More glaciers, fantastic walking, long ferry trips

  Puerto Montt, Chile
Sunday, December 7, 2003

Sat 29th Nov Upsala, Onelli and Spegazzini Glaciers
As boat company was closed by the time we finished with the travel agent, we had to be at their office at 7am to book the tour - another A$90 each plus A$10 park entry. First on the bus then spent the next hour picking up all the other passengers. Had a deathly slow trip out to Punta Bandera. There were three boats filling with tourists. There were two quite modern aluminium catamarans for 250 people, one of which we were on, and a funny cathedral hulled long narrow boat. We were the last on board due to our slow bus, however though the boat was pretty full, for some strange reason there were two seats vacant inside right up the front with a great view out through the large glass windows. Dianne saw these as we were walking along the wharf, so we made for them. The boat passed through the narrow point (Boca del Diablo) then up towards Upsala Glacier first. We spend most of the trip outside right up the front of the boat, which is a good viewing position, but very chilly.
Stopped for a close inspection of some large icebergs, which looked quite spectacular, with a bluish colour, which varies due to the degree of compression and the refractive effect of light.


Because Upsala is a receding glacier, it has a lot of icebergs, also possibly because the end of it is floating. The big icebergs were bigger than the boat. Get off near Onelli Lake. English-speaking group took off first without us as we were the last to get off from right inside the boat. It took 20 minutes for everyone to get off - talk about Browns' cows!! No wonder we prefer backpacker trips, rather than mainstream tours. Soon catch up with the English speakers, and realise that the guide has done us a favour, and got our small group of about a dozen away from the other 240 people. Walk through the woods to the lake proper, which is full of medium-sized icebergs. On the way hear a very loud tapping noise, which is made by a quite large Magellan woodpecker, which is very impressive with a bright red head and crest. We continue on around the lake as far as we're allowed to go, and sit and bask in the sun after the chill of standing at the bow of the boat. Have lunch while we take in the beauty of our surroundings - lake, icebergs, glaciers, snow-covered mountains, and ancient woods. The hoards all stay where they first reached the lake, and from where we are they sound like a rookery of chattering penguins.
Told the boat left at 2pm, so we're back in plenty of time. Spent the next 20 minutes watching people, particularly those who went to the restaurant, straggle aboard. Head up to the Spegazzini Glacier, passing Seco Glacier, a small one that had receded away from the lake. Spegazzini was pretty spectacular with a very steep ice-field behind it, and a lot of pack ice and large icebergs in front of it. The boat sailed right along the face of it, and then turned round and went back the same way, so that both sides of boat had a good view. Then nudged our way into the pack-ice, where they fished out a large lump of ice for drinks. Then nudged the boat right up to the steep rocky cliff at the edge of the lake, where there was a waterfall dropping into the lake. Lots of people leaned out to get water to go with the ice - by this stage of the day, quite a bit of drinking has been done by some. From here headed back to the wharf, which we got back to about 7pm. Took another 20 minutes to unload the boat, and then into the bus for a VERY slow trip back into town. Murray asked why the bus was going so slow, and told that they were running in a new engine - at least we now had a reason. Got them to drop us off at the hostel so that we could eat there again, but in typical fashion the meal wasn't as good as the night before. Stopped by room to see Dorothy, then back into town to try and buy groceries, but everything shut. Can't download photos, but do a quick internet as we may be out of touch for a few days, and then back to room about midnight.
Sun 30th Nov El Calafate-El Chalten
Dorothy up about 5.30am, as she has to change accommodation today, before going on tour. We're out about 7am to walk to our pick-up point for bus to El Chalten. Starts to rain lightly while we're waiting. See the bus going the other way on the divided highway, so flag it down so we won't be waiting an hour in the rain, plus a bird in the hand's worth two in the bush! We're the first on, and so spend the normal hour picking up people from areas we didn't even know existed. Go a long way past the airport turnoff before we turn left onto a gravel road (this is the famous Route 40 that you can take to go North if you can find transport - much shorter than the very long, more normal route via Rio Gallegos and up the East coast to Comodoro Rivadavia, which is reported to be one of the world's most boring trips.
