Beagle Channel Boat Tours: Penguins, Sea Lions and the Lighthouse at the End of the World
By Vámonos Amigo Ushuaia Team
The Beagle Channel is your warm-up for the voyage ahead: wild islands, cold wind and more wildlife than most people expect to see from a city dock. If you only book one tour in Ushuaia, make it a boat trip.
The classic: Sea lions and the lighthouse. The short catamaran tours leave from the main pier and take about three hours. You'll pass Isla de los Lobos, where sea lions pile onto the rocks, and Isla de los Pájaros, covered in cormorants. The highlight is Les Éclaireurs, the red-and-white lighthouse everyone photographs. (Tours call it the Lighthouse at the End of the World; the one in Jules Verne's novel is actually on Isla de los Estados, far to the east.) It's a perfect half-day before you board.
Book it: Beagle Channel catamaran tour to the lighthouse and sea lion colony
For penguin lovers: Isla Martillo. From roughly November through March, Magellanic and gentoo penguins nest on Isla Martillo, east of the city. Longer tours sail out to watch them from the boat. Only one operator is allowed to land small groups on the island to walk near the colony, and those spots sell out early in the season.
Book it: Penguin colony tour to Isla Martillo
Make it a full day: Estancia Harberton. Some penguin tours combine the boat with a visit to Estancia Harberton, the oldest ranch on the Argentine side of Tierra del Fuego. You get history, a farmhouse tea and the drive through the countryside in one trip.
Book it: Penguins plus Estancia Harberton day trip
A few tips from the water: sit on the open deck for photos but bring a windproof jacket, and choose a morning departure when the channel is usually calmer. If the boat ride makes you queasy, treat it as practice for the Drake Passage.