Chile

We finally boarded the Navimag boat Friday night at 7pm. There were many, many people. Fortunately the rain stopped, but the gale force wind blew spray over the pier so that we had to time our run to the main cargo hold of the boat to stay (reasonably) dry - then a massive oversize lift raised us to the main deck from where we went to our rooms.

We shared a room with a British couple whose company we really enjoyed. All meals were provided, but the crowd had to do the meals in shifts. The meals were substantial and we were never hungry. The bridge was always open for us to visit to get a better view of the spectacular route we were following through Patagonia's fjords and channels.

The cruising was very calm for the 1st 2 days. On the morning of day 3 we visited a small fishing village called Puerto Eden. It was a small peaceful village out of a fairy tale. The village has only 170 inhabitants, no roads, lots of king crabs and lots of rain, in fact 6000-7000mm per year! We also cruised past a Greek shipwreck that someone ran on the rocks to claim from their insurance - he was caught out and the boat was later on used as a lighthouse!

That afternoon, we ventured out into the open sea for 12 hours as there were no protective channels to cruise at that stage of the 1500km journey. The sea was really rough with ocean swell of about 3 metres and we were moving around like drunken men (and women). Johan was very excited about the prospect of the open sea - 2 hours into the rough he was, however, convinced that he need not pursue his dream to sail around the world. Early on the morning of the 4th day, we arrived at Puerto Montt, a bustling port city.

Films, documentaries and talks were shown and hosted throughout the journey. Overall we did not enjoy the cruising as much as we expected - mostly due to the continuous rain and the cramped communal areas.