Soon after turning we cross the Rio Santa Cruz, the major river draining this major ice field. Stop at Estancia La Leona which is at the river draining Lago Viedma into Lago Argentino. Have a very fancy lemon meringue pie for breakfast in the colourful roadhouse, which was reminiscent of some of the outback roadhouses in Australia.
Shortly after, we turn off Route 40 onto the road to El Chalten, which is being rebuilt into a new sealed road. The road goes up the North side of Lake Viedma, and we can see Viedma Glacier, a very big glacier on the North West corner, and extensive snow-capped mountains behind it. The glacier is so big there are no obvious mountains behind it - it just disappears into the skyline. We can see mountains in the direction we are heading, but the cloud cover is too low to pick out individual peaks. We wonder why the bus driver doesn't stop as requested when we have a good view to photograph. (On the way back find out why, as there was practically nothing to see in comparison with what you can see on a good day.) Come to a pass with a sign indicating condor habitat, and soon after see several.
The pass narrows down into a gorge with steep, almost vertical walls, and this leads into the El Chalten village. Our first stop is the ranger station, where we prepare to pay the normal park fee. Instead, we're given lots of information, and told the park, and all the camping, is free!! It seems all the tourist gouging is down at El Calafate, and El Chalten is left for backpackers, with the odd upmarket tourist. Find our accommodation, quite close to bus station. Nice big room with heating, and bathroom for 100 pesos the first night, and 110 the second night, as it's then the 1st December, and the start of the tourist season.
Drop our gear, and out for a "short exploratory walk" around the village, and to find the start of tomorrow's walk. However, as usual, things get out of hand, as we find a bakery selling empanadas, which solves our food problem, and we end up walking the three kilometres to Cascada Chorrillo del Salta (a waterfall for non Spanish speakers). It's about 15 metres high, in a steep ravine, with a nice pool at the base, and a nice little overhang, which we get to use, as it starts to rain, and as we weren't going far, didn't bring the second daypack with the raincoats in it. When the rain doesn't let up, we're forced to drag out the "space blanket" and drape it over us, walking arm-in-arm so we can wrap it round us. Works quite well, but makes a very noisy flapping sound, and definitely looks a bit weird. We're followed most of the way by a dog which won't take no for an answer, which was encouraged by other people. Didn't see much wildlife apart from a couple of parrots. Back to room for a while, then out into town proper (we're at the Northern end of it) to check it out, and get supplies for tomorrow's walk. It's now 9pm, half an hour before sunset, and for the first time the cloud has lifted, and we can see Fitz Roy (3405 metres), and Torre (3102 metres), and all the attendant jagged peaks - very impressive. Back to our end of town for dinner - Murray has a great Argentine steak,

and Dianne has the special lamb with champignons, as we've been told to try the local lamb, but this was not the best choice, as it was just fairly tough lamb chump chops. Had been told that town is very basic and isolated, with nothing like internet, but we find there is one, with Windows XP, and they can cut a photos CD, which is great, as we are running out of space, as we keep seeing fantastic scenery which we just have to photograph. It's after midnight by the time we finish. We're finding it very hard to get enough sleep, as it doesn't get dark till nearly ten at night, and then there seem to be lots of things that need doing, and we seem to be up by 6am most days.
Mon 1st Dec El Chalten (De Los Tres)
After a good night's sleep, have breakfast, and out at the start of the track by 7.45am, after the disappointment of finding that the day's empanadas are not cooked till 10am. Settle for some of yesterday's cebolla (onion) ones and fresh bread. First part of the walk is a reasonably steep climb around the shoulder of a steep bluff, and across a sloping grassy face through green grass and trees, with good views back into the valley. Note that the path drops here - never a good thing, as means we'll have a climb on the way home. First major landmark is a small lake with views of Fitz Roy reflected in it - the first time we could see it on the walk. Good views from the next viewpoint, but the mountain still not clear of cloud. Good views across the valley and along the river. From here we can see the savage, upward zigzag climb to Lago de los Tres Pass Lago Capri turnoff, and continue along the river. We make good time in this area (only later on the way back does it seem a long way). The path passes through dense shrubbery and woods, Murray keeping a lookout for pumas, while Dianne treats it as a statistical impossibility. At the Lago Madre and Hijo turnoff, the lakes and terrain look uninteresting, so don't consider walking this way. Continue along the riverflats, picking our way through wetlands and across minor streams to Camp Poincenot. The camp is in some fairly dense woodland. Strict notices on not building shelters around the tents, but this has been observed in the breach. Cross the river on a fairly shaky log bridge, and up to Camp Rio Blanco, which is strictly a climbers' camp, but has a weathershed and tables. At this stage the sun is out, so have a 20 minute break lying in the sun, and having morning tea. Dianne observes a tiny bird disappearing into a small hole in a tree, and tries to climb it to check it out. Manages to reach the hole, but can't see any chicks, despite hearing their chirping.
