Cruise through one of the World's most pristine and magnificent regions. You will sail through the Straits of Magellan and the Beagle Channel and through the land of fire called Tierra del Fuego. You will encounter magnificent views of glaciers, awesome Patagonian scenery, penguins, whales and other nature's inhabitants of this incredible part of the World.

While opportunities for close contact with nature abound, your comfort is not forgotten. From the professional guides who make sure you get to know the area to the crew for whom service is always uppermost, to a complete list of amenities, you will indeed return with memories to be treasured for a life time.

Technical Specifications
Fleet: Stella Australis and Ventus Australis
Passenger Capacity: 210
Total Cabins: 100
Decks: 5
Lounges: 3 lounges, a large open terrace and a dining room.

Day 1: Punta Arenas

Check in at 1385 O`higgins Street (Arturo Prat Port), Punta Arenas, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Cruise ship boarding at 6:00 p.m. The Captain and crew give a welcome cocktail reception on board. Afterwards, the ship departs for 'the uttermost part of the earth'. The excursion will take you through the Strait of Magellan and Beagle Channel to explore one of the most breathtaking wilderness regions in the world: Southern Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego. We have just embarked on a Great Adventure!

Day 2: Ainsworth Bay - Tucker Islet

By dawn the ship is sailing up Admiralty Sound (Seno Almirantazgo), a spectacular offshoot of the Strait of Magellan that stretches nearly halfway across Tierra del Fuego. The snowcapped peaks of Karukinka Natural Park stretch along the north side of the sound, while the south shore is defined by the deep fjords and broad bays of Alberto de Agostini National Park. You go ashore at Ainsworth Bay, which harbors copious bird life and a colony of southern elephant seals which can sometimes be spotted from the Zodiacs. Two guided excursions are available: one is along the edge of a stream, peat bog and beaver habitat to a waterfall-and-mosscovered rock face tucked deep inside a pristine sub-polar forest; the other is a more strenuous hike along the crest of a glacial moraine. Both afford views of Marinelli Glacier and the Darwin.Leaving Ainsworth Bay behind, you sail west along the sound to the Tucker Islets. After lunch, you board the zodiacs again for a close-up view of the Magellan penguins that inhabit the tiny islands. More than 4,000 penguins use Tucker as a place to nest, give birth and nature their chicks. Many other bird species also frequent the area including king cormorants, oystercatchers, Chilean skuas, kelp geese, dolphin gulls, eagles and even the occasional Andean condor. In September and April—when the penguins live elsewhere—this excursion is replaced by a short walk to a glacier at nearby stunning Brookes Bay.

Day 3: Pia Glacier

Overnight you sail 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, Stella Australis tacks eastward and enters the Beagle Channel again. By morning you are entering Pia Fjords and boarding the Zodiacs for a shore excursion to Pia Glacier. After disembarking you take a short hike to gain a panoramic view of the spectacular glacier, which extends from the mountaintops down to the sea or 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. Back onboard the ship, you continue east along the Beagle Channel through an area called Glacier Alley. Living up to its name, the passage features a number of impressive tidewater glaciers flowing down from the Darwin Mountains and Darwin Ice Sheet on the north shore. Most of them named after European countries –Holland, Italy, Germany, Spain and France.

Day 4: Cape Horn - Wulaia Bay

During the early morning, you navigate the narrow Murray Channel between Navarino and Hoste islands and drop anchor at historic 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 Capitan FitzRoy in the 1830s during their voyages on the HMS Beagle. This area is also renowned for its mesmerizing beauty and dramatic geography. After a visit to the Australis-sponsored 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 heavily wooden mountain behind the bay. On all of these you will be strolling through an enchanted Magellan forest of lengas, coigües, canelos, ferns and other endemic fauna to reach a panoramic viewpoint overlooking the bay. Before leaving Wulaia Bay, drop something into the wooden mail barrel inside the museum- letters or postcards meant to be hand delivered by future travelers- an ancient mariner tradition revived by Australis. In the afternoon you cruise across Nassau Bay into the remote archipelago that includes Cape Horn National Park. Weather and sea conditions permitting, you shall go ashore on the windswept island that harbors 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 425-meter (1,394-foot) 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”. The park was declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2005. The Chilean navy maintains a permanent lighthouse on the island, staffed by a lightkeeper and his family, as well as the tiny Stella Maris Chapel and modern Cape Horn Monument.
In the afternoon, you go ashore at historic Wulaia Bay, once the site of one of the region's largest Yamana aboriginal settlements. Charles Darwin landed here on January 23rd, 1833, during the voyage of the HMS Beagle. This area is also renowned for the mesmerizing beauty of its vegetation and geography. You will walk through a Magellanic forest of Lengas, Coihues, Canelos, ferns, and other native vegetation to reach a look-out point.

Day 5: Ushuaia

The following morning you sail into Argentine waters and dock in Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost city. Australis is scheduled to arrive at 08:30 or 09:30 AM depending on the date of departure.

Package includes: