The road of Darwin

You will fly from Montreal to Ushuaia.

After a welcome toast and the introduction of the captain and crew, the ship departs for one of the remotest places on planet Earth. During the night, you cross the Beagle Channel and sail from Argentina to Chilean territorial waters. The lights of Ushuaia disappear as you enter the narrow Murray Canal between the Navarino and Hoste Islands.

At dawn, the Australis cruise crosses Nassau Bay and heads for the remote Cape Horn National Park archipelago. If the weather and sea conditions permit, you will disembark on the windswept island that is home to the legendary Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos). Discovered in 1616 by a Dutch maritime expedition – and named after the West Frisian town of Hoorn – Cape Horn is a 425-metre-high rocky promontory overlooking the turbulent waters of the Drake Passage. For many years it was the only shipping route between the Pacific and the Atlantic, and was often called “the end of the earth”. The park was declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2005. The Chilean Navy maintains a permanent lighthouse on the island, with a lighthouse keeper and his family, as well as the tiny Stella Maris chapel and the modern Cape Horn monument.

Crossing Nassau Bay, you drop anchor in the legendary Wulaia Bay, one of the few places in the archipelago where human history is as fascinating as the natural environment. The bay was originally the site of one of the largest Yámana Aboriginal settlements in the region. It was described by Charles Darwin and designed by Captain FitzRoy in the 1830s during their travels on the HMS Beagle. The area is also renowned for its enchanting beauty and spectacular geography. After a visit to the Australis-sponsored museum in the old radio station – which focuses particularly on the Yámana people and the European missionaries in the area – passengers have a choice of three hikes (of increasing degrees of difficulty) up the heavily forested mountain behind the bay. On all of these hikes, you pass through an enchanting Magellanic forest of lengas, coigües, canelos and ferns to reach panoramic viewpoints over the bay.

At night you sail around the western end of Tierra del Fuego via the very narrow Gabrial Canal, the Magdalena Canal and the Cockburn Canal. After rounding the isolated Brecknock Peninsula, the Australis cruise heads east and enters the Beagle Channel again. After disembarking, you will take a short hike to get a panoramic view of the spectacular glacier, which stretches from the mountain tops to the sea, or a longer and much more difficult walk up a lateral moraine of the ancient Pia Glacier.

Nobody knows for sure how the mass of snow and ice received its female name, but one theory says that it was named after Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (1847-1911), daughter of the King of Italy.

You head west along the Beagle Channel, enter another long fjord and drop anchor near the Garibaldi Glacier for another shore excursion. The Garibaldi is one of only three glaciers in Patagonia that are gaining mass instead of staying the same or slowly diminishing. This time you cross the Magellan rainforest to reach a glacial waterfall, a wall of ferns and mosses and spectacular views of the glacier and fjord. The walk is demanding – very steep, negligible path, unevenness – and not for everyone. For those who choose to stay on board, your captain will point the bow towards the magnificent sky-blue Garibaldi Glacier so that everyone can enjoy the panoramic view from the upper decks.

Early in the morning you will sail through the Cockburn Canal and enter the Strait of Agostini. From here it is possible to see the glaciers coming down from the middle of the Darwin mountain range – some of them reaching the water. This morning you will disembark and take an easy walk around a lagoon, which was formed by the melting of the Águila glacier. You will reach a place right in front of this glacier with a breathtaking view. In the afternoon, you will approach the Condor glacier by Zodiac – and you will see some of the abundant Andean condors in the area.

After an overnight cruise through the Magdalena Channel and the Strait of Magellan, you drop anchor off the island of Magdalena, which is about halfway between Tierra del Fuego and the Chilean mainland. Crowned by a characteristic lighthouse, the island was once an essential source of supply for sailors and explorers and is inhabited by a huge colony of Magellanic penguins. At dawn, if the weather permits, you go ashore and take a trail that leads through thousands of penguins to a small museum housed inside the 1902 lighthouse. Many other bird species are also present on the island. In September and April – when the penguins live elsewhere – this excursion is replaced by a trip in Zodiacs to the island of Marta to observe South American sea lions. After a short cruise southwards along the strait, disembarkation at Punta Arenas is scheduled for around 11:30 am. You are free to explore Punta Arenas, there is plenty to keep you busy in town.

