Didn't do that much on Monday 19th- sorted out Torres del Paine photos (am very behind on organising photos) and uploaded very, very slowly to FB. Went for a walk in the town, checked into Navimag, got some socks (half my socks seem to have disappeared!) and got some travel sick tablets (hopefully won't need but if I didn't buy them I would need them!). Both were unbelievably expensive, socks 6,000 and tablets 7,000- almost £20 total! I took luggage to Navimag at 6.30 then went for dinner. Boarding for Navimag at 9, delayed til 10.

The Navimag ferry- 19th-23rd March.

We boarded the Navimag at about 10pm. Sharing a cabin with a lady from Chile but there is only 2 of us instead of 4 which is good. Apparently the boat can take 250 passengers but there are only 150 on board. We have 3 days (4 nights) on board and the day has a routine, with breakfast between 8 and 9, lunch at 12.30 and dinner at 7.30. I am surprised by how much and how well we have been fed- breakfast and 2 full meals per day, actually it's even a bit too much. I'd read some people's reviews of the boat trip that said as it wasa cargo boat passengers shouldn't expect much but I have been impressed. They even make the beds and common areas are comfortable. Perhaps if the boat was full it would be a bit uncomfortable. The boat sails once a week north to south (Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales) and once a week south to north. It transports cargo as there are no roads in this part of Chilean Patagonia, just fjords.

On the first morning it was really rainy and windy but the rest of the trip has generally been good weather, again, very lucky, meaning we could go out on deck and had great views as we travelled along the fjords and I have heard that often the weather can be bad and therefore ruin the trip.

On Wednesday (the second day) afternoon we entered open sea and the boat was a bit up and down for about 12 hours- I took a sea sick tablet before which I think was a good idea though I did sleep for 3 hours afterwards so it may also have made me drowsy! Anyway I didn't feel sick which I was glad about. Dinner time was definitely quieter that night and the bar was almost empty with a film showing as opposed to the night before when it was full and lively! Most people went to bed early; I slept 10 hours despite my afternoon snooze!

I have found being on the boat to be restful too:-) Even though I wasn't doing the multi day treks before getting on the boat like a lot of the people here, I have been busy recently and on here you have the chance to do nothing! I have caught up on sleep (including a morning or an afternoon nap!), caught up on my blog, read, met and chatted to people, walked around on deck….We have also seen some wildlife, including lots of seals swimming near the boat, some dolphins and some whales spouting water :-)

On the first evening (Tuesday) we went to see a glacier- Skua glacier. Not as big as the Perito Moreno glacier but still very impressive- these glaciers are huge and a real sight. The crew went in one of the little boats to get some ice off of one of the floating chunks of ice- I think that went in drinks on Tuesday evening!

It's the third afternoon now and I have taken the opportunity to get caught up on my blog, finally! Tonight it's bingo and party time (disco) after dinner! Ha ha. We will apparently arrive in Puerto Montt at 3am but won't disembark until 8am though. Not sure where I will be heading to, got a couple of destinations in mind, I guess I'll have a bit of a plan when I get off the boat!

Ok, well, bingo was good fun, in a silly kind of way. I bought a bingo card for one of the guys and he won 2 games- beginner's luck! Disco was a laugh too- a range of cheesy and salsa style music. Didn't go to bed til 1.30, made getting up at 7am hard! My next destination was Chiloe where I ended up going with 4 other travellers from the boat but more on that later....