Start the one-hour climb straight up the mountain. The track is fairly badly washed-out, and notices instruct you to follow the lines of cairns, which lead up the rough, rocky sections, rather than the smooth earth paths at the side, which is good for the track, but hard-going for us. After having quite a few stops, finally reach what we think is the top, only to find there is another short, but steep, scree slope to the top. Finally make the top in four hours, which is the recommended walking time. Pleased with this, as we've taken it fairly easy, with quite a few breaks, and a bit worried how long it was taking us, considering we have to go back the same way before dark. Poincenot is quite visible as it's in the lee of Fitz Roy, which disappears into the clouds. Spend nearly an hour here waiting for it to come out of the clouds completely. The silhouette of the mountains is fantastic, with a series of granite jagged peaks. There's a smooth snowy slope in front of the mountains, leading down to a snow-filled bowl, which is one of the lakes. To the left there is a rocky bluff in front of an icefield/glacier which disappears behind the rocky outcrop. There is a path leading around the bowl, and we've been told by some other walkers to go down there, but not sure what is there, as they didn't speak English. When we get the ice-field terminates in a cliff, which drops into a magnificent emerald lake surrounded by a steep scree slope.

We've heard a lot of noise of cracking, and sounds like avalanches, but it's not till we get here, that we can actually see snow and ice falling down into the water. The scale is very deceptive, as the blocks of ice we see are falling very slowly and making an incredible noise as they explode into powder as they hit the water. The rocky cliff they are falling down must be at least two-hundred metres high, and the small gem of a lake must be at least a kilometre long. Climb as far as we're game around the cliff to get a better look, and take photos, then climb to the top of the rocky knoll, where we sit with a large group of walkers for at least an hour, watching avalanches, and a condor which flies across, as we wait for the clouds to completely clear. By 3pm decide to head back, as we've a long way to go. Stop at the high ridge for a final look, then head down. Surprisingly, it took us nearly an hour to get back down the steep hill, which was hard-going with loose rocks - very hard on the knees. When we get back to the river, and we can see the mountains again, amazed to find they're completely free of cloud!

(Find out later they miraculously cleared about ten minutes after we left). Not tempted to go back up. Have plenty of photo opportunities on the way home at various vantage points. The middle section of the walk, which was easy-going this morning, seems to take forever, and we begin to doubt we're on the right track, it seems so long. We drag ourselves along the last downhill section, which seems to have a fair bit of uphill. Stop for more empanadas, then home about 7pm. Collapse on bed, where we both fall asleep. By time we wake, too tired and too late to get to supermarket for supplies for tomorrow's lunch.
Out about 9pm for a shared Argentinian steak, and a small bottle of red. Talk to a Slovenian over dinner. He started late, and stayed on the mountain till 7pm, then ran back in two hours, as didn't want to be caught in the dark. Now feeling very tired and hungry. To bed about 11pm, and have a very good sleep till nearly 8am
Tues 2nd Dec El Chalten (Cerro Torre) - El Calafate
Have a quick breakfast, and on the track before 9am, after buying a supply of empanadas and bread for lunch. The walk to Cerro Torre return is shown as a six-hour walk, and we have to catch the 6pm bus back to El Chalten, so can't waste too much time.
It is an absolutely incredible day. The sun is shining, there is not a cloud in the sky (very reminiscent of our trip to Everest Base Camp in Tibet), and the mountains look fantastic.

The mountains, from left to right are : Torre, Egger, Standhardt, Techado Negro, Poincenot, Fitz Roy, Mermoz and Guilloumet. Today's walk is to Torre, and the mountains on the south side, whereas yesterday's was to Fitz Roy and those on the North side. The walk is up through grassy slopes with a few small lakes, and into the woods. It's an hour to our first good view of the mountains. On the South side we have green grass and scattered trees - a very parklike landscape on the slope below the mountains. In the centre, beyond the flat valley floor and river, are the main peaks and ice-fields (can't see the lake at this stage).

