A Long Way To Go For Ice For Your Whisky!

PUERTO NATALES, CHILE, 5 March, 2023.

We're up at 6:00am and walking in heavy rain to the office to sign in at 7:00pm. It's packed with people but the queue moves quickly and we are on the bus to the boat, a catamaran. Some tables are reserved so we join a table for six with two Chileno lads and a father and son from Slovakia / Austria. We hang around until the private groups arrive and eventually leave at 8am. We could have had an extra half hour in bed.

The voyage is 2.5 hours long. There are 152 people on board. We stop at an island to observe emperor cormorants. An American announces to his wife "only cormorants, nothing to get excited about". PG chats to a guide about his lifestyle. He says that he may not be money rich but he has a fabulous "office" onboard this boat on the fiord.

Next stop is to observe sea lions . They are very difficult to spot being black against the black rocks. Interestingly, they appear brown when in the water.

Talking to the father and his son, we learn that the father, named Tomas, was born in Slovakia and his son, Felipe, was born in Austria. Dad owns a pharmaceutical company and Felipe has been working in a hostel here in his gap year before university.

Our third stop is at the glacier. A choice of walks, 20 minutes to the glacier or 5 minutes to a viewing point. The former takes 30 minutes due to the mass of people. The recommendation at the start is to take photos on the way back because there is more time. Of course, no one listens so we dawdle! The woman in front stops at every flower to take a picture, it seems. PG's watch reads an hour to cover the 2km there and back. Before we leave, a table of 6 disembark and put on high viz jackets and life belts and disappear in a RIB. The weather is miserable and the boat uncovered. Not our idea of fun.

As we sail off, we're given a glass of whisky with a piece of ice from the glacier. We're not sure we believe that!

Next stop is for lunch. It's a huge barn created for just such an occasion. We're seated with two French women and a Peruvian woman. RJ learns that the latter is a housekeeper/ nanny for two doctors in Santiago. Her favourite food is Guinea pig. The French are from Paris. Food is mainly lamb with a chicken alternative or vegetarian option. Soup to start followed by shredded lettuce, then the main course. There was far too much lamb for the four women. The vegetarian option was totally uninspiring. Half a cold boiled egg, cold boiled rice and a cold tomato. Plus a hot boiled potato, courgette and mixed beans and carrots. Desert was a milk based mousse. A glass of wine was included. The whole thing took 2 hours. The French didn't think that we had enough time, the Slovakians said that we had far too long!

Straight back to the harbour after lunch. Everyone holds out tips jars as we disembark. Some confusion over transport back to town. We try to get on a coach as we did this morning only to be relegated to a minibus.

We shop for supplies for tomorrow at the big supermarket then return to the hostel.

A short walk in the evening but no food, we're still full from lunchtime. An early night ahead of tomorrow's early start.