Thursday the 10th of April 2003 – Day 50 until Monday the 14th of April 2003 – Day 55

Thursday the 10th of April 2003 – Day 50 until Monday the 14th of April 2003 – Day 55
As discussed in the earlier posting, Thursday was a waiting day for the NAVIMAG boat. While we could check in at 3.00pm, we all boarded together at 8.45pm. Tea and coffee were available at check in for free. Your bags were ferried to the boat and you were given your bunk number as well as food coupons. You get 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) per day. At 8.45pm, after a short talk, we were led to the boat. Room for 384, I reckoned they may have been a 120 passengers, the majority of them European tourists. Alot of truck driver stayed below decks.

For the next hour or two, people wandered around the boat, checking it out. Basically, most of the ship is given over to Cargo, because the the same route may take up to 40 hours by road. The ship had three levels. Accommodation, the cafferteria and upstairs the Pub. Most people went to bed early the first night, as no meals or entertainment were available. Because bunks were small but comfortable (blankets were free, sheets had to be hired) I moved to another bunk area with less people. Basically bunks came in 2 X 2.

On the Friday, people wanted to get up early to see the views. People who got up that bit earlier saw a magnificent sun rise (see below). It was pretty amazing to see this blood red sea and sky. Anyway breakfast is served between 8.00 and 9.00 (scrambled eggs, roll, a pear). It was sufficient. overall, the food was OK, beef, pasta, fish etc. It was passable, and there is no need to bring additional food or snacks on board. Most people bring on loads of drink though as it is expensive on board (900 Cp for a small can).

I will not go into each days activities as essentially it is what you want from it. If you want a booze cruise, they are people to help you. If you want to meet people, well, that’s easy on a small ship. If you want to see wildlife, well, we saw lots from Seals, Dolphins, Killer Whales and so on. you can stay out with your binoculars 24/7 if you want. If you want to relax, then you can read and rest all day long. The ship also put on numerous slide shows about Patagonia, the flora and fauna etc. Usually there were 3 to 4 of these per day. They also had a safety talk. Can not complain about the number of slide shows etc which were in both in English and Spanish.

The passage was very smooth. There were no stops or you can not get off. There is one open passage of water which lasts for 14 hours. You can really feel the waves, any if you are going to get sea sick, you will get sick here. It can get very rough but luckily it was not too bad for us.

They also put on a film each evening. Over the the few days, we watched the Matrix which is always excellent , Big Blue which is always crap in my opinion, Casablanca which is an excellent film, Training Day which was very enjoyable fun and Revelations (what lies beneath) which was very bad. What has Harrison Ford done These showed at 10.00pm each night.

On the last night they also hold a bingo competition. For 500 CP you get the board while they call out the numbers. We had 4 games of Bingo, where completed board winners got hats, fleeces etc. Most of the truck drivers (who never usually came up), all came up for a the Bingo and whose members won twice.

One thing bout the livestock was the noise. You could hear the cattle most night and the city folk on board were outraged at the poor animals conditions on board, as they were exposed to the elements and had no room to lay down.

Anyway I will flesh out the journey later in more detail. One f the advantages of the blog is that I can go back to this post in a dew weeks or months tie,a nd make changes, add more detail so as to flesh things out. This is one of those times.