To the North is the saddle which holds Lago Madre, and the peaks which hide Fitz Roy. Long walk across the valley floor through scrubby bushes, some with signs of a very recent fire (there are signs in the park saying not to throw cigarette butts, and showing dead trees as a result of them). Cross the occasional wildflower meadow, and continue to the hillock, beside the river, which cuts off the view of the lower slopes. From this vantage point we can see the moraine toe of an old toe, which hides the lake. Have to cross through De Agostini, a lovely camping area beside the river, then up the moraine slope to see the lake and glacier. The lake colour, a muddy green colour, is disappointing after our beautiful lake of yesterday. It has quite a few small icebergs, and steep, unattractive scree slopes all around. The river runs out of the South East corner, preventing access to the glacier. There is a flying fox set up to cross this, but can't be used without harnesses and a guide. There is a sign there which reads that "here die a woman" which Murray reckons is a reference to the water temperature. The mountains look superb from here. The track to the glacier continues on the other side of the river, high up on the shoulder of the mountain. Stop for a lunch of tinned Cuban bonito minced with something red, possibly tomato, a left-over from Cuba. Tasted better than it looked. Head back soon after. On the return journey take the path to the centre of town, rather than the North one we took in the morning. It's a nicer walk, along the river gorge, with good views back up the valley to the mountain, and waterfalls coming into the Southern side of the valley. This track seems longer than the other track.
Stop at supermarket for supplies for bus trip tonight, and tomorrow's tour to Torres del Paine. Pick up bags from hotel, and down to Rancho Grande to wait for our 6pm bus. From the bus there are fantastic views looking back to the mountains. None of this was obvious on the way in, as most of the mountains were covered in cloud. Can still the mountains when we turn off Route 40 onto the main road. At the roadhouse, have another lemon meringue pie, which is a great disappointment. Was undercooked, and very runny. Broke another of our rules - don't go back to the same place, expecting a repeat of a good meal - it rarely is as good. Suspect good meals are just a fluke. Get to El Calafate bus station about 10.30pm. No taxis, so have to walk about 1 km to taxi. Eventually get our four-person room, after they had disturbed just about every room in the place, trying to find the room with two vacancies. For a while it looked like we might be in separate rooms. Rooms here are a big improvement on our first hostel here. Dump our gear, and down to restaurant for a meal with a bottle of red. Back to room after midnight, and meet our room-mates - two French Canadian girls. Talk to nearly 1am.
Wed 3rd Dec El Calafate(Argentina)-Torres del Paine - Puerto Natales (Chile)
In the foyer waiting for our 6.15am pick-up, hoping they'll be late as we haven't had time to recharge camera battery as there was no power-point in room. As expected, because we wanted them to be late, we're the first pick-up, and they turned up on time, instead of the usual half hour or more late. Spend next three quarters of an hour picking up other people, which is better than the normal hour, if it weren't for the fact that we only picked up four people. Both couples had a big whinge, as they'd been told it was a 6am pickup. Dianne had seen the pick-up list, and there was one person missing, which probably accounted for various to-ing and fro-ing. Eventually took off with just the six of us in a fairly new, but very basic traditional Landrover, and a trailer on the back with our luggage. Get a couple of kilometres out of town, when there is a call on the two-way radio, and we stop and sit for quarter of an hour. Eventually a van turns up, and Sonia, a young French girl hops out. Apparently she'd slept through her alarm. Gets in, proceeds to make herself comfortable on the floor between the side-facing seats in the back, and is soon asleep. Start on tarred road with classic Argentinian pampas scenery - flat, grey-green grass, some flowering button grass, sheep, guanacos, and rheas. Sitting on 120 kph, even though have trailer on the back. We turn off the tarred road to the right towards Rio Turbio. It is still signposted as Route 40, but is a rough gravel and clay road, showing wheel ruts from the last wet weather. Later we pick up what looks like a minor road on our map, but is tarred and quite new. We then turn off again to the border at Cerro Castillo. Check out of Argentina, drive 5 kms over a gentle saddle and watershed, and into Chile customs. It's a particularly easy pass, and wonder why it's not used more. Here we leave the landrover, and transfer the bags to a van, and get into a minibus with about twenty other people who've come up from Puerto Natales, and are waiting for us. Then continue on to Torres del Paine National Park. Enter through the Laguna Amarga entrance, where we pay our 8,000 pesos each entrance fee. Drive past lots of guanacos, and a couple of small lakes to the Salto Grande (waterfall). The flow and fifteen metre vertical drop is very impressive, and definitely the most powerful we've seen in this trip. Water comes from the lakes that drain the Southern side of the massif, and runs into Lago Pehoe. Downstream you can see the remains of a bridge, which probably explains why you have to take a catamaran to get to some of the walks near here Viewing point near the waterfall gives good, but clouded, views of Cuernos del Paine (2,600 metres), the signature peaks of the park, which are squarish grey/ brown granite peaks with black caps and a narrow, curve-sided deep valley between them.

