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Getting ready to board
Leaving Puerto Montt – it’s a fairly busy working harbour
Our home for the next 4 days. Ben sets up his man cave on the bottom bunk.
Outer harbour of Puerto Montt villages at low tide
No fishing today.
Ben ready for his 4 days with no internet.
The evening of Day 1 heading through the Gulf of Ancud
Sunset on our first evening.
The view from the front of the boat – one that we’d get used to seeing over the next few days
Michelle on the deck
Day 2 – Moraleda Channel, the widest in all our route.
Ready for take off. I watched him run across the water for about 200 metres before it went into flight.
Peace and calm waters through the Pulluche Channel in Day 2
Pulluche Channel
The channel narrows around the fiords.
Day 2 and we are heading to the open ocean in a few hours from here.
You know we’re sailing out of calm fiords into the open sea when they take the flag down.
Scenery behinds us on the evening of day 2 as we head out to sea
Looking back at the Carretera Austral in north Patagonia, Chile
Chess is abandoned as we watch the spectacular exit from the fiords into the ocean
Crossing fingers for a smooth crossing out to sea for the next 12 hours.
Stunning coastline out on the Pacific Ocean
Sparking Pacific Ocean
Day 2 – a nice way to see the day end.
Ben timelapsing the sunset
Bottlenose dolphins
Playtime at dusk. These are just a few of the hundreds I could capture.
Bottlenose dolphins
Sunset on the second night.
Day 3 – waking up entering into the Gulf de Penas
Loving the skies deep down south.
Day 3 – our morning information session on our route for the day.
Messier Channel…so hauntingly beautiful.
Messier Channel.
Approaching the Pio XI Glacier
Meandering through a narrow fiord to see a glacier
Our first glacier…doesn’t look so big.
Our first sighting of an iceberg.
Pretty impressed
Ben preparing for new challenge videoing a glacier.
Pio XI Glacier
Pio XI Glacier with lots of broken off bits floating in the foreground
A zodiac is prepared to retrieve some glacier ice.
Glacier Pio XI
The stunning blue can be seen after a recent ice calving.
Pio XI Glacier
Pio XI Glacier
Standing in front of the glacier
The zodiac approaches the glacier. It’s only then that you really get a sense of scale.
Realise the scale of this glacier when a zodiac heads out to pick up some ice.
Leaving the glacier to resume our journey
Down the side of the boat
Hope we never need to use these, it looks cold in there
Shipwreck now a bird haven called Capitán Leonidas.
Squaking bird life fly by as we sail past this.
The “Capitán Leonidas”, wrecked in the 1970’s on a submerged island … now used as a lighthouse
The “Capitán Leonidas” … I wonder if they had life boats like ours?
El Capitan deep in thought.
Day 3 – more narrow navigations
Puerto Eden.
Local fisherman meeting the ferry to take passengers ashore.
Local inhabitant of Puerto Eden. Notice the tv satelite dish out the back.
Puerto Eden.
Puerto Eden.
Our navimag buddy Karin disembarking for a shore excusion.
Puerto Eden local fisherman getting ready to transfer passengers
Passengers heading out for a shore excursion.
Locals at Puerto Eden ferry passengers over to the town for a short walk
A view down the side of the top “pub” deck
A view of the pub deck. The chess board can be seen in the distance.
Damn, it’s cold!
Approaching the “English Narrows” … an extremely difficult part of the trip
Observing the navigation efforts
Leaving the English Narrows
Disco party night!
Get down, get down.
Day 4- Sarmiento Channel. Starting to look like Patagonia now.
The scenery starts to get more mountainous
Smooth navigation captain through the narrowest channels of 80 metres – Angostura White (White Narrows)
Day 4 cold but sunny.
The weather clears as we approach Puerto Natales
Day 4 – Final destination Puerto Natales.
Looking back to Torres Del Paine national park.
Docked at Puerto Natales. It’s a pretty tricky manouvre and sometimes they have to wait hours for the wind to drop.
After unloading the trucks from the bottom deck, the walkway is lowered so the passengers can disembark.
Bye bye Navimag! Now where is that Hostel we booked?
Navimag team – from left Paul, Carola, Michelle, Ben, Karin and Pete.
Navimag team! Pete, Karin, Michelle, Ben, Paul, Carola
Beautiful colourful photos
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