hours later they announced that we will arrive at a very narrow spot soon and that we should get ready to look at it. Announcements .... over the PA system of course .... this would be the theme of this trip. "Attention dear passengers please ....." for every occasion they let the "whole world" know what was going on, if you wanted to or not.
Anyways, in this case it was actually good that they made the announcement. The day had just started, the sun was not really up yet, which provided interesting lighting for the photos. We basically navigated through these very narrow channels with "mountain peaks" sticking out of the water, very close to the ship. I was absolutely impressed how well such a big vessel can be navigated.
It was a beautiful morning .... Hopefully these photos can describe a little the atmosphere ....
This was the spot we had to navigate through, the width is only 80 meters, however the pilot just "drove" the ship through like a car.
Yuppers, we made it. The rock was so close that you could almost touch it.
With the rising sun in the background this is just another photo of the same spot.
.... and then I started this "thing", taking photos of the back of the vessel to document the journey, the weather and so forth. So be prepared that you will see a lot of this ....
See, I am not lying. The sky cleared up and we had a nice sunny day.
In the afternoon we reached a glacier. The water was so clam that the mountains and the glacier reflected perfectly in the water. Very peaceful ....
And as you expected correctly the view from the back of the ship.
It was a beautiful afternoon, blue skies, sun shine, but a little windy. I was just sitting on the deck enjoying the beautiful scenery.
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