Fjords of Tierra del Fuego

Save $250 per person

Day 1: Punta Arenas 
Check in at 1398 Costanera del Estrecho Ave. (Arturo Prat Port) in Punta Arenas between 13:00 and 17:00 (1-5 PM) on your cruise departure day.

Board the ship at 6 PM for a welcoming toast and introductions to the captain and crew. The vessel departs for one of the most remote corners of the Earth. During the night, you will cross the Strait of Magellan and enter the labyrinthine channels of southern Patagonia. The lights of Punta Arenas gradually disappear as you navigate the Whiteside Canal, situated between Darwin Island and Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego.

Day 2: Ainsworth Bay & Tucker Islets
By dawn, the ship will be navigating Admiralty Sound (Seno Almirantazgo), an impressive extension of the Strait of Magellan that stretches nearly halfway across Tierra del Fuego. Snow-capped peaks of Karukinka Natural Park line the northern side, while the southern shore features the deep fjords and expansive bays of Alberto de Agostini National Park. You will disembark at Ainsworth Bay, home to abundant birdlife and a colony of southern elephant seals, occasionally visible from the Zodiacs. Choose between two guided excursions: one along a stream, peat bog, and beaver habitat to a waterfall and moss-covered rock face in a pristine sub-polar forest, or a more challenging hike along a glacial moraine, both offering views of Marinelli Glacier and the Darwin Mountains.

After the Ainsworth Bay tour, you will sail west to the Tucker Islets. After lunch, you will board Zodiacs for a close-up look at the Magellanic penguins nesting on these small islands. Over 4,000 penguins use Tucker for nesting and raising their chicks. The area also hosts various bird species such as king cormorants, oystercatchers, Chilean skuas, kelp geese, dolphin gulls, eagles, and occasionally the Andean condor. During September and April, when the penguins are elsewhere, this excursion is replaced by a short walk to a glacier at the nearby Brookes Bay.

Day 3: Pia Glacier & Glacier Alley 
Overnight, you will navigate around the western end of Tierra del Fuego via the narrow Gabrial, Magdalena, and Cockburn Channels. After rounding the remote Brecknock Peninsula, the ship will tack east into the Beagle Channel. By morning, you will enter Pia Fjord and board Zodiacs for a tour of Pia Glacier. A short hike offers panoramic views of this spectacular glacier extending from the mountaintops to the sea, or opt for a more strenuous hike up a lateral moraine of the old Pia Glacier.

The glacier's name may be derived from Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (1847-1911), daughter of the Italian king, though the exact origin of the name is uncertain.

Back on board, you will continue east along the Beagle Channel through Glacier Alley, aptly named for its impressive tidewater glaciers flowing from the Darwin Mountains and Darwin Ice Sheet on the northern shore, including glaciers named after European countries like Holland, Italy, Germany, Spain, and France.

Day 4: Cape Horn & Wulaia Bay 
In the morning, you will cross Nassau Bay into the remote archipelago including Cape Horn National Park. Weather permitting, you will land on the windswept island featuring the legendary Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos). Discovered in 1616 by a Dutch maritime expedition and named after Hoorn in West Friesland, Cape Horn is a 425-meter (1,394-foot) high rocky promontory overlooking the turbulent Drake Passage. Once the only navigation route between the Pacific and Atlantic, it was known as the "End of the Earth." The park, declared a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve in 2005, hosts a Chilean navy lighthouse, a lightkeeper and his family, as well as a small Stella Maris Chapel and the modern Cape Horn Monument.

In the afternoon, you will navigate the narrow Murray Channel between Navarino and Hoste Islands and anchor at historic Wulaia Bay, renowned for its human and natural history. Once one of the region’s largest Yámana aboriginal settlements, it was described by Charles Darwin and sketched by Captain FitzRoy during their 1830s voyages on the HMS Beagle. The bay is also celebrated for its dramatic beauty and geography. After visiting the Australis-sponsored museum in the old radio station, which highlights the Yámana people and European missionaries, you can choose from three hikes of varying difficulty through the enchanted Magellan forest to a panoramic viewpoint. Before leaving Wulaia Bay, you can contribute to a wooden mail barrel in the museum, continuing the ancient mariner tradition revived by Australis.

Day 5: Ushuaia
The following morning, you will enter Argentine waters and dock in Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost city.

Arrival is at 08:30 AM or 09:30 AM, depending on the departure date.