Pick up the boat at 6:00 pm. After a welcome toast and the introduction of the captain and crew, the ship departs for the second half of the journey. At night, the lights of Punta Arenas fade as you cross the Strait of Magellan and enter the Whiteside Channel between Darwin Island and Tierra del Fuego’s Grand Island.

At dawn, you sail up the Admiralty Strait between the snow-capped peaks of Karukinka and the fjords of the Alberto de Agostini National Park. You disembark in Ainsworth Bay, where birds and elephant seals are plentiful. Two guided walks are offered, both with excellent views of the Marinelli Glacier and the Darwin Mountains. Leaving Ainsworth Bay, you sail west to the Tuckers Islets for a close encounter with the 4,000 Magellanic penguins that nest there. Many other bird species also frequent these tiny lands. In September and April, when the penguins live elsewhere, this excursion is replaced by a walk on the beach to a glacier in Brookes Bay.

At night you sail around the western end of Tierra del Fuego via the very narrow Gabrial Canal, the Magdalena Canal and the Cockburn Canal. After rounding the isolated Brecknock Peninsula, the Australis cruise heads east and enters the Beagle Channel again. In the morning, you enter the Pia fjord and board the zodiacs for a shore excursion on the Pia glacier. After disembarking, you will take a short hike to get a panoramic view of the spectacular glacier, which stretches from the mountain tops to the sea, or a longer, much more difficult walk on a lateral moraine of the old Pia glacier.

No one knows for sure how the mass of snow and ice received its female name, but one theory says that it was named after Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (1847-1911), daughter of the King of Italy.

Back on board the ship, you continue east along the Beagle Channel through an area called Glacier Alley. As the name suggests, the passage features a number of impressive tidal water glaciers that descend from the Darwin Mountains and the Darwin Ice Sheet on the north coast. Most of them are named after European countries : Holland, Italy, Germany, Spain and France.

In the early morning you sail through the narrow Murray Canal between Navarino and Hoste Islands and drop anchor in the historic bay of Wulaia, one of the few places in the archipelago where human history is as fascinating as the natural environment. Originally the site of one of the largest Yámana Aboriginal settlements in the region, the bay was described by Charles Darwin and designed by Captain FitzRoy in the 1830s during their voyages on the HMS Beagle. The area is also renowned for its enchanting beauty and spectacular geography. After a visit to the Australis-sponsored museum in the old radio station – which focuses particularly on the Yámana people and the European missionaries in the area – passengers have a choice of three hikes (of increasing degrees of difficulty) up the heavy wooden mountain behind the bay. On all these hikes you will walk through an enchanted Magellanic forest of lengas, coigües, canelos, ferns and other endemic animals to reach a panoramic viewpoint over the bay. Before leaving Wulaia Bay, drop something into the wooden barrel in the museum – letters or postcards to be hand delivered by future travellers – an ancient seafaring tradition revived by Australis.

In the afternoon, you cross Nassau Bay to the remote archipelago that includes Cape Horn National Park. If the weather and sea conditions permit, you will disembark on the windswept island that is home to the legendary Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos). Discovered in 1616 by a Dutch maritime expedition – and named after the West Frisian town of Hoorn – Cape Horn is a 425-metre-high rocky promontory overlooking the turbulent waters of the Drake Passage. For many years it was the only shipping route between the Pacific and the Atlantic, and was often called “the end of the earth”. The park was declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2005. The Chilean Navy maintains a permanent lighthouse on the island, with a lighthouse keeper and his family, as well as the tiny Stella Maris chapel and the modern Cape Horn monument.

The next morning you cruise through Argentinean waters and land in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world.