Far from its origins as a sheep exporting hub, modern-day Puerto Natales is a colourful and vibrant town that serves as the jumping off point for the Torres del Paine National Park. The park, which lies 2 hours to the north, has some of the most postcard-perfect scenery imaginable and draws tourists from the all over the globe.
The three granite pillars may form the highlight after which the park is named, but they are bolstered by magnificent support pieces, such as the nearby “Horns” with their dark tipped peaks, and the vast expanse of the Grey Glacier, an outflow of the Southern Patagonian Ice-field. The picture is completed by the milky green waters of Nordenskjöld Lake lending the whole scene a somewhat surreal touch.
The must-see park - which is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve - also provides ample wildlife spotting opportunities with flocks of guanacos - a relative of the llama - grazing the roadside hills, Andean Condors soaring in the heavens and if your luck is really in, perhaps even a glimpse of a puma, for Torres del Paine is considered one of the best places in South America to spot this reclusive cat.
March 10th. Torres del Paine trip from Puerto Natales The ship had not been able to berth at Puerto Natales due to strong winds and thus we had to go ashore for our day trip to Torres del Paine by zodiac, this at around 9.30. Then a 90 min drive, 70 of us in 3 coaches to the Ñake Hotel where we had a reasonable lunch just before noon. Chris and I had a quick walk after that to obtain a view to the glacier there,
Then we drove for up to an hour to obtain a good view of the Cuernos, past the lake where the Explora hotel was situated. Then onto a waterfall and a 600 yard walk where we were subjected to the most terrifying gusts of wind; footpath should have been closed as the arrow for wind strength was on the high side of Danger!
We finally ended up ar Cerro Castillo, our old friend on the Argentina border, for shopping!! It really annoys me that tour companies try to force feed coach customers to buy trinkets in shops where the coach company is being paid to deliver punters.
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Then back on the Explorer and through the Kirke Narrows and heading back north
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March 11th. A Day at Sea After a lecture by Jackie on maps and charts, there was a briefing on what to expect for the next few days. Than a really tasty German lunch. before a chance to plot ones voyage on a chart in the Observation lounge - and the chart actually had Moraira on it!. An interesting Trivia on South America before a boring lecture by Damon.
Then the Venetian Society cocktail party, where we discovered that we had the 2nd largest number of sea days on the ship at 439; a lady called Philippa had done over 600!. This was followed by dinner with Captain Freddie - of Finding the Endurance fame!. A very pleasant evening, mainly chatting to Philippa and listening to Freddie
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We went through the English Narrows around 9 am, weather was drizzly all day. English Narrows is a narrow passage in the Messier Channel in the southwestern coast of Chile. Here the channel is only 200 yards wide, but presents no great difficulty or danger unless a vessel goes through with the wind and tide, which should never be attempted if the wind is strong. In these narrows the tide runs 6 knots at springs. It is 11 miles long, from Isla Moat Island to Paso del Indio.
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And past the sugar ship,the Capitan Leonardias at 11.00. Wreck of a former cargo ship carrying bagged sugar from Santos, Brazil, it ran aground on April 7, 1968 in the fjords of Canal Messier. The ship still sits firmly on the flattened top of a submerged mountain called Bajo Cotopaxi (Cotopaxi Bank). Bajo Cotopaxi falls off quickly. There is some doubt as to whether it was an insurance job with the Captain running it aground deliberately, or whether he was very unlucky to hit a submerged reef in the middle of an otherwise bottomless fjord
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Into lunch soon after noon. Then we sailed down the iceberg fjord to the Templano glacier and cruised around it. taking photos
Then onto the parallel fjord to the Bernardo glacier. The Bernardo Glacier is one of the largest glaciers in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.and is located northeast of Témpano Glacier, within Bernardo O'Higgins National Park in Chile. The glacier flows westward Bernardo Fjord. Here we had a great zodiac cruise with Damon, in the lead boat to navigate over shallows at its entrance. The icebergs were fantastic but we got thoroughly drenched; it was also sleeting. .
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