Aboard the great ship Navimag

Trip Start Sep 03, 2007
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Trip End Jul 03, 2008


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Flag of Chile  ,
Monday, February 18, 2008

After Gloria had kindly made sure that we had managed to locate the Navimag office in person we checked in. Our ferry was meant to depart at 2.30pm but, as is apparently quite normal, we had to wait till 5pm before we could board. (Apparently this is because someone had jumped from the ferry on the trip north. What had we got ourselves into?)

The Navimag is a large ferry boat that runs a service from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales and services Puerto Eden on route. There are up to 320 passengers on board at any time and 2 decks of lorries below us. Unfortunately no cattle this time but it is possible. We booked onto the cheapest option for $370. For that you get a dorm room for 3 nights and all your meals on board. The idea is to enjoy the scenery and get to know other travelers. Our only hint weīd been given was "take lots of booze!
Navimag
Navimag
We were lucky, having taken a tip to ask for a window bed, we had a lovely compartment away from the gangway to the lavs! Our other two occupants were Tim, An ex army officer who could reader quicker than anyone Iīve met, and Robert, who was part of a large Christian group in Chile to build 67 Churches. Why they didnīt do something more useful like build schools and hospitals weīll never know.

I could write about each day in painful detail but i donīt think that is necessary. All you need to know is we saw a fantastic glacier, didnīt sleep much, drank too much, met lots of lovely people, tried to avoid those who werenīt so lovely and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Was it worth $370 - not sure but its the easiest was to Puerto Natales and thats where the Torres del Paines are.
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