We boarded the Navimag Ferry Evangelistas in Puerto Montt for a 4 day cruise through the Patagonian fjords. The landscape down there is fantastic and puts the navigation skills of the capatain to the test. At some places the ferry had to navigate through 80m wide gaps. Giving the fact that the ferry itself is 21m wide and 115m long this is pretty tight. We saw orca’s, sealions, seaotters. A ton of birds (of which I can’t remember all the names) and even a blue whale in the distance! Most impressive bird being a Condor with a wing span of about 4 meters! While most of the journey was very calm we still needed to pass a bit of the open pacific with waves up to 4 meters. The dinning room stayed pretty empty on that evening. Luckily this didn’t last more then 12 hours before we were back in the calm waters of the fjords. We passed a ship wreck that was delibertly stranded in the late 60’s. The captain was hoping for a large sum from the insurance company but found the one spot in the fjord that was shallow. Ever since that time the boat sits on that rock and neither bad weather nor target practice from the Chilenian navy can change that.
All the time our trustet Tenere, which gained by now the name “El Pinguino” waited paticently and tight down on the car deck. On the ferry we met another motorbike traveller - Gaby and her “Fox” (a BMW G650gs). Gaby travels on her own all through out South America – inspiring, brave and fun are just a few words to describe her.
some impressions from our ferry ride with Navimag
Once we arrived Puerto Natales it was time to give “El Pinguino” some love and care. Due to high speed driving on knobbly tyres and fully loaded the back wheel bearing had a tiny play and since we had the spareparts I decided to get it changed. Sebastian – a friend and motocross champion from our hostel owner helped me on this and in less than an hour we were ready for the road again. The winds down in Patagonia are everything but a gentle breeze! We tried to get to Torres del Paine for a daytour but with side winds of almost 100 km/h we decided that a day in the hostel is the better option. We are going back through Puerto Natales anyway and will do our hiking trip in Torres del Paine on the way north. The day after we set out to drive further south towards Punta Arenas and finally to Tierra del Fuego – the end of the world...
Stay tuned for our adventures at the end of the world in the next update
