The Chilean Patagonia, austral zone or channel region, is an immense bioregion that presents a very varied geography resulting in a great diversity of landscapes, climates, culture and ecosystems at the end of the Andes mountain range. Exotic, extensive, of infinite and wild beauty--this is how Patagonia was described by the explorers who arrived almost 500 years ago. This is how it is maintained until today; a land of unaltered nature full of mountains, fjords, glaciers, forests and steppes.

The area traditionally called the Southern Zone of Chile is a region of glaciation now crowned by two large masses of ice, the northern ice field and the southern ice field. It is further characterized by the presence of humid forests, and cold climate.

It extends from the Gulf of Corcovado to Cape Horn. It includes a narrow coastal plain intensely affected by sinking tectonics, continental Patagonian mountain ranges with rivers and lakes, Patagonian snowdrifts of the Pacific, and insular Patagonian mountain ranges in archipelagos, islands and islets, all of which bathe in their coasts by the Pacific Ocean.

The archipelagos, islands and islets give shape to two systems of navigable canals for all types of ships: the Patagonian channels between the archipelago of Guayaneco and the Fairway islets, and the Fuegian channels south of the Strait of Magellan and to Cape Horn. 

Cruising the “Glacier Alley” along the Beagle Channel is an unforgettable experience with opportunities to explore the magnificent Northern and Southern Arms of the Beagle Channel. The relatively protected waters of the channels can be navigated from Puerto Williams all the way to Puerto Montt with only a few short passages through exposed waters.

 
Cape Horn

Cape Horn, is one of the Wollaston Islands of Chile, which are part of the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. Among all the notable geographical features of the coasts of the five continents, there is none for the navigator any more frightening and impressive than Cape Horn.

The cape is the southernmost geographical point of the American continent. Here you can see in its natural landscapes the incredible history of geological change over time and the traces of a direct link with the Antarctic continent, the continuing study of which may give us great surprises in the future.