Please visit the Cruceros Australis web site for additional details.

Via Australis Itineraries

The calendar on this page highlights places visited during each Darwin cruise. A more complete schedule will be distributed on board the ship.

The map below shows the routes of the Via Australis in white, and the routes of HMS Beagle in black. See map legend for additional details. Complimentary copies of the map will be available on each Darwin cruise.

The Cruceros Australis Darwin Lecture Series

In addition to the regular series of lectures and films presented by Via Australis guides, each Darwin cruise offers additional presentations in English and Spanish by guest lecturers. This year's English-language lectures are expanded to include a bit more about mapping the area:
  • Charles Darwin in Tierra del Fuego
  • Darwin and FitzRoy at Wulaia
  • With Charles Darwin in Glacier Alley (Punta Arenas to Ushuaia cruise only)
  • A look at The Literature of HMS Beagle (and the book that almost wasn't)
  • Putting Tierra del Fuego on the Map (before the voyage of the Beagle)
  • Putting Tierra del Fuego on the Map (from the Beagle until today)

Read More Details about these lectures.

Ushuaia, Argentina to Punta Arenas, Chile (3 nights)

Saturday
Oct. 16		 Board the Via Australis between 5:00 and 6:00 PM. Enjoy a welcome cocktail reception hosted by the captain and crew. Our voyage to the Cape begins during dinner.
Sunday
Oct. 17		 This morning we disembark on Isla Hornos for a pre-breakfast visit to the Cape Horn lighthouse and memorial and to view the Cape itself. In the afternoon we visit Wulaia Cove, where Captain Robert FitzRoy and Charles Darwin landed. Later on, we begin our westward passage through the Beagle Channel.
Monday
Oct. 18		 We pass through Whaleboat Sound, then make our way northward through the Cockburn and Magdalana Channels, with a zodiac ride at Seno Chico to view the Piloto Glacier. Tonight enjoy a farewell champagne cocktail and auction of the navigation chart used yesterday to bring us to Cape Horn.
Tuesday
Oct. 19		 This morning we go ashore at Isla Magdalena—home to some 85,000 penguin couples, and for good reason pupularly known as “Penguin Island.” Then it's back to the ship for breakfast and a late-morning disembarkation at Punta Arenas, Chile.

Complimentary Punta Arenas Tour — October 19th

Passengers who reserve space on either cruise by July 31st are invited to join us for a free afternoon tour including a box lunch. We meet at the Comapa office, Av. Magallanes 990—diagonally across the street from Hotel Cabo de Hornos (Show Map). Our tour includes:

  • English Cemetery (left), resting place of Pringle Stokes, the first captain of HMS Beagle,
  • Monument to Philip Parker King (right), commander of the first British surveying expedition,
  • Ruins of Ciudad Rey Felipe, the ill-fated settlement established by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, and better known today as “Port Famine.”

Punta Arenas, Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina (4 nights)

Tuesday
Oct. 19		 Board the Via Australis between 5:00 and 6:00 PM. Enjoy a welcome cocktail reception hosted by the captain and crew. Our voyage to Ainsworth Bay begins during dinner.
Wednesday
Oct. 20		 Early morning brings us to Admiralty Fjord, where after breakfast we'll go ashore at Ainsworth Bay. Here we may find a small colony of elephant seals on the beach, and then enjoy a short hike into a nearby forest. In the afternoon, our zodiacs will take us along the shore of one of the Tucker Islets, home to Magellanic penguins, cormorants and many other Fuegian birds.
Thursday
Oct. 21		 You're invited to tour the engine room this morning, and in the afternoon we go ashore at the Pia Glacier, followed by a cruise through the Beagle Channel's “Glacier Alley.”
Friday
Oct. 22		 This morning we disembark on Isla Hornos for a pre-breakfast visit to the Cape Horn lighthouse and memorial and to view the Cape itself. In the afternoon we visit Wulaia Cove, where Captain Robert FitzRoy and Charles Darwin landed. Tonight enjoy a farewell champagne cocktail and auction of the navigation chart used this morning to bring us to Cape Horn.
Saturday
Oct. 23		 After breakfast we disembark at Ushuaia, Argentina.

Abobe PDF file Download a complimentary copy of the map. (Adobe PDF file, 569 Kbytes)