Unique experience in the Beagle Channel

First navigators...

The first navigators of the Beagle Channel were the Yaganes, a nomadic canoe people who inhabited the coasts of this inter-oceanic passage. They stayed more on the water than on land because their main resources were found there: sea lions, fish, birds, molluscs and spider crabs.

The Tierra del Fuego is full of stories and legends about brave sailors and shipwrecks, since the first white men arrived in these latitudes in different boats. Some of them met their death trying to cross the southernmost point of the American continent against the wind and the current. Later, during the 18th and 19th centuries, many loberos, or sea lion or seal hunters, approached the archipelago.

In the imagination of European explorers, the danger of contact with the natives, the hostility of the place and the desolation were present. This image persisted until the beginning of the 19th century when a British expedition sailed into this labyrinth of islands, finding a climate similar to the north of England. On a second voyage, Captain Robert Fitz Roy, who commanded the HMS Beagle, discovered that where he was sailing was not a large bay but a natural passage connecting the two oceans.

This allowed the sailors to use this route to avoid the dreaded Cape Horn. In addition to naming the channel Beagle, he named several places after the Chilean islands off Ushuaia: Navarino and Hoste. In the middle of the 19th century, a group of Anglican missionaries entered the Beagle Channel and settled on the Ushuaia peninsula to, after several chance attempts, live with the Yagan people. They were followed by ranchers, gold prospectors and finally traders who settled on both sides of the channel.

The Cape Horn Scientific Expedition commanded by Louis Ferdinand Martial, under the French flag, left a trail of names on the maps of the region, such as the Martial Glacier behind Ushuaia, the Romanche Pass or the archipelago where the most famous lighthouse at the end of the world is located: Les Eclaireurs.

Welcome Ushuaia! 

Some time later, our city was founded on the northern shore of the Beagle Channel, in Ushuaia Bay, as it offered a natural harbour for ships coming from all over the world. Until then and many decades later, navigation was the only access to the southernmost city.

Although the hostile conditions experienced centuries ago have disappeared, the natural beauty of Tierra del Fuego continues to take the breath away from the tourists who visit our destination. Today the Beagle Channel is the gateway for large cruise ships with more than 2,000 passengers and crew visiting Ushuaia or expedition ships on their way to Antarctica. In fact, this summer we will receive more than 500 landings of these ships that will enter through this natural passage.

In addition, our boats leave from the port every day to show you the place where the Yaganes, the southernmost natives in the world, lived for centuries. Besides the landscapes that dazzled Fitz Roy and Charles Darwin 200 years ago or the legends around the Les Eclaireurs lighthouse.

 Travel with us

Embark on this fascinating adventure on board our catamaran. We depart every day of the year, in the morning and in the afternoon. We set sail from the port of Ushuaia and after sailing through the bay we will go out into the Beagle Channel where we will find several islands where sea lions and sea birds live in colonies. In addition to other animals that we will be able to see in the water or flying over our heads.

We will also do a mini trekking in one of the islands in the middle of the Beagle Channel to reach a panoramic point where you will be able to see the city of Ushuaia, the whole Andes mountain range, the Chilean coast and you will find archaeological sites of the native people. Finally, we will arrive at the archipelago Les Eclaireurs where you will find the lighthouse with the same name and if you pay attention on one of its rocks you will find the remains of a cruise ship that was shipwrecked 100 years ago.

If you don't want to miss this experience write us now to reserve your place.