Puerto Montt to Ancud, Isla Grande de Chiloé – Saturday, 2 November

We arrived in Puerto Montt first thing in the morning on the ferry Evangelista. We had to wait for the lower deck of trucks to be unloaded but eventually we got off the ferry and picked up our rental car. We headed for Chiloé Island. Getting to the island requires taking a 30 minute car ferry. We plan to stay on Chiloé and explore for four nights.

On Chiloé our first stop was Ostras (oysters) Caulin (highly recommended by Fodor’s). The oysters come from the coast in front of the restaurant.

Our hotel is in Ancud, a town on the north end of the island. We took it easy for the rest of the afternoon and ate dinner near the center of town at a fabulous place called Club Social Baquedano. We had locally made beer with our seafood. Duke had squid and I had fish with four different sauces. It was a total surprise when mine arrived and it had 15 fish fillets. We couldn’t finish them all but oh my were they good! The platter wouldn’t fit on the table so they brought a stool to set it on.

The atmosphere was great too. The wood stove in the picture below warmed us and there were children playing with toys in a play area in the back. The building originally was the Ancud social club.

On Board the ferry Evangelista from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt

We boarded the ferry Evangelista at 9 pm Tuesday October 29. The ferry’s primarily purpose is to carry trucks and cargo through the Chilean Fjords 700 miles. We took the ferry from Puerto Natales to Puerto Mont. the ferry also carries passengers. There were twenty eight passengers total. Seven young backpackers, four older couples like us, ten truck drivers and a woman with two boys who got off half way through the journey in Port Eden. Bxov

Accommodations and food were very basic but it was a fun trip.

Navimag the ferry company describes the journey as “for people who are not looking for luxuries, but rather an authentic journey for slow travelers and backpackers who want to enjoy the romanticism of traveling in a vessel from the 70’s”. That is a good description of the experience. Yoga classes were offered and we had a couple of lectures about what we were seeing.

There was a movie night.

A classical guitar concert

A class on the culture and drinking of maté.

The scenery was spectacular.

We saw a shipwreck from the sixties.

And stopped briefly at the only settlement an the route, Port Eden. Port Eden has a population of about 170 and no road access.

This morning Saturday November 2 we arrived in Puerto Montt.

Puerto Natales – Tuesday 29 October

On Tuesday we checked in mid afternoon for the ferry we were taking north. We couldn’t actually board until 9 pm so we walked back through town to our hotel.

We visited the excellent Puerto Natales historical museum. They had both English and Spanish explanations of the displays. The displays were about all the people who lived in the area from the earliest to the present.

We stopped in at a yarn store.

We hung out and ate dinner at our hotel before boarding the ferry that we would be on for the next four nights.

Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales

This morning we walked to the bus station in Punto Arenas and got on a bus for a three hour bus ride north to Puerto Natales.

The trip was very interesting. The terrain was flat, desolate and wind blown. We saw lots of sheep and guanacos. We also saw Rheas the Rhea is a large flightless South American. bird. We didn’t get any pictures from the bus but there is a picture of one on the wall of our hotel room.

We are staying at a lovely hotel in Puerto Natales overlooking the water, the Weskar Patagonian Lodge. After checking in we walked along the water into the town. We were going to visit the historical museum but it was closed.

We ate dinner at our hotel and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Day 5 – Ventus Australis and arrival in Punta Arenas, Chili

Over Saturday night we crossed Magdalena Channel and this morning stopped at Magdalena Island. The island has a lighthouse built in 1902 and a big colony of Magdalena Penguins. We disembarked at 7 am by zodiac and took a path around the island. In addition to lots of penguins we saw lots of gulls and geese.

We got back on board and had breakfast while we headed for Punta Arenas where we went through Chilean Customs and walked to our hotel. Our Australis cruise was a fantastic experience. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys being active and exploring nature. The mountain and glaciers of the Darwin Range are like nothing I have seen anywhere else.

In Puenta Arenas we went for a walk this afternoon.

And we stopped for coffee.

We ate dinner at Cafe Sarmiento with a view overlooking Punta Arenas. Our Ventus Australis waiter used to work there. He recommended it. We had scallop stew and spider crab stew. It was delicious.