Beagle Channel Boat Tour

Beagle Channel Boat Tour

There are lots of excursions in Ushuaia to choose from, and I’m going to write the next few blog posts about activities here at the “End of the World” to give you an idea of what’s out there.

My first outing was a small boat excursion out into the Beagle Channel that takes you to four different spots over the course of three hours to see wildlife and do a short hike to some beautiful scenery on an uninhabited island. This specific excursion, with ‘Che’, offered great onboard cold and warm drinks, as well as a lovely platter of snacks for the boat ride back. Throughout the whole excursion the guides were very informative and all questions asked were answered in detail.  

We set out from Ushuaia mid-afternoon on a sunny but windy day. The Beagle Channel is a east-west strait that separates the island of Tierra del Fuego and the Chilean islands to the south. The channel is about 240 long and an average of five kilometers wide.

Our first stop on the channel was to see sea lions resting upon rocks, while many Magellan Cormorants flew around and hung out with sea lions. The boat got close enough to take great pictures.

 

The second stop was the famous Ushuaia lighthouse, a very popular tourist attraction. If you haven’t seen it in person yet, you’ll see it on many postcards. They refer to it as the “Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse.”

Next, we were taken to another colony of sea lions where we were able to see baby sea lions feeding from their mothers. There were also thousands of birds sitting around and flying back and forth.

We got off the boat at an uninhabited island for a short walk up to the top to see a beautiful view of
Ushuaia. The guide told us about the island’s plants and history. After the hike, when we got back to the boat, there were delicious snacks with drinks for the ride back to town.

This excursion was very fun and was a great way to learn more about the history and wildlife in Ushuaia. Because its a max of 10 people it was very easy to ask questions and have one-on-one with the guide to really understand our surroundings while taking in the sights and meeting great new people.