Cruceros Australis is the only cruise
operator that schedules weekly visits to the southernmost rock
promontory where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans merge. It is a
trophy destination rated as the nautical equivalent of climbing
Mount Everest.
The voyage is
called a cruise to the end of the world.
To experience the
Australis product, we sailed its ship, the Mare Australis on its
final cruise last season. The ship sails Tierra del Fuego, the
Magellan Strait, Beagle Channel and Cape Horn.
It is an
incredible weeklong voyage covering that vast stretch of land and
ocean east of the Andes embracing Argentina and the southern
extremity of Chile.
Impenetrable
mountains and endless fields of ice growing into glaciers lead to
one of the worlds greatest national parks in Torres del Paine,
which means blue towers. It is a 934-square-mile park filled with
mountains, lakes and wildlife, all waiting to be explored during
shore excursions.
Seascapes are
dotted with the worlds largest seabirds, such as the awesome
albatross circling above whales, sea lions and dolphins. Landscapes
are flecked with condors, the largest land bird, who are eyeing
unusual wildlife such as the guanaca (a woollier version of the
llama) and the nandu (which resembles a small ostrich).
It is a roundtrip
cruise through remote regions from places with names like Chiles
Punta Arenas, near the 35th parallel, to Puerto Williams (the
southernmost town on the globe) and Argentinas Ushuaia, where
cruisers sailing in and out of the harbor are greeted by an eerie
sequence of signs in Spanish and English:
Welcome to the
End of the World.
The Beginning of
Everything.
Nearby, another
sign says, To Be Continued? It stands near a crucified Christ
statue with the legend: Terra Australis Incognita written beneath
his feet. The Christ figure stares into the cemetery across the
street, true terra incognita.
The cruise sails
to places where snow-covered pillars seem to rise vertically from
the plains below, giving way to a wind-buffeted, triangular island
to the south at the continents southernmost tip. This is the region
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan called Tierra del Fuego, the
Land of Fire, because of the native campfires and smoke he spied in
the region.
In the
footsteps of legends
During his voyage
of discovery in 1520, Magellan also labeled the region Patagonia,
which means big feet, because he thought the natives had big
feet.
And speaking of
big feet, modern-day Patagonian cruisers are sailing in the
nautical footsteps of all-time exploration greats, such as Francis
Drake and James Cook and lesser-known adventurous captains, such as
Pringle Stokes and Fitz Roy, captains of the Beagle of
Darwin.
Charles Darwin,
prone to seasickness, spent months at a time on land as a
naturalist during those Beagle voyages, working on his
survival-of-the-species theories in 1833 and 1834. He described the
region as a mountainous land, partly submerged in the sea, so that
deep inlets and bays occupy the place where valleys should
exist.
His description
holds true today. And the seagoing lore that fills the lectures on
this cruise to remember adds to the feeling that history is coming
to life in colorful waves. As the scenery changes, experienced
cruisers will recognize geographic stretches reminiscent of Alaska
and the Norwegian fjords, with distinctive
Chilean-Argentinean-Patagonian touches.
Cruise highlights
range from walking virtually hand-to-fin with more than 120,000
Magellanic penguins on Isla Magdalena to watching grunting elephant
seals mate at Ainsworth Bay.
The excitement started to
build almost from the moment we boarded the Mare Australis, a $10
million Chilean-built expedition ship, after a short van ride from
Cruceros headquarters in Punta Arenas late on a Saturday. Following
welcome cocktails, dinner and an introductory lecture, we began a
nocturnal sail toward Ainsworth Bay and our first
glacier.
Early Sunday
morning, we became yellow penguins as we donned cold-weather gear
-- yellow slickers, pants and boots provided by the ship -- to
board Zodiacs for a motorboat excursion to the Marinelli glacier.
We walked though the Magellan Forest, eyed a colony of mating
elephant seals and returned to the ship for a late breakfast,
lecture and free time to watch the landscape glide by from the top
deck.
Each landing
begins with passengers dividing into groups. Multilingual guides
sort out groups according to language and physical conditioning.
Each landing ends with a traditional toast -- all kinds of liquor
available on the rocks, with ice from melting glaciers. (Or you can
have hot chocolate).
In between, there
is an open bar onboard serving beer, wines and selected liquors,
all available at meals and all included in the price of the
cruise.
Panoramic windows
are undraped for scenic viewing during meals, except when the sea
is rough and the waves might prove distracting. Following dinner,
which was always hearty and plentiful if not memorable, another
lecture described the history of where we were, along with what was
to come on the following day.
Glacier
Avenue: A moveable feast
The entertainment
is low-key: Mostly it is early to bed, early to rise, with mornings
frequently beginning with a 7:15 pre-breakfast Zodiac excursion to
the nearest glaciers.
The second day at
sea really gives passengers an idea of how special this cruise
is.
There is the
expected: Zodiacs to the Bay of the Pia Glacier in the
morning.
And the
unexpected: An afternoon navigation through the Beagle Channel
along the spectacular Glacier Avenue. Only instead of skyscrapers,
there are towering, block-long, blue-veined glaciers. Each glacier
bears the name of the country whose explorers discovered it. And
each sighting signals a special onboard celebration.
So, sailing past
Italy, for example, the shipboard lounge is filled with Italian
music -- opera, ballads, love songs --
while Italian food is served: pizza, pasta, fine Italian wine. When
reaching Germany, oompah music plays and beer and pretzels are
served. And when the German glacier gives way to France, out comes
the French cheese, champagne and bordeaux. And on and
on.
It is an
ice-breaking (pun intended) time for the cruisers, as the primarily
European crowd (50% European, mostly French, Spanish and German)
becomes friendly with the English-speaking Americans and Brits
(40%). The Chilean and Spanish passengers serve as the primary
goodwill ambassadors.
Experienced
cruisers learn to take what the sea gives. Our cruise had a calm
Cape sailing day and smooth landing, whereas the voyage before us
was buffeted by 45-foot-high waves and couldnt land.
New ship
in November
The market is big
enough that Cruceros Australis will launch its newest expedition
vessel, the Via Australis, on Nov. 23, using the same
state-of-the-art design as the Mare Australis.
The ships will
sail almost identical alternating Punta Arenas-Ushuaia itineraries
in Chile and Argentina. The journeys around Patagonia and Cape Horn
are three-day sailings that can be combined into a one-week
cruise
The Mare
Australis season runs Sept.24 to May 10. The Via Australis will
join the fleet with a redesigned route structure that will enable
the cruise line to offer a landing in Cape Horn on three out of
four departures.
The new routes
will offer departures on Wednesdays and Saturdays from Punta Arenas
and Ushuaia. Combining their expedition routes enables passengers
to explore the island of Tierra del Fuego and its virtually
untouched wilderness and archipelagos in two of the most remote,
yet accessible, national parks in both countries: the Torres del
Paine National Park in Chile and the Los Glaciares National Park in
Argentina. Both are worth the detour, as the guide book saying
goes.
Australis urges
agents to use one of its tour operator partners, which include
Abercrombie & Kent and Mountain Travel Sobek, but it also
accepts direct agent bookings at 10% commission. It has an office
in Miami Beach. Call (877) 678-3772 or visit www.australis.com.
To contact
the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to [email protected].