Patagonia: Chilean Fjords and Argentina’s Staten Island

Arrive in Buenos Aires, the cosmopolitan capital of Argentina, or Santiago, Chile's mountainous capital.Transfer from the airport to the Alvear Icon, or similar (<i>National Geographic Endurance</i>).Or transfer to the Ritz-Carlton, Santiago, or similar (<i>National Geographic Resolution</i>).

Join our recommended flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia; we'll provide transfers to the airport and luggage assistance. If the weather is fine, we have a chance to view the spectacular mountains rising out of the Beagle Channel while enjoying lunch on a catamaran cruise. Later, embark and set sail.

We have been given special permission to visit extraordinary Staten Island, and our ship is one of the only expedition ships ever allowed here. It is a place of superlatives, barely touched in recent decades and visited primarily by a few scientists and the staff of the tiny naval observatory. The island was named by Dutch explorers in 1615. Its mountainous, forested landscapes and rugged fjords are beautiful, and there is much to discover here. Our exact schedule remains flexible to take best advantage of conditions. We search for southern rockhopper and Magellanic penguins, other waterbirds, fur seals, and sea lions. We also look for otters on our landings ashore, and we see the replica of the 1884 San Juan de Salvamento “lighthouse at the end of the world,” which inspired Jules Verne’s novel by the same name. There are chances to walk in the southern beech forests. These days are bound to stand out as a unique chance to explore a very remote place.

This southernmost corner of the South American continent is also home to Cape Horn, the island at the convergence of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, famously difficult waters that, throughout the centuries, has been the graveyard of many ships from the time before the Panama Canal.  Sail the Beagle Channel and look to hike and kayak one of the wild areas in this region of beech forests, mountains, and rivers. We take Zodiacs out to explore these protected waters and rugged shores, keeping watch for the Andean condors, albatrosses, grebes, petrels, fulmars, shearwaters, and many other birds that inhabit this otherworldly realm. We experience more stunning wilderness as we explore the fjords and glaciers of the region by Zodiac, kayak, and on foot.

Tierra del Fuego is one of Patagonia’s crown jewels. We visit its newest and largest protected area: Karukinka Natural Park. Established in 2004 through a gift from Goldman Sachs, Karukinka is one of the largest donations ever made for conservation. We are thrilled to have special permission from the Wildlife Conservation Society to visit this private reserve, which spans 1,160 square miles and harbors the endangered culpeo fox, Andean condors, albatrosses, grebes, petrels, fulmars, shearwaters, and many other kinds of wildlife. We may explore Jackson Bay, backed by a skyline of rugged mountains, and look for wildlife including black-browed albatrosses, which nest on one of the nearby small islands. We may walk a trail to a lovely waterfall and look for elephant seals resting on not only the beach but also high in the grass meadows and even in the small river draining the valley inland.

Today we are treated to the spectacular features of an active glaciated landscape with hanging valleys and tributary glaciers. This region was navigated by Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition and it took most of November 1520 for his ships to find a way through the channels that lie between the continental mainland and Tierra del Fuego to the south. We look to make a first stop in the extensive maze of channels and islands of the Chilean fjords, where we may go out by Zodiac and kayak. Our captain and local pilots guide us through the Kirke or White Narrows, accessible only to a small ship such as ours, and always a challenge to navigate because of the powerful currents that flow through the pinch point. Be on deck to look for condors and other wildlife as we make our way to Puerto Natales.

Disembark the ship in Puerto Natales, fly to Santiago and connect to your overnight flight home.