Navimag Ferry (Chile)

After our stint in Argentina we crossed the border back into Chile (a 5 hour bus ride) to Puerto Natales. We met up with Shari & Eamon for a few well deserved bevies after our hiking adventures before boarding the Navimag Ferry. Once again, we parted ways with Shari & Eamon. Here is a picture of the Navimag Ferry. It originally was exclusively a cargo ship, however, now has been partially converted to transport tourists. Click here on Navimag Ferry if you are interested in seeing their website and an interactive map of the journey we took.


We boarded the Ferry at 9:00 p.m. on January 20, 2006, however, the Ferry did not leave port until 4:30 a.m. As such, we heard them boarding the cargo all night long....including cattle & sheep. Boy are we traveling in luxury! Once again, quarters were cramped. I think this picture tells the story. The story this picture does not tell is that our bathroom smelled like a barn as the cattle were right beneath our berth. Nothing like showering and coming out of the bathroom smelling like a cow.

The Ferry takes 3 days to sail amongst the fjords from Puerto Natales southward to Puerto Montt. At one point in the journey we were out in the open Pacific Ocean. Both Tanis and I did not entirely have our "sea legs" and felt miserable for many hours as the Ferry swelled up and down. This was of course my own fault as I declared to everyone that I do not get sea sick and refused to take motion sickness pills when both Wade & Tanis did. I think Wade may have slightly enjoyed saying "I told you so" when I was feeling very ill and he was fine. Ah well...another lesson learned on this trip. Here is a picture of the fantastic scenery.

We were hoping to see blue whales and dolphins on this Ferry ride...unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to see the whales but did get to watch a pod of dolphins play in the wake of the Ferry until finally disappearing. Unfortunately, it is very hard to see them in the photos we have so we have not posted it on the blog.

We were all a little uneasy when the Captain allowed Wade to take over the controls for a while. Luckily there was a lot of open water around us! Here is a picture of Captain Kenny.