Tierra del Fuego
 October-November, 2022 |
 $3100 |
 215 miles |
Route:
Ushuaia (Argentina), Puerto Williams (Chile), Ferrari Bay, Olla Bay, Holanda Glacier, Alley of Glaciers, Sinopia Fjord, Garibaldi Fjord, Londonderry Island, Breaknock Island, Stewart Island, Gordon Island, Puerto Williams, Ushuaia
Tierra del Fuego is one of the most beautiful and little-studied corners of our planet. Together with Paganel Studio, we invite you to a full-fledged yachting expedition to the famous Tierra del Fuego! There are still a lot of places on Tierra del Fuego that no human has set foot in, because the Tierra del Fuego archipelago (73.7 thousand sq. Km) includes about 40 thousand islands!! For centuries, the mysterious Land of Fire has been striking with its snowy mountain peaks, glaciers, unusual forest and steppe, piercing wind and the breath of Antarctica. The very name “Tierra del Fuego” appeared in 1520, when the ships of the expedition of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) went around the extreme south of South America. During the transition through previously unexplored territories, Magellan saw a lot of smoke and lights flickering in the night on the shores. Concluding that these were fires of volcanic origin, he named the open area Tierra del Fuego. But the great navigator was wrong. It was at night that the local aborigines burned bonfires. Indians with a primitive culture of the Stone Age lived here, who hunted with bow and arrows, walked almost naked or wrapped themselves in skins, fished and sea animals with a harpoon, carved fire from stone, did not know pottery and lived very poorly. The climate of Tierra del Fuego has always been very cool, so the Fuegians actively burned fires to keep warm in some way. More than 500 years have passed and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago is still the same little-studied, inaccessible and incredibly beautiful as it was several hundred years ago. Snow-capped mountains and mighty glaciers, dense forests and crystal clear lakes, thousands of islands, fjords, foxes and beavers, birds, whales and fur seals, landscapes of fantastic beauty and the almost complete absence of people – all this will make the heart of any traveler who appreciates nature flutter with joy. privacy. We will be happy to show you this amazingly beautiful corner of virgin nature during our expedition to Tierra del Fuego on comfortable and cozy yachts Mon Coeur and Wind Dancer.
Day 1. Ushuaia
Morning arrival at the yachts. The expedition starts in the capital of the Argentine Tierra del Fuego and the southernmost city on the planet – Ushuaia. Ushuaia, in the language of the Yamana Indians who once lived here, means “Bay looking west.” The city lies on the banks of the Beagle Channel, which was named after the Beagle, a ten-gun Cherokee-class brig sloop, the second ship of the British Royal Navy to bear that name. On this ship, Charles Darwin made his famous journey, during which the ship circled South America, passing through the newly discovered strait. The city of Ushuaia itself is a rather interesting place, and therefore we recommend arriving here a couple of days earlier in order to fully get used to it and not be late with the departure of our expedition due to flight delays that often occur on the Buenos Aires – Ushuaia flight. Self-guided morning transfer to Afasin marina, where our yachts are located. Acquaintance with the fleet of the Paganels, as well as with the captains and crew. Accommodation in cabins. Acquaintance with the yacht, a brief briefing on the arrangement of yacht life, cabins, use of latrines and electricity. Based on the fact that our expedition is quite dense in terms of distance and time, we have a lot of things to do on this day …. we do not relax, but immediately after meeting the captains, crew and members of the expedition, we are involved in preparations for the start of the journey. The crew and you will have to arrange a way out, finish with the purchase of provisions, realizing that we are going to little-known and completely uninhabited corners of our planet, where we will not meet anyone except for virgin nature and wild animals. We prepare passports and go with the captain to the port, where we make out the exit from Argentina. Then the captain continues to arrange the exit of the ship, and you rush to the supermarket for snacks, missing alcohol, etc. Toward evening we have a barbecue and an evening of acquaintances of the Paganels in a cozy saloon of the local yacht club. Presentation of expedition personal t-shirts and badges. After a delicious meal prepared for us by our chefs, we go to rest, and the yachts go towards Puerto Williams (Chile). The transition is about 3 – 4 hours. Night in the marina at anchor in the yacht club of the village of Puerto Williams.
