For our second full day in Torres del Paine, we opted for an easy morning and afternoon catamaran ride on Lago Grey to see the Grey Glacier. After the hike the day before, we were both grateful for the rest and looking forward to getting up close to another massive glacier. We rode over with two other (slightly impatient) Spanish-speaking hotel guests — I guess they were told the departure time was 11am while we had 11:15 on our schedule. Either way we made the check-in and got to the beach where the catamaran would pick us up with plenty of time to spare.
What we weren’t expecting, however, was that we’d need to walk about 20 minutes across a massive gravel beach to get to the boarding area. Both of us were nursing some intense DOMS after the hike and the deep gravel didn’t feel great, but we made it to the boat on time and settled in for the ride across the lake. This catamaran was a lot smaller than the one in El Calafate for Perito Moreno, and while there were fewer people it was definitely more tightly packed. As soon as the doors were open, we made our way upstairs to enjoy the ride from the deck but weren’t prepared for the intense wind speeds coming down through the mountains. We didn’t last too long before heading back inside for the included Pisco Sour while we completed the journey.
The glacier terminates in three places spit by a large rock outcroppings, and while we couldn’t get too close to the first terminus we got about as close to the second & third as we’d came to Perito Moreno before heading back. While the Grey and Perito Moreno glaciers are pretty similar in overall size, Perito Moreno stands about twice as tall and was much more accessible. It was definitely worth the trip, but between the two Perito Moreno was definitely the more memorable journey.
