Sailing through the Patagonian Fjords

4-2 In the evening around 9pm, I boarded the Navimag Ferry, the Evangelista. I of course had booked in the cheapest berth, but it wasn't too bad. You had a little locker and then it was a bunk bed with a curtain to shut the rest of the world out. It had a little reading lamp and an electrical outlet (which would prove to be quite useful for watching videos on my ipod). I rather liked it. A tiny little space I could shut myself in and relax during the boat ride if I wanted

4-3 The boat departed about 5am from Puerto Natales. I got up early to watch the sunrise, which was very nice as it illuminated the fresh snow on the mountains that had fallen last night. Right off the bat we went through some very narrow channels that the boat hardly fit through. Unfortunately it started to rain, so it was pretty much just chilling on board. Doing some reading and watching Glee! on my ipod. Saw some seals playing in the water alongside the ship and then of course, especially with the rain, just tons and tons and tons of waterfalls cascading off the mountains and islands and into the sea. Just so many waterfalls...crazy! In the galley we watched "Eden at the end of the world" a national geographic documentary on Patagonia. I had seen it before, but it was still great. If you haven't seen it, and you like wildlife and the wilds, you should check it out. In the afternoon I checked out the bridge and all the cool navigational equipment in it. In the evening after dinner, we watched March of the Penguins. For this video they did it in spanish with english subtitles. The spanish version of Morgan Freeman just isn't as good!

4-4 Some sun and better weather today. Saw lots of mountains glistening in the new snow. Went through some more quite narrow channels and continued to see lots of waterfalls. At one point we passed a shipwreck. Today I saw some more seals, two species of albatross, and some minke whales. Also watched a documentary on the South Georgia islands (geeze I want to go there so bad!) At around 2pm we entered the Gulfo de Penas, which doesn't translate to Gulf of Pain, but that's what they call it. It's the part of the journey where we enter the open ocean for about 15 hours. Because of the storm we were in, we had waves of 12 to 15 feet with the biggest ones reaching 25 to 30 feet. I've never been sea-sick before and I've been on some pretty nasty boat rides including a couple to and from the isles of shoals, one on an indonesian ferry, one while crossing from Palawan to Tubbataha and once with our College of Idaho Australian expedition. In fact I've usually enjoyed the ups and downs. With this one I got quite sea sick though. I don't know why since I never have before, and I have to admit it disappointed me (you know I hope to someday due the nasty drake passage to Antarctica). Maybe it was the exact rhythm and up and down flow of these waves that got me or maybe my inner ear had something going on. ANyways, I went to hang out in the bridge so I could look forward as the boat rose up and crashed down in order to keep from being too sick. But eventually it got dark. I thought maybe I could go for dinner (it was Italian night and I desperately wanted it...one of the good things for a backpacker on this trip was good food and lots of it). But in the galley it felt much worse. That is actually where I had orginally gotten sick while watching a lecture on the fauna of patagonia. There weren't many people getting food and it was quite funny bc people were sliding everywhere and food and plates were crashing everywhere, but I felt like i might throw up. So I rushed down to my little sanctuary of a bed, closed the curtain and turned Les Mis on my ipod. Something with good words to listen to to keep me occupied. Down in my quarters, I felt much better and eventually I switched to watching glee and even ate an apple and some crackers. I then fell asleep, and when I woke up in the morning we were back in the protection of the islands and fjords and the boat was calm again.

4-5 Saw some more minke whales and seals today. Attended the flora of patagonia lecture and watched a whole lot of Glee on my ipod (Thank God Shuttle Cassa had put 3 seasons on my Ipod in Antarctica!) because there was bad weather all day. As it was the last night, we played bingo up in the bar and had a dance party.