Day 2. Ferrari Bay
We have a pretty busy day ahead of us today. In the first half of the day we are engaged in the registration of the entrance to the territory of Chile. We make out ourselves, the captains make out the yachts. This can take most of the day. Having received all the necessary permits, visas and documents, we go to the Beagle Channel (its Chilean part), transition to Ferrari Bay. By late evening we arrive at the place.
Day 3. Olla Bay
After a delicious breakfast prepared for us by our ship’s cooks, we disembark for the first short walk for an hour or two through Chilean territory. Ferrari Bay is considered a very beautiful place. Previously, there was a horse farm here, but now there is no one but feral horses, which we will try to capture with you on our cameras or drones.
We don’t stay in one place for a long time and upon the return of the teams from the shore, we raise anchors and set off further deep into the Beagle Channel. Moving to Olla Bay, anchoring, depending on the weather, we disembark immediately for a walk or wait for tomorrow.
In this bay there is a chance to meet Chilean crab fishermen, of course, we cannot guarantee this, but if they are there, we will try to buy the famous XL size snow crabs to cook them for dinner in the evening.
Day 4. Sinopia Fjord
Today we begin our close acquaintance with the harsh and amazing nature of Tierra del Fuego. We have an early rise, breakfast and disembarkation for trekking.
The places here are very wild and meeting a person is a whole event. At the beginning of 2021, we visited here for the first time, tried to get to the lake and the glacier from several stops, but each time we ran into impenetrable swamps and fallen trees.
Having studied satellite images of the area the next day, the brave Paganelli made their way to the lake on the second attempt and were literally stunned by the landscape that opened up.
You, I hope, understand that the team of Paganels is ready to take you along these reserved animal paths and show you the most unique places of Tierra del Fuego. When we go to Holanda Glacier, you may also meet the local family of beavers. By the way, beavers are imported animals.
They were brought for breeding from Canada in 1946, but as usual, something went wrong, the beavers fled, bred and now feel great in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. And the governments of Chile and Argentina are trying to come up with an insidious plan, how to take all the beavers and kill them to zero … Due to the fact that a real hunt has been announced for beavers, they are actively hiding from people, but to meet in this area the famous guanacos who are the ancestors of domesticated South American llamas, you will have even more chances.
Trekking about 6 kilometers without significant elevation changes, but along difficult terrain to the beautiful Holanda Glacier and the adjacent lake. For this we allocate the first half of the day.
The return of teams from the shore. Dinner. Raise the anchors and again on the way to the west. Our second goal for today is to get into one of the branches of the Sinopia fjord, famous for its beauty. Today’s passage, only 25 nautical miles long, is one of the most picturesque on our entire route. In this section of the Beagle Channel, several beautiful glaciers open into it. Of course we stop for picturesque photos.
Sinopia fjord consists of two branches, where we will be able to explore three majestic glaciers and will be able to get very close to one of them by yacht. You will see how huge ice cliffs slide into emerald waters in mighty ridges, and here their new life begins in the form of icebergs.
Upon arrival in Sinopia, we are looking for a beautiful, secluded place to spend the night. We put anchors and stretch marks. Dinner in the evening. Analysis of numerous photographs. Rest after an exciting day.
Day 5. Garibaldi Fjord
We wake up early. We have breakfast. We start exploring all the secluded corners of the Sinopia fjord.
We will devote the first half of the day to the largest glacier of Sinopia, from behind which the highest point of Tierra del Fuego, Mount Darwin (2488 m), peeps through.
First of all, we are looking for a place to land. We go for a walk along the glacier, admire its incredible beauty from close up. When you are so close to the glacier, you forget about everything and literally feel the power of nature with your skin. It’s a completely different microclimate. The huge ice cap of the eternal ice of this region has a direct impact on the weather. At any moment it can start to snow, then the sun will come out, it will rain, and then it will snow again. Therefore, we use all kinds of clothing for different fire-land changeable weather.
