Taking the Navimag Ferry from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales

During our year off to go travelling, I struggled to keep up to date with writing blog posts and sorting photos. It took me too long to write anything remotely decent and we were constantly busy and having fun. It also didn’t help that I had it set in my head that everything needed to be in order. Thus, when I fell too far behind, I just gave up, with my last posts being from Ecuador (only the second country we visited during our whole trip). That, however, didn’t mean I wasn’t writing anything. There were a few times where I made detailed notes or started writing posts, just for them to languish in the drafts folder. But now that I’m just adding adventures when I can and in random orders, I think it’s high time to finish off some of those drafts and let them actually see the light of day. I’m going to start with our trip through the Patagonian Fjords in Chile.

We had always planned on including Chile in our South American itinerary, but due to having stricter COVID entry restrictions compared to some of its neighbours, organising our trip there ended up being quite last-minute. And as such, sorting our actual plans for inside the country mainly happened as we were sat in a hotel in Santiago during our quarantine period. Our main issue was that we really wanted to hike the famous O-Trek in Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia. But, when we tried to organise it, many of the campsites that we wanted to stay at were not available in the order that we would need them. We therefore had to delay the hike by a couple of weeks to be able to access those campsites. This delay did cause some problems, but it also created an interesting opportunity. Whilst the Navimag Ferry from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales does officially run into March, it is by no means guaranteed to run during the whole of this month due to the steadily worsening weather and ocean conditions. If we had been able to do the O-Trek when we had wanted to, then taking the ferry back in the opposite direction whilst heading back north would have been cutting it very fine regarding the end of the season. We may have been lucky or we may not, but the delay took away that potential problem and gave us the opportunity to take the slow route down through Patagonia.

One further stumbling block was the price. The ferry is not cheap and we spent a lot of time going back and forth over whether we could justify the expense at that stage of our travels. One thing that helped with this was that when we called the company to ask questions, they offered us 10% off compared to the online price. I don’t know whether that offer was because we were travelling during COVID and they were short of numbers, or because it was quite late in their season, or whether it is common practise for them to have cheaper fares over the phone; but it helped us make our decision and it is certainly worth a try if you are wanting to book the Ferry. Plus, when you factor in that you are receiving full-board accommodation, transport, and wildlife and site-seeing activities, the price doesn’t look quite so bad.

One thing that you do need to factor in when considering whether to book the ferry or not, especially at the beginning or towards the end of the season, is how flexible you are with regards to your travel arrangements. We were scheduled to board the ferry on the evening of Monday the 28^th of February and then set off first thing the following morning. On the weekend before, we received an email saying the ferry had been delayed on its previous voyage and thus our trip was being postponed by 24 hours. Then on the Monday, as we were in a queue to take a required PCR test, we received another email saying that there had been further weather related issues and now the boat would not be leaving before Wednesday at the earliest. It wasn’t until the Tuesday that we received confirmation of our departure but it was on Wednesday morning rather than in the evening. Luckily the AirBnB we were staying at was able to prolong our booking (twice) but this could have caused a lot of hassle. 

Once onboard there were further delays. The weather that had caused delays in the previous journey was still a factor on our trip. On the Thursday evening we had to drop anchor and wait over night in a channel given that the waves on the open sea were higher than a safe level. On the Friday we ended up going round in circles for an hour or two as we again waited for the waves to settle. These delays meant that instead of arriving at midday on the Saturday the 5^th of March, we arrived late afternoon on the Sunday. If you factor in the original departure date, we ended up arriving in Puerto Natales three and a half days later than we were supposed to. This was not a problem for us, but if you are on a tighter schedule, you may not want to rely on the punctuality of the ferry.

I am not, however, trying to put you off taking the ferry. Quite the opposite actually. Despite generally having quite poor weather, we still had a great time on board the Esperanza. We spotted whales, dolphins and sea lions from the boat. There was some beautiful scenery, including waterfalls and mountain glaciers. There were some unusual points of interest, such as the Capitan Leonidas and Puerto Eden. Plus the crew were great and really made an effort. It was also great to have time to relax and either read, write or just watch the scenery float by. Scenery that was regularly framed in the most intense and amazing rainbows I’d ever seen. I guess these were the silver, or in this case, the multi-coloured linings for having so much rain during our voyage. And yet, with better weather we know the scenery would have been even better. Mist and cloud often hung on the mountains during the first few days of our journey, so we couldn’t see beyond the immediate surroundings. This meant missing the many volcanoes that supposedly line the first part of the route s well as greater mountain views. So, if we could fully enjoy the experience when the weather was very poor, then with blue skies and clearer vistas, I can only imagine how amazing that would be.

Hopefully I’ve now piqued your interest. So, if you’d like to read more about our experience of sailing from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, then please read our page on travelling through the Patagonian Fjords…