CHILE- Navimag Ferry Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt

The trip takes 3 days and 4 nights travelling through the remote Chilean fjords. There is only one  settlement enroute, the tiny village of Eden with a population of 90 people. The Navimag Ferry that stops 2 times per week is their only mode of transport and  delivery of goods. The port is not capable of handling the ferry, so people and goods are transported to and from the ferry by zodiac.

The scenery varies from narrow passages that are 80m wide to the open sea. 

 

Thankfully the open sea portion is only about 16 hours and half of that time is spent sleeping. We had a very calm time in the open sea as the waves only 3m at their highest. Steve used the last "patch" for this portion and managed the swells much better than on the Antarctic cruise.

The passengers are from around the world some travelling for a few weeks on their honeymoon while others are travelling for much longer. One french Canadian couple is travelling for 2 years. They decided to do a long trip before they turned 50, so will end their trip before their birthdays and celebrate their 50ths when they return home. The couple that I have enjoyed the most is the the first couple that I met. Tony (English) and Jean Marc (French). They are both 70 and live in the north of France in Basque country near the Spanish border. 

The most unusual part of the trip is our cargo. 

Since this is a ferry there are vehicles on board.....and...... about 200 head of cattle. The cows are 7 months old and are being transported to Puerto Montt where they will spend the next 2 years fattening up before becoming steak and burgers. They have been very quiet but the "smell of cow" permeates every corner of the boat.  Wind and temperature are key to how much "cow" you smell. The smell was the strongest on December 31st as it was a hot, sunny, windless day. When relaxing on the outside deck,  I felt like I could have been sitting in the middle of a cow pasture. 

One of the odd rules on the boat is that alcohol is prohibited. We learned this in the safety briefing after we had left shore. After this statement appeared on the screen, you could hear the thoughts in minds of our fellow passengers..."what, did I hear that correctly that there is no bar onboard"....."good call to bring booze on board".....  ......."damn we should have brought (more) booze on board"... and then the really important question......."it's new years eve in 2 days, will we all be hiding in our cabins drinking our prohibited substances like a bunch of underaged teenagers?" We were curious as to how the no alcohol rule came to be so we asked. Three years ago they had problems with a handful of drunk guys falling down the stairs. Two years ago a famous British actress and her boyfriend were drunk, had a heated argument and she fell overboard breaking her neck and dying. Last year, some very drunk young guys decided to have a bbq in their cabin and set the boat on fire. It took 3 hours to extinguish the fire. Hmmmmmm!!

New Years eve was indeed interesting. At 10:00 pm we were cruising around the ship looking for the party girls (from Scotland that were also keen to have some type of celebration) 

and the fun guys (Tony and Jean Marc). We met up with Tony around 11:00 pm. He was carrying around 2 bottles of red wine and looking for friends to enjoy them with. We found a table in the dining room where he discreetly opened one and poured it into plastic glasses. Thirty minutes later, staff was setting out midnight munchies and handing out hats, leis and noise makers. 

We heard the pop of champagne bottles and turned to see little plastic wine glasses being filled with something that looked like pink champagne (no alcohol, of course). Then there was an announcement that all passengers were invited to the bridge where we counted down to the new year. 

One of the mates, set off fireworks from the deck outside of the bridge. The cows remained quiet. They were probably grateful that the people were distracted and not staring at them for a change. From the bridge, we moved  to the sitting lounge which had been turned into a disco complete with strobe light. We danced our way into the new year. When we left Tony was still on the dance floor. Yup, out-partied by a 70 year old!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!