We take a lot of pictures, admire the harsh and at the same time amazing in its beauty and brevity landscapes of the spring Tierra del Fuego. We return to the yachts and go to a very beautiful glacier in the same arm of the fjord, the peculiarity of which is that you can get very close to it. With caution, we will sneak as close as the depths and our captains will allow. Let’s take gorgeous photos right from under the blue walls of age-old ice.
Next, we go to the second branch of the fjord, where you will discover incredibly beautiful landscapes. This section of the fjord is not always accessible to the public due to ice conditions. two large glaciers flow into a small space at once.
However, during the spring, when the melting of the glaciers is still very small, the chances of seeing everything are very high. We will not guess, but we are almost sure that you will be able to get here.
After a delicious lunch prepared for us by our brave cokes, we walk about 22 miles to another highlight of Tierra del Fuego, the beautiful and majestic Garibaldi Fjord.
In the fjord, there are great chances to see sea lions living here. To do this, we expose an observer to call all the inquisitive Paganels who are interested in seeing the life of local marine life.
Upon arrival at the point, we are looking for a secluded place for anchorage. The weather here can be different: sun, wind, snow, rain… sometimes all at the same time. The sleeping place must be protected. However, trust our team, they know their stuff.
Dinner. Communication. Exchange of impressions. Analysis of photographs. Relaxation.
Day 6. Silva Bay
Today’s location, from which we will start our day, is one of the most picturesque on our entire route. The narrow 18-kilometer fjord Garibaldi impresses with a variety of landscapes.
A small transition from our anchorage and we find ourselves in a narrow space, sandwiched between mountains, where a beautiful, majestic glacier flows.
If the ice conditions allow, we will go along it on our inflatable dinghys.
Let’s take pictures of ourselves and our yachts from the water level against the backdrop of the eternal ice of Garibaldi.
We have about an hour and a half for everything, because then we have a long 50-mile sea crossing until the end of the day. A little tired, but full of the brightest impressions, we stop for the night in the interesting Silva Bay on the island of Londonderry. Why is she interesting? In addition to the subarctic wilds in this bay, the yachts that passed through these unique places leave their improvised plates with the names of the yachts, their nationality and the date of visiting these places.
Day 7. Brecknock Bay
In the morning after breakfast we landed in the bay. We are looking for the Paganel tablet, among dozens of other memorable artifacts left here after rare visits to these places by various yachtsmen from all over the planet.
Small trekking to the surrounding beautiful lakes and waterfalls.
Having walked to our heart’s content, we weigh anchor and again set out on a long 55 mile crossing to the extreme point of our route in Brecknock Bay. At the crossing, we will briefly go out to the Pacific Ocean, so maybe we can chat a little. If you get sick, prepare yourself in advance.
We arrive at the place in the evening. We put the yacht in a beautiful safe place. Dinner. Relaxation.
Day 8. Stewart Island
After breakfast, we disembark our Paganels from both yachts to the picturesque shore. The weather here is very diverse, but the views around make you forgive nature for any weather imperfections.
On a walk along the coast, we will explore the coastline with its vertical walls and stone peaks. 10 minutes from our anchorage is a sparkling emerald lake. We will take a walk to the lake and waterfalls on our dinghys. The harsh beauty of the stone “jungle” and impenetrable virgin forests will make you feel what the pioneers of these uncharted lands felt.
Having walked in the time allotted by the captains, we raise the anchor and begin our journey back towards the Beagle Channel. The 50 nautical mile trek to Stewart Island will take most of the rest of the day, but don’t worry, it was on this trek that we often saw dolphins and fur seals competing in speed with our yachts. We are sure that now we will be lucky to observe these marine animals.
We arrive at the place in the evening. Stewart Island belongs to the Southern Group of the archipelago, bordered by the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Ballenero Strait on the other. We will approach it from the Norte Strait.
Then we go deep into the deep fjord, along the coastline and anchor in a cozy bay closed on all sides by mountains covered with the subantarctic forest of southern Patagonia. Dinner. Relaxation.