From here we drive along Lake Pehoe to Lago Grey. On the way there is an expensive hotel on an island with a long bridge, and a camping area in a fabulous setting on the lake with wonderful mountain views. Quite a lot of mobile homes here. Most of the tour party has an expensive, but ordinary lunch at Hosteria Lago Grey, but with a wonderful view of Grey Glacier, and lots of icebergs in the lake in front of it. We have a picnic of tuna sandwiches, then go for a walk, trying to reach the icebergs, but are stopped by watercourses. Back at the hotel, find that there is a bridge about 3 kms away, and we have a stop there for 40 minutes. Walk out to the beach, and find that the icebergs are not actually on the beach as they first appeared, but about 50 metres offshore, though there was a token amount of ice on the edge of the beach. Track back along the same route, stopping to take photos at a few viewpoints. Continue past our earlier entrance point to a spot where we get a clear view of the Torres (towers) which give the park its name. They're not as impressive as the horns, which are the most regularly photographed part of the park.
During the day the guide has been using the two-way radio to try and get accommodation for us in the park, but there is none available, so we'll have to continue on to Puerto Natales. At this stage quite happy with this, as feel we've had the ultimate walking experience, with perfect weather, in El Chalten, and we've had a good overview of the peaks and the lakes from the road.
On the way out, the whole massif was visible, virtually free of cloud all the way to Cerro Castillo.
Continue on to Puerto Natales, passing other massifs almost as impressive as Torres del Paine, but unnamed on our maps.
Tell our guide we want a room with our own bathroom, cable TV and nice, as well as cheap, as we're planning on having a "day of rest". Takes us to Residencial Oasis, which fits the bill perfectly.
Puerto Natales, population 20,000, has a beautiful setting on Canal Senoret fjord, an arm of the Ultima Esperanza Sound.

It is surrounded by snow-capped peaks, which we can see out of our bedroom window, past the junk in the adjoining gardens. The town is quite quaint, with most of the houses built from corrugated tin, which has been brightly painted.
Out to walk around town, and work out how to get around the gap in the road system. Our alternatives are to fly, to go the long way round along the East coast of Argentina, then back over the Andes, or to take a four night, three day boat, which goes once a week, and just happens to board on Thursday nights, and leave on Friday mornings. The boat costs US$275 each, quite a bit more than flying, but it includes four nights accommodation and all meals, and it is one of the landmark things to do in Chile, so decide to take that option. Dinner in restaurant that is doing a roaring trade. Make this a dining experience, rather than just filling the tummy, and have salmon - Dianne's with champignons and white wine sauce (for about A$10) - delicious. Have a full bottle of red wine with it, then back to our beautifully comfortable bed for a good night's sleep.
Thurs 4th Dec Puerto Natales (Chile)
Our day of rest goes out the window a bit, as now that we've decided to take the boat, we have quite a bit to organise. Pay for the tickets, and put a load of washing in to laundromat (4,000 pesos for 4 kg). Buy two new neck warmers, one to replace one Dianne has lost - will need them if we spend time out on the deck (unfortunately one of them doesn't even make it on to the boat - missing in action). Also buy a new poncho - this one with a zipper up the front, and shaped at the back so you can wear it with a pack (which makes you look like a hunchback when you haven't got a pack on). Leave our SD cards to have film burned onto a CD, and do some internetting, where we successfully upload our first photos to travelpod. Still have to experiment with making them a smaller file size, but at least we've made progress. During the upload, we found the CD we had just got burnt wouldn't open. As this had all our trekking photos, we nearly had a heart attack, but luckily still had time to go back to the photography shop where there were able to recover the information to a new disk. They think there could be a problem using re-recordable CD's - this is the first time we've used one.
