So, we got on a boat in Puerto Montt for a Monday-Thursday cruise south. Tired of driving, paying $6 per gallon for gas, etc... time for a break.
The ship left Puerto Montt after we waited for 4 hours to get our car on the boat. They basically loaded all the semi-trucks first, and squeezed our little landcruiser somewhere in the middle on the top cargo deck.
We put our car on the Navimag ferry. It's a gringo boat and cargo ship that plies the ocean between Puerto Montt and Puerto Natales near Torres del Payne, Chile's major national park.
The Navimag ferry is around 400ft long.. a big boat. Probably the biggest boat I've been on. It's rigged to carry probably at least a hundred or so people...maybe more, and A LOT OF cattle and cars.
Since it's winter, it's low season on the boat, and there aren't many tourists.
The boat ended up leaving with only 8 other tourists and 15 or 20 truck drivers who were transporting cattle trucks north to south. The truck drivers were a fun bunch... plowing through the pisco and beer day and night.
The cruise was supposed to be Monday night thru Thursday.. but, the weather outside the channels was SERIOUS BUSINESS... 40 foot swells and 60 mile per hour winds... HUGE SWELLS... and some guy had a heart attack on the boat mid-way.. SO, we lost two days to weather and a Chilean navy intercept to pick up the sick guy.. .nice they have this service in the middle of nowehere.
After 18 hours of POUNDING swells (literally lifting a 400 foot ship out of the water completely!) we made it back to the canals with snow capped mountains, jellyfish, and absolute peace. Somewhere along the way, probably 10 pounds of Dramamine and Scopace were consumed by the passengers. The only one crazy enough to go out on the deck to take pictures was Jason; still waiting for the pictures of half the boat underwater. It was a sight to see.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped in a small port town, Puerto Eden. A little town surrounded by absolutely still water, snow covered mountains, sea lions, fish, crabs, etc. A nice place to visit for an hour.
The other gringos on the boat were a good bunch.. Brits and a Belgian. The Brits were busy celebrating Tony Blair's departure next week, and we were all a little busy sipping the Chilean wine we picked up at the grocery store before we left.
After 6 days, we arrived in Puerto Natales in Southern Chile...The Navimag trip is a great trip with plenty of beer, wine, and good people on the boat. Thanks to them for making it good fun.
After we got the car off the boat, we jammed down an icy road for 250km to Punta Arenas-the southernmost city in Continental South America. The road was ICY. Solid ice...like a slip-and-slide. 50/60k mph max for 4 hours, on-coming semi trucks, and a few Chileans scattered in the ditches along the roadside. At the least the road was FLAT. Once we made it to the Straits of Magellan the ice subsided a bit, and we had a chance to speed up a bit for the final stretch. We made it before dark to Punta Arenas, and are awaiting feeding time... KING CRAB !
So far, Punta Arenas is a nice little town. Not really sure why it's here in the middle of nowhere...but, I guess there doesn't have to be a reason.
-Scott
