Small Ship Cruises in Patagonia & Tierra del Fuego

Cruceros Australis operate two ships between Ushuaia in Argentina and Punta Arenas in Chile from October to May. The trip takes you to through the famous and legendary water ways: the Beagle Channel and the Straights of Magellan to the end of the world - Cape Horn. The scenery is desolate and dramatic. Zodiac boats take you close to impressive glacier, colonies of elephant seals, penguins and other sea birds. On shore excursions explore southern beech forests and abandoned aboriginal settlements.

Skorpios II and Skorpios III navigate north and south of the Patagonia Ice Field respectively. The service on board is friendly and highly personalized with great food and an open bar.

The northern route (6 nights) starts and finishes in Puerto Montt, amongst some of the amazing ports of call are: the mystical island of Chiloe; Quitralco hot springs; and the incredible San Rafael glacier. The scenery is breathtaking - emerald water is bordered by steep hills shrouded in dense green forests and in the background the snow covered Andes.

The Skorpios III (4 nights) - the route of the glaciers - starts and ends in Puerto Natales. The boat navigates through one of the most wild and pristine areas of South America, visiting several of the 48 glaciers of the souther ice field. The largest of all is the Pio XI glacier, the bigest in the southern hemisphere. Its front is 4 miles long and towers more that 200 feet above the water - a truely impressive sight.