Buy supplies for boat, including fair bit of chocolate for comfort food.
Out of room at 2pm (had organised a late check out for no extra charge), do a short internet, and down to dock by 3pm to get our bunk allocation, and leave our bags, which are taken to the cabins. Embarkation formalities are from 3-9pm, but you can't go on board till 9pm. Our travel agent has told us the best bunks to get, so we're the second people there, to ensure we get them. This is fairly important, because we've got the cheapest accommodation there is - bunk accommodation in one of four rooms of 22 beds each. When we go aboard at 9pm, can't believe how good our beds are. We're at one end of the last room, and our two bunks face the wall at the end of the room. We have our own porthole, heater, and two lockers at the end of the bed for storing our bags. With a raincoat slung on the clothesline, we have our own private cabin, and because we're at the end, no through traffic. Most of the other bunks have four to each alcove, and the worst ones are those that face in the alleyway to the bathrooms - no privacy, and constant traffic past them.
We're on the M/N Magallanes, run by Navimag. It was built in 1984, and remodelled in 2000. It is 122 metres long, and 21.2 metres wide, and has a maximum speed of 14.5 knots It has about 150 people on this trip - quite a few empty places. Once we're onboard we're not allowed to get off, although we're not sailing till the morning.
We're going from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt, a distance of 1,460 kilometres, via various inland channels formed as the result of the advancing of glaciers twelve thousand years ago. It is a roll-on, roll-off ship and carries passengers, vehicles and cargo. This cargo includes more than a dozen truckloads of young cattle, and two of horses, which soon make their presence felt with loud moo-ing, not to mention smell. Our beds are down the back of the ship close to the open cargo area.
Fri 5th Dec Puerto Natales - at sea
Dianne wakes at 5am, and drags herself out of bed, as this was the time we were told we were sailing. Finds we're still in port, so goes back to sleep. Eventually sail at 8am.
Our route for the day is -
Seno U Esperanza, Golfo Almt Montt, Paso White, Canal Sta Maria, Paso Saudenes, Canal Union, E. Collingwood.
Paso White is the narrowest part of the route - 80 metres wide, which is a bit of a tight squeeze when you consider the ship is 21 metres wide.

The timing of our departure allows this to take part during daylight, which is mandatory.
The routine of the ship is somewhere between a cruise and straight transport. We have morning briefing sessions about the days activities and our route, and there is a TV monitor with a direct link to the GPS on the bridge, which shows our position on the map, to the nearest second (one tenth of a nautical mile) at any time. They also have naval charts available, so can plot our progress all the time. In the afternoon there is a talk about some aspect of our surroundings - wildlife, history of local Indians etc. They also show at least one movie a day in the dining room, and there is music from a keyboard and singer in the bar at night, which is open till 2am. The food is good and plentiful, though more cafeteria style rather than restaurant food.
Most of the passengers are backpackers and walkers. The first night one older couple turns up in good casual clothes - think they were expecting this to be a cruise. Looked pretty strange with everyone else in walking boots, parkas and travelling pants. Scenery changes during the day - changes from narrow channels with high mountains either side, broad reaches with small islands and snow-clad mountains beyond, side channels where you can look at row upon row of hills into the distance. However, from one hour to the next, you couldn't really notice the difference - one of these vistas looks very much like the other, even though spectacular. Most of the day it is either raining, or about to rain, and very cloudy, and very uncomfortable and windy out on the decks. If you stand next to the bulwark when right at the front, it is bearable there for a while, as the sloping surface deflects some of the wind over your head.
Sat 6th Dec at sea
Our route for the day is -
Puerto Eden, Angostura Inglesa, Bajo Cotopaxi, Canal Messier, Golfo de Penas.
