If you come to the bottom of Chile, you’ll probably take a boat ride or two at some point, getting up close to geographic features you don’t see back home, like Patagonia glaciers that date back to the last Ice Age and if you’re lucky, a few pengins too.
For my travels as the editor of Luxury Latin America, I have been to Chile a few times before, but never down to the Patagonia region of the country. This is a windy land of guanacos and penguins, glaciers and fjords. You can’t get much further south than this in the Americas. Just Tierra del Fuego then that’s the end of South America. Cross rough seas and you’re in Antarctica.
It’s a dramatic region with enough amazing sites that people will travel a long way with multiple stops in an airplane to get here. After breathing in the fresh air and looking out at views of Torres del Paine or other clumps of mountains, they’ll almost always say, “But it was worth it.”
I spent close to two weeks in Patagonian Chile, exploring the national parks, hiking, and going on three boat trips in all. Here’s a taste of what you’ll see out on the water, in the land of many lakes and the Straight of Magellan.
Getting Close to Magellanic Penguins in Patagonia
The Magellanic pengins are popular creatures, cute and photogenic, making a funny squawking sound to communicate with their mate from the couple’s burrow. The biggest of these penguins are a little more than two feet tall and and weigh in at 14 pounds maximum (6.5 kilos).
If you’re on some kind of cruise through the fjords with a company like Australis or another cruise line, you’ll likely see these Magellanic penguins in multiple places along the way, but you’ll still probably stop at one particular island, Isla Magdalena, where you’ll see a hundred or more of them up close, then even more in the distance.
Anyone can jump on the comfortable catamaran from Fiordos del Sur (FDS) like we did to sail through the Strait of Magellan and reach the island. This area is designated as the Natural Monument of the Magellanic Penguin. It takes about an hour and a half to get there, but the boat is enclosed and heated. Helpful guides come around to explain more about the region, maps in hand, then remind you not to get close to the animals or to block their way if they’re on the move.
I wasn’t prepared for the sheer volume of penguins: for whatever reason, I had it in my mind that we’d all be crowding around a few of them here and there. This is no zoo though with a few prize animals. Here in their natural breeding and hatching grounds, they’re everywhere you look. In their burrows, by the sea, on a beach, and by the lighthouse at the highest point.
A Boat Ride to Grey Glacier on Grey Lake
Taking a boat ride to get close to a glacier isn’t an experience unique to Chile. I’ve gone on trips in Alaska and seen the Perito Moreno massive glacier up close on the Argentina side of Patagonia. These trips are all different though and the one to Grey Glacier in Chile is unique in several ways.
First of all, the ride out in Grey Lake is interesting, with icebergs floating in the water and a morning cocktail of pisco sour or calafate sour prepared with glacier ice in the glass. Nice welcome on the way. The boat is quite comfortable and you can order a coffee or snack, or bring your own if you want. There were groups from local luxury hotels Awasi Patagonia and Tierra Patagonia on our boat and they had packed a gourmet breakfast for their guests.
The other unique aspect of this trip is that this glacier is flanked by dramatic mountains and it actually wraps around one. So the scenery is almost as impressive as the glacier itself, but you see both sections of it as the ship moves from one finger of it over to the other. That photo at the top of this article was from that transition from one side to the other.
On the way back you’ll pass floating icebergs again. You won’t need a coat while inside, but pack plenty of layers for when you depart. The wind whipping through this lake valley is intense, even by Patagonian standards, and parents were carrying their little children to keep them from getting blown away in the walk across the jetty to the shore! Many people linked arm-in-arm weren’t couples: they just needed some stability for the walk.
If you’re staying at Hotel Lago Grey, you’ll be closer than anyone else: you can even walk to the pier if you’ve got the time and the right clothing. Or they’ll shuttle you because this is one of their excursions.
Patagonia Glaciers Serrano and Balmaceda
The Serrano and Balmaceda Patagonia glaciers are easy to get to by ship from the Puerto Natales region. Both of them are located in Bernardo O’Higgins National Park, which is only reachable by sea. We boarded the boat right from the pier in Puerto Natales and were on our way down the Fjord of Last Hope.
Again, this ship from FDS is comfortable and roomy, with plenty of seats for everyone and a guide proviing info in both English and Spanish. On the way, the typically unpredictable Patagonian weather got gray and ugly, but by the time we got to the point where we started walking to the Serrano Glacier, the rain had stopped and we got that view above in the photo as we approached on the trail.
This adventure is a bit different because of that hike, which goes through some forest areas and over a hill to a scenic mountain area with no boats around. The views along the way are interesting, with a few small icebergs floating around the day we were there, and it’s interesting to see the glacier from a distance and then closer.
After ample time for photo ops, we walked back along the path the way we came and eventually returned to our ship. We had another two stops coming, however. One was a waterfall, another was the hanging glacier Balmaceda, named after the mountain it fronts. Like most glaciers around the world, this one has been receding over the years and no longer extends down to the lake. It’s still an impressive sight from the boat though.
And yes, that’s a glass of whiskey in my hand and yes, that’s glacier ice with it in the glass. A nice toast to the surroundings from the deck of the ship! With a beanie from Patagonia and a very warm coat from Kuhl.
For more information, see the Patagonia section of the official Visit Chile site. Follow our recommendations on where to stay near Torres del Paine National Park.
You can also book day trips for these adventures and others here:
