Adventure Cruise: Cape Horn & Glaciers

Day 1: Depart from Ushuaia

Check in at 409 San Martín Avenue in downtown Ushuaia between 10am and 5pm on the day of your cruise departure.

Board the cruise at 6pm. After a welcoming toast and introduction the ship departs for one of the most remote corners of planet Earth. During the night we traverse the Beagle Channel and cross from Argentina into Chilean territorial waters. The lights of Ushuaia disappear as we turn into the narrow Murray Channel between Navarino and Hoste islands.

Meals: Dinner

Day 2: Cape Horn to Wulaia Bay

Around the break of dawn, the cruise crosses Nassau Bay and enters the remote archipelago that comprises Cape Horn National Park. Weather and sea conditions permitting, we'll go ashore on the windswept island that harbours legendary Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos). Discovered in 1616 by a Dutch maritime expedition – and named after the town of Hoorn in West Friesland – Cape Horn is a sheer 425m (1,394ft) high rocky promontory overlooking the turbulent waters of the Drake Passage.

For many years it was the only navigation route between the Pacific and Atlantic, and was often referred to as the 'End of the Earth'. In 2005 UNESCO declared the park a World Biosphere Reserve. The Chilean navy maintains a permanent lighthouse on the island, staffed by a lighthouse keeper and his family, as well as the tiny Stella Maris Chapel and modern Cape Horn Monument.

Sailing back across Nassau Bay, we anchor at the fabled Wulaia Bay, one of the few places in the archipelago where the human history is just as compelling as the natural environment. Originally the site of one of the region’s largest Yámana aboriginal settlements, the bay was described by Charles Darwin and sketched by Captain FitzRoy in the 1830s during their voyages on HMS Beagle.

This area is also renowned for its stunning beauty and dramatic geography. After a visit to the museum in the old radio station – which is especially strong on the Yámana people and European missionaries in the area – passengers have a choice of three hikes (of increasing degrees of difficulty) that ascend the heavily wooded mountain behind the bay. On all of these you stroll through an enchanted Magellanic forest of lengas, coigües, canelos and ferns to reach panoramic viewpoints overlooking the bay.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 3: Pia Glacier and Porter Glacier

Overnight we continue our Patagonia glacier tour around the western end of Tierra del Fuego via the very narrow Gabrial Channel, Magdalena Channel and Cockburn Channel. After rounding the remote Brecknock Peninsula, the cruise tacks eastward and enters the Beagle Channel again. By morning we are entering Pia Fjord and boarding the Zodiacs for a shore excursion to Pia Glacier.

After disembarking, we take a short hike to a panoramic view of the spectacular glacier, which extends from the mountaintops down to the sea. There is also the option of a longer, much more difficult walk up a lateral moraine of the old Pia Glacier.

No one knows for certain how the hulking mass of snow and ice got its feminine moniker, but one theory says it was named for Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (1847-1911), daughter of the Italian king.

In the afternoon we board our Zodiac boats to sail between high rocky walls until we reach Porter Glacier.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 4: Agostini Sound, Águila Glacier and Cóndor Glacier

Early in the morning, we'll sail through the Cockburn Channel and enter Agostini Sound.  From there it is possible to see the glaciers that descend from the middle of the Darwin Mountain Range – some of them reaching the water.

Later in the morning, we will disembark for an easy walk around a lagoon which was formed by the melting of the Águila Glacier. We'll reach a spot right in front of the glacier with stunning views. In the afternoon, we'll approach the Cóndor Glacier via Zodiac and hopefully see some of the abundant Andean condors in the area.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 5: Magdalena Island* to Punta Arenas

After an overnight cruise through Magdalena Channel and back into the Strait of Magellan, we'll anchor off Magdalena Island* which lies about halfway between Tierra del Fuego and the Chilean mainland. Crowned by a distinctive lighthouse, the island used to be an essential source of supplies for navigators and explorers and is inhabited by an immense colony of Magellanic penguins. At the break of dawn, weather permitting, we go ashore and hike a path that leads through thousands of penguins to a small museum lodged inside the vintage 1902 lighthouse. Many other bird species are also found on the island.

Finally, after a short cruise south along the strait, disembarkation at Punta Arenas is scheduled for 11:30am.

Meals: Breakfast

* In September and April, this excursion is replaced by a ride aboard Zodiacs to Marta Island to observe South American sea lions.

Note that camera extension poles are prohibited on Magdalena Island.