Patagonia Expedition: Journey to the End of the Earth Aboard Ventus Australis

Overnight flight from the USA to Santiago, Chile.

Afternoon city tour. Welcome dinner. (1 Night)

Fly to Punta Arenas, located on the Strait of Magellan opposite Tierra del Fuego. Enjoy an afternoon city tour and visit the Salesian Museum. In the late afternoon embark the Ventus. (4 Nights)

Navigate through Almirantazgo Sound, to see the Marinelli Glacier descending from Darwin Mountain Range. Enjoy a walk to a beaver dam in the stunning sub-polar Magellan Forest. There is an opportunity of sighting Southern Elephant Seals. Later, sail to Tuckers Islets and board well-equipped Zodiac boats to get close to a colony of Magellan Penguins (indigenous to the Southern Hemisphere) and cormorants.

Navigate along the northwest arm of the Beagle Channel. Short hike to a panoramic viewpoint to see the spectacular awe- inspiring Pia Glacier that extends from the mountaintops down to the sea. Continue along the Beagle Channel through the majestic Glacier Alley.

Reach Cape Horn National Park, where, weather permitting, we shall go ashore. For many years the legendary Cape Horn was an important navigation route and is referred to as the ‘End of the Earth’. Declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2005. Later, explore Wulaia Bay, where Charles Darwin landed during his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle. Take a walk to experience the spectacular beauty of the Magellanic forest.

Disembark in Ushuaia, the most important Argentinean city on Tierra del Fuego and the most southernmost city in the world. Spend the morning roaming in the splendors of Tierra del Fuego National Park. Return to Ushuaia for an afternoon at leisure. Later, fly to Calafate on the southern shore of Lake Argentino. (2 Nights)

Drive through “Glaciers National Park,” declared by UNESCO as part of the Natural Heritage of Humanity. The park boasts 47 major glaciers. Here the Perito Moreno glacier offers an overwhelming sight and deafening roar every time one of its ice towers breaks into multiple icebergs and plunges into the water.

Depart El Calafate and ascend the high Patagonian plateau from where you can appreciate the whole Santa Cruz River Valley, Lake Argentino, and the Andes Mountains in the background. After driving through Patagonia’s windswept landscape, cross from Argentina into Chile and arrive in Puerto Natales and your hotel. (3 Nights)

By far, the most impressive sight in southern Chile is Torres del Paine National Park, known as the crown jewel of Patagonia.

The dramatic mountain formations of towering rock, windswept pampas, ice fields, and glaciers, make it an impressive and unforgettable sight. Look out for herds of guanacos and rheas, flamingos, condors, foxes, geese, and black-necked swans. Lakes and lagoons in different hues abound.

Depart for Punta Arenas and travel through Chile’s expansive Patagonian pampas, home to rheas, condors, and eagles. Fly to Santiago and connect to overnight flights back to the U.S. The flight to Santiago will offer, weather permitting, views of the Andes Mountains, its snow-capped peaks, glaciers, and ice fields.

Arrive in the U.S. and connect with flights home.

After overnighting in Santiago, depart the next morning for Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Located 2,600 miles west of Santiago in the South Pacific Ocean, this mysterious island has a visual impact few places in the world can equal. The island’s history is as intriguing as its natural beauty. Hundreds of moai, tight-lipped basalt statues unique in the whole of Oceania, are scattered throughout the island. (3 Nights)