Puerto Natales seemed like a strange town, sprawled out near the ocean with a busy highstreet whilst every other street was empty. Upon arrival Evan and I headed straight to the Navimag office to check in which thankfully was a smooth process, despite handing over a horrifying amount of money. We didn't have to return to board the boat until 9pm so i went in search of a barbers in town. After a couple of unsuccessful enquiries I found the only barber in town that was open. Unfortunately, the language barrier was a bit of an issue so i ended up just having my entire head cut with thinning scissors all over as he had never seen hair as thick before.

With my new look i was ready to join the army but instead met Evan at the supermarker to complete our booze shop. I was told (by Evan) that it was a 5 day boat trip, so of course between the 2 of us we bought a sufficient amount - 1.75l of rum, 1 bottle of vodka, 1 bottle of whisky, 2 bottles of wine and 36 cans of beer...well we had at least 1 day dry in Torres Del Paine anyway!

Fully laden we found an American restaurant and feasted on wings, burgers and chips before heading back to the Navimag office ready to board.

The Navimag itself is originally a cargo ship built in 1978, but converted in 2000 to allow for 242 passengers as well. We were shown to our beds, which basically are a series of bunkbeds down a corridor, each bed with just a curtain between you and the corridor itself, but i shall not complain as i ended up with a corner bed, so no human traffic going past AND a window!

That evening we were not departing until 4am so we headed up to the bar to mingle and start on the booze. We met Joe and Hester that evening, a British couple from London. We compared notes on our travels to date and had both been in the pantanal. When questioned on what animals i had seen i rather prooudly announced a romp (collective term) of giant otters, to which they replied, "oh yes we saw them, they were fighting the jaguar" - JEALOUS!!!

Next morning I awoke early for breakfast and the ship had already set sail. There is a large canteen on board the boat and it was nice to be fed every day at set times with decent meals, especially after blagging our way through meals for the previous few days. Soon after breakfast we passed the narrowest part of the journey, which was not much wider than the ship itself and not long after were greeted by a sea lion colony. Rather keen to spot as much wildlife as possible we all headed up top despite the awful weather conditions. The visibility was limited at best and the wind and rain quite powerful. The highlight of the day though was the giant glacier that we approached which was as impressive as Perito Moreno in scale which is quite something.

After putting up with the weather a little longer at lunch time i asked some of the crew men if there was any chance of seeing any wildlife today, the response was negative so instead i made for the bar where i later met Matt and Jen, a kiwi couple i had started a conversation with at the bus station in Bariloche.

That evening a few of us occupied the bar and hoped for better weather the next day.

Fortunately, luck was on our side as the weather was glorious, and apart from a couple of naps (possibly hungover induced) I enjoyed as much time on deck as possible.

The scenery was incredible with bright blue skies and possibly even more blue water. The fjords and landscape were incredible as I enjoyed a lazy day watching the world go by, whilst keeping an eye out for whales or orcas.

In the afternoon we headed out of the fjords and hit the open sea. I have never had seasickness before but despite the relatively calm sea i was certainly starting to feel it, but it was nothing a couple of tablets and a nap couldn´t ween off. It seems i was one of the lucky ones though as the canteen was almost empty at dinner time. To lift everyone's spirits we did all see a minke whale quite close to the ship in the evening, and before that I saw 5 large spurts of water in the distance, which although not confirmed as anything I was told would most likely be from a blue whale!

That evening Evan, Christian (Spanish/French) and I stayed up until 4.30am making a good dent in the booze stock, just as well as we found out that actually the trip was only 4 days rather than 5!

Next morning the weather was great again and we could see albatros' (not wandering ones) and penguins doing their things. In the afternoon we all saw the spray from another whale, but nothing more exciting than that. I also had 2 cups of tea that afternoon, which meant that i missed dolphins on 2 occassions, talk about poor timing! It was also Matt´s birthday so as soon as the sun went down we started on the now dwindling supply of booze before joining in a game of bingo that was organised by the crew. Rather strangely you had to pay around 3pd to enter the game and the prize for winning each round was nothing more than the opportunity to dance infront of everyone else on the ship, still it made for a fun (ish) sort of evening.

The next morning was the final one on board and when we awoke at 7am we were already in port at Puerto Mont. We headed down for one last breakfast on board before departing at 8am.