BEAGLE CHANNEL

Ushuaia Bay is bathed in the waters of the Beagle Channel, a 240 km-long strait running east-west. This arm of the sea separates the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego to the north and the multitude of other islands that make up the Tierra del Fuego archipelago (Dawson, Navarino, Lenox, Wollaston, Horn, etc.). Both shores of the western half of the channel belong to Chile, while the eastern half forms the border between the two countries. This arm of the sea linking the Atlantic and the Pacific is navigable along its entire length, but has never been the preferred route for ships, the Drake Passage and the Strait of Magellan being considered safer.

The canal is named after the British ship HMS Beagle, which came to inspect these southern regions between 1826 and 1836, and whose captain Robert Fitz Roy, in charge of hydrographic and cartographic missions, accompanied Charles Darwin, who was busy with his naturalist and scientific studies. Numerous excursions on the canal are available from Ushuaia. All depart from the Muelle Turístico. The most classic excursion takes you to the Isle of Sea Lions, then to the Isle of Birds; the walk usually ends around the pretty Éclaireurs lighthouse, commissioned in 1920, with the occasional trip to Isla Bridges. An extension to Isla Yécapasela and its countless penguins is sometimes possible, as is a foray into Lapataia Bay, in Tierra del Fuego National Park.