Day 9. Morning Bay
The nature of the southern islands of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago differs from that which we saw at the last stop, by the presence of evergreen, impenetrable and cold subantarctic jungles.
In the morning after breakfast, we land on the island, walk through the local wilds, and then, upon returning to the yachts, we leave for the Beagle Channel.
Our destination for today is Gordon Island’s Morning Bay. Crossing again for about 50 miles. In the evening we arrive at the bay. Dinner. Relaxation.
Day 10. Puerto Williams
Morning Bay is considered a quiet and very beautiful place. Waterfalls murmur around and various interesting birds sit on their nests on the surrounding rocks. Therefore, in the morning, after breakfast, we sit in our dinghy and go to explore the surroundings.
Upon returning to the yachts, we raise anchors, go out to the Beagle and head for Puerto Williams, already known to us, where we arrive in the evening. We anchor in the marina of the local yacht club. Dinner. Relaxation.
Day 11. Beagle Channel
The first half of the day is devoted to paperwork for leaving Chile. With the whole team we go to the local administration, we put stamps that we are leaving the country. Captains make out yachts. After lunch, we leave Puerto Williams, go to the Argentinean part of the Beagle Channel and follow to the already familiar Ushuaia. Late arrival at the marina of the yacht club Afasin. Farewell dinner in the evening. Our chefs, of course, will try to prepare something tasty and special for you.
Exchange of photos and impressions from the expedition. Relaxation.
Day 12. Ushuaia
From early morning we are engaged in registration of the entrance to the country, we go to the port, we arrange the arrival in Argentina, we receive stamps on crossing the border. We return to the yacht club. We collect things. We say goodbye to our beloved yacht, crew and captains. Tears of parting and sadness from the fact that our amazing expedition has already ended. We dream to meet again and build our future “great” plans for new trips and expeditions…
Self transfer to the airport. Flight home.
Travel conditions:
- Prepayment of 50%
- Full payment 1 month before departure.
ATTENTION:
- The deposit is NOT refundable.
- We pay for rent of yachts, air tickets, train tickets, transfers and other expenses in advance, long before the trip. Therefore, the prepayment or payment for the trip made by you is not refundable in case of your cancellation of the trip. We just can’t bring it back…
- The only exception is if you transfer the right to travel to another person who will travel instead of you.
Yacht "Wind Dancer"
- 4 toilets with shower;
- autonomous heating system for all residential interior spaces;
- independent air conditioning system for each room;
- television;
- washer dryer;
- satellite connection.
INCLUDED in the price
- Yacht charter for 12 days;
- Professional team and ship cook services;
- 3 meals a day on board;
- Life jacket (PSP);
- Bed linen including cozy duvet;
- Fuel according to the route;
- All necessary taxes and permits.
NOT INCLUDED in the price
- International and local flights;
- Alcohol;
- Accommodation in hotels before and after the expedition;
- Supplement for single occupancy;
- Tests for COVID 19;
- Insurance and costs associated with personal evacuation;
- Costs for the use of satellite communications;
- Personal clothing and equipment.
F.A.Q.
With whom can you go on a sea voyage? Can one?
It’s great if there are two of you, but if you go alone, you will definitely make new friends.
Will it be necessary to participate in the management of the yacht or do some work on board?
Optional. Our skipper will teach you everything you need if you want. And you want!
Is sea travel dangerous?
It’s not dangerous, but responsible! CREW on board. One for all and all for one!
Do you need a visa?
We need a visa of the country in whose waters we sail. For our European travels, a biometric foreign passport is sufficient.
Is it possible to take children on a sea voyage?
You can, a lot of people go with children.
Do you need insurance?
For all trips in Europe, we provide you with insurance for the duration of our trip. We are talking about sports insurance for yachting.
Do I need to pay the entire amount at once? If prepaid, how much?
Prepayment – 50%. Balance one month before departure. The prepayment is non-refundable (due to payment for the yacht rental at the time of booking). In the event of force majeure, such as the closure of borders due to quarantine, the payment is returned or the trip is rescheduled for another time.
How far in advance is it best to plan a trip?
Of course, it is better to plan 1-2-3 months before the trip.
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