Cruise through Patagonia

November 24th to 28th

To get to south Chile, there is no direct way by land, one has to go through Argentina. I had heard of another way, a little over my usual budget but I decided to give it to myself as an end of the trip gift, it seemed to be an amazing trip: it’s a ferry that goes from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, in 4 days, through the Patagonian fjords of Chile.
So on Friday November 24th, I embarked on the Evangelistas ferry, which weights 9,950 tons, is 124m long and 23m wide. We left a little late (9pm instead of 4pm), and we were announced that we’d arrive on Tuesday instead of Monday. Some passengers complained, but for me it was not a big deal, I had not booked anything for the day I arrived (as usual, generally when travelling plan as I go, from one day to the next) and it was an extra night (4 nights instead of 3), so I was saving some money.

Itinerary

Boarding the boat

A sea lion came to say hello before departure

From the boat

The boat is quite comfortable, with good beds, each with an individual lamp and socket.
During the 3 days, we had conferences on the Patagonia fauna and flora, and on the Torres del Payne national park, the big attraction of the Chilean Patagonia, not far from Puerto Natales, our destination. During the evenings, there were some animations: karaoke, bingo,… We were 120 passengers, of all ages, and I made some friends of the boat, many of the young backpackers were travelling alone too. When we were not watching the amazing sights we were going through, we played cards, chess, and we had some illegal booze: Alcohol was forbidden on board officially, but actually tolerated, so every backpacker had smuggled in a bottle, and some plastic containers pass around in the evenings.

Chess game

Time for drinks!

Part of the team

During the day, when it was not raining, a lot of different birds could be observed -I learned that the wandering albatross has the longest wingspan of any living bird on the planet, I thought it was the Andean Condor, but no. The albatross can be up to 4 meters wide! Unfortunately we didn’t have the chance to see whales, but we saw some dolphins, though only for a few seconds.

From the boat

From the boat – Wandering Albatross

From the boat

In 4 days, we had good and bad weather; And for a full day we went through open sea, with 8-meter high waves… So the boat moved quite a bit! I was proud I resisted without the pill for seasickness that the crew offered 🙂

This voyage was a pleasant break in my trip, first because of the fact I slept 4 nights in a row in the same bed, which doesn’t happen often, but also because it’s a small space -it didn’t take long to know my way around all the boat-, so there are some quiet, passive moments that I found very enjoyable. I also met some very nice people, and I will keep a very good memory of this trip.