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The Beagle Channel was discovered during a British expedition (1826-1830) commanded by the illustrious captain Fitz Roy, who named it after its famous ship. |
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In the year 1869, the first stable settlement appears in the area. It was an Anglican mission commanded by Stirling and Bridges. This settlement would remain there until 1884 when commandant Augusto Laserre, in charge of claiming sovereignty of the southern end of the nation, established the sub-headquarters of Ushuaia on the lands where the missioners had settled. The missioners moved to an area given to them by the Argentine Government, which is nowadays the Estancia Harberton, and which still belongs to the descendants of the first settlers. Opposite to its shores, you can see the island Martillo, scene of one of the most interesting nautical excursions, watching the penguin rookeries that live in it.
The channel is the natural border between Argentina and Chile and it is the passage which communicates the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, it limits to the north with the island Tierra del Fuego and to the south with the islands Navarino, Picton, Nueva, Lennox, Hoste and Gordon, to name a few.
In the south-western area of Tierra del Fuego, you will find the National Park TDF, which you can access by sailing though the Beagle Channel, visiting Ensenada bay, the island Redonda, to finally disembark on the Lapataia bay and return to Ushuaia by land, going through the National Park.
On your excursions, you will be able to watch the many colonies of migratory species which live in the channel, sea lions, cormorants. You will also visit the Lighthouse of Les Ecleireurs (Lighthouse at the End of the World) and the Bridges Islands, where in some excursions, you may disembark to undertake a mini-trekking excursion and contemplate the marvellous views of the Beagle Channel. |
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The channel is nowadays an important means of communication between the populations of the area, linking the cities of Ushuaia, Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams, and even the mythical Cape of Hornos. If you wish to explore deeply and get to know all the beauty of the Fueguinos channels, you have the option of going for a cruise from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas, which take you, throughout several days, around the Cape of Hornos, the glaciers, the penguin rookeries and, after three of four days of exploration through the channels, to the city of Punta Arenas (Chile), where you disembark.
During the summer season, between the months from November to March, you can visit Antarctica in numerous cruises which get to the city harbor. Visiting Antarctica is an indescribable experience, discovering a land remote and inaccessible up to only a few years ago, on comfortable cruises, going through the Drake passage, toward the Antarctica peninsula, watching penguins, killer and frank whales, dolphins, petrels, albatross, cormorants, seagulls and Antarctic doves amidst giant icebergs, and witnessing the most extraordinary of optic phenomena, the Aurora Australis.
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