At 8am announced that it's 5 degrees - overcast, foggy and light drizzle on and off. Very cold and windy out on deck. We arrive at Puerto Eden, a small fishing village on Isla Wellington with 270 people, including the few remaining Alacaluf Indians. We're allowed to go ashore (the only time on the trip) while the ship unloads cargo. At 9am we're outfitted with lifejackets, and climb into small fishing boats, to be taken to the island. Starts raining on the way. There are boardwalks heading up the hill to a lookout site, and down to a seaside bay. Back at the wharf, the path on the left, which goes to the village, has a rope across saying "no entry". Back to ship. On the way, look back and see a number of bright orange lifejackets walking around the right-hand side of the island where there are more houses. This option didn't appear available to us.
At 12pm we're in the Angostura Inglesa ( English Narrows), the second narrowest part of the trip, at 200 metres wide.
At 1pm we're in Bajo Cotopaxi, named after a ship that sank on some rocks in the middle of the bay. A Greek ship also went aground there a few years ago, and it has been left there, and is used as a lighthouse. As we go past, the ship blows its horn, and hundreds of birds on the wreck take flight. As an indication of the isolation of this area, most of the gear is still on the wreck.
Into Canal Messier. Water supposedly changes colour here due to melting glaciers, and there is an iceberg channel from the El Chalten area, but it is not really obvious to us. Later in the day we take a left-hand turn, and head up through a non-scheduled channel inside Isla Campana which brings us out into the Golfo de Penas earlier than the scheduled channel, and a sea crossing. Immediately MUCH rougher - hardly able to walk around the boat. About 6pm an announcement is made that this is the time to take a seasickness tablet, and they're available at the bar. Dianne takes one, but Murray opts for our own ginger travel sickness tablets. Even well out into the gulf, we can see rocky islets, with huge waves breaking over them. A lot of people don't make it for dinner, and a lot adjourn to their cabins. Murray watches a movie, while Dianne reads in bed. Dianne does a quick walk around the boat about 11.30pm. There are about fifteen people watching a movie, and about four people in the bar area, two of whom are asleep. No other people out and about, a very different story to last night.
It has rained on and off all day, and is very cold, windy and unpleasant out on deck, so we've just made short forays out, including to see how the cattle are faring in their wet, confined trucks.


The cattle smell is permeating the whole ship, particularly when the wind is from the stern.
Sun 7th Dec at sea
Our route for the day is -
Bahia Anna Pink, Canal Pulluche, Canal Moraleda, Golfo Corcovado (Archipelago de Chiloe)
Had a good night's sleep. Woke quite a few times during the night, particularly when we hit a big wave, but soon asleep again. When we finally got up about 7.30am, we're out of the Golfo de Penas, and sailing in the calm waters of Bahia Anna Pink. Announced that it's 11 degrees, and although it's very cloudy and overcast, it's not raining.
After breakfast the sun actually comes out, and there is some blue sky, and for the first time you can sit outside without freezing to death. Even consider taking our thermals off. Our standard dress during our time in Patagonia is - short-sleeved T-shirt, long-sleeved light top, thermal pants and top, and a 300 Polyfleece (the warmest one). Dianne also wears some combination, or all, of a Bolivian wool hat, Polyfleece neck warmer (that can be pulled up over bottom half of face) and the hood on the parka. If it rains, or there is a particularly cold wind, we add our wet-weather ponchos which have a hood as well. All of this is needed when outside, then you come inside to the heating, and start stripping off, or the sun comes out for a while. Spend much of every day putting clothes on, or taking them off.
Sun didn't last for very long, but there were only a few light showers during the day, though still overcast. The pleasure of being able to sit out on the decks was reduced somewhat by the smell of 200-300 cattle and their by-products, which have all been sitting in the rain for the last three days. Not your average cruise!
Saw a few dolphins in the late afternoon, but from a fair distance away.
During the afternoon saw our first signs of habitation since Puerto Eden, 500 kms away. Lots of small islands, and now much greener. Watch a movie in the late afternoon. Golfo Corcovado is also exposed to the swells from the South Pacifc, and there's a fair bit of swell for a couple of hours (but nothing like last night).
After dinner there's bingo in the bar, followed by partying, as it's the last night. Murray goes to bed with a headache, and Dianne follows to read till nearly midnight.
In summary, we'd say the boat trip was an interesting experience, Scenery was good, but became a bit monotonous as didn't change very much, and the weather definitely wasn't suitable for being outside for more than a very limited time.