I suppose the first question might be: would you do it again and I would say yes. However we did travel on the ferry with a few points in our favor.
We had to pay for a cabin for Rusty to travel with us and while we would have liked the suite for $2,000 it was booked of course so we took four bunks in one cabin with a window for $2500. The upper bunks folded so we had more headroom and the bunks themselves were very comfortable with excellent mattresses and lots of room.
On the other hand sharing a small bathroom with three strangers would be a trial. There are public toilets in the corridor but showering would be a bit of a rigmarole. With a whole cabin to ourselves we could spread out and use all the storage we needed.
The other thing to bear in mind is we traveled in low season so instead of sharing the ship among 220 passengers there were only 50 of us. There was a family of four children from Australia but everyone else was an independent traveler of one sort or another. One German woman described it as a “hostel on the sea”and she wasn’t far wrong. With cargo of course and we paid $500 to have GANNET2 strapped down on the car deck among the truck trailers. There is no access to your vehicle during the journey.
Traveling in late Spring, at the beginning of December the sun comes up before six and sets around ten by the time you get to Puerto Natales so it can be a long day aboard. The cabin has a ventilator that lets cold Patagonian air in but the heat is regulated elsewhere. We found it pretty comfortable oddly enough despite the lack of a thermostat and suffered no extremes of heat or cold. Breakfast is served from 7 to 8 and all meals are cafeteria style:
The menu changes every day but breakfast includes a hot dish, cold cuts, fruit, yogurt, bread, cereals and hot water for tea or instant coffee. Some comments online aren’t kind about the food but we found it seasoned and properly cooked. Vegetarians, celiacs and vegans are catered to apparently but I don’t know the details.
Lunch at noon till one pm includes soup and dessert and Layne’s major complaint is the speed of service. Each meal lasts just one hour so lingering can be limited depending where in line you pick up your food and Layne likes to linger. Above we see pork loin on rice, lentils and mint peas; below salmon on potato mash and peas.
Chicken soup and apple crumble/pie shown below. One memorable day we got steak on mashed corn (choclo) which was too weird for the Australian family. I loved it.
Cod and vegetables below. I looked forward to our meals as they were a pleasant break and filling. Coffee tea and juices are available all day and there is a snack bar where you can buy sodas and junk food though I didn’t go by there. The included meals were plenty!
The chairs move in the dining room so you can make space for yourself as it suits you.
Grilled chicken breast and oysters on salad below. You should know Rusty was not deprived on this trip as seconds were always on offer and we went to meals with a ziplock in our pockets. One of the few truck drivers onboard got in the habit of stopping by to share his left overs…Rusty never said no.
Though it’s not a cruise ship there are some activities thrown in. A group of travelers spent the four days doing a huge jigsaw; there was also karaoke and bingo and a documentary film and a tour of the bridge.
There is also a map of the route with a magnet showing our location. I never actually saw a crew member move it but it mysteriously kept changing position.
There is a library onboard and I contributed my paper copy of Alexander the Great’s biography I had been reading in the cabin.
And the scenery. Oh yes this really is Patagonia. Aboard ship we have hot running water, regular meal times and flush toilets. Outside the ship we float through water so cold it will kill you in minutes and miles upon miles of utterly untouched wilderness.
Anywhere you go in the world you will see the twin tracks of automobile passage. They are the universal symbol of human presence. Not here, here there is nothing, nothing but Esperanza churning along at 15 implacable miles per hour. I watched in my speed app and we stuck to 12 knots all the time.
Onboard WiFi is reserved for the crew and to take credit card payment in the snack bar but for passengers there is internet silence. It’s no bad thing I suppose but I should have food joyed looking up information as we went and using our time to route plan our journey to the southernmost tip of the continent.
As it was we had cell service for about five hours after we left Puerto Montt and sailed down the inhabited gulf and phone service resumed for a couple of hours two days later at Villa Puerto Eden where we stopped to unload cargo while at anchor.
I took advantage to do my day’s Wordle and compose a short update here and to soak up some sun.
As usual rainy day succeeded sunny day and after we passed Villa Puerto Eden we awoke on our last day to strong winds, icy temperatures and far fewer trees on the hillsides lining the channels. The mountains looked scoured and swept clean of vegetation.
The journey takes roughly four days and three nights to Puerto Natales where the ship turns around in short order and sails north to Puerto Montt in four nights and three days. This is not a journey to make if you have deadlines as the schedule is very flexible. We left three days later than originally planned and we sailed five hours later than originally scheduled. Both senses were good for us but if you have connecting flights and tight plans this trip will drive you mad. If you want to see Patagonia it’s brilliant.
Most overlanders won’t come this way as it takes you away from the Carretera Austral, the iconic Highway 7 which drives through these mountains. We plan to do a chuck of it on our way north as we skip from Argentina to Chile and back along the mountain border. Not everyone has the time to do that. And then there’s the expense which is mitigated by the fact you save 1200 miles driving to Ushuaia. We did it for the experience.
Tomorrow I’ll post pictures of the journey itself.
Share this with three strangers:
Rusty’s bed bundled for transport to our cabin.
He figured out in his own good time how and where to go to the bathroom. It stressed me out hoping he would get on with it so we went on a lot of walks around the decks and finally he found the foredeck to be his spot and he let loose. I was close behind with paper towels plastic bags and vinegar spray and after the first time he had it figured out.
Pretty scenic bathroom overall.
