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Chilean Patagonia

Northern Tour- March 6th to 15th Southern Tour - March 17th to 26th Price $4950 Canadian per person For reservations and inquiries: North America 1 800 307 3982 Outside North America +1 250 285 2121 or email info@kayakingtours.com

Join Spirit of the West for a trip to incredible Coastal Patagonia! This tour allows you to experience Spirit of the West quality while exploring the beautiful outer islands of southern Chile. We will experience the best of what Chile has to offer in a mothership style sea kayaking tour: wine, whales, wildlife and wilderness paired with sea kayaking in one of the most stunning places on earth, all from the comfort and convenience of a motor yacht.

Rick and Breanne, co-owners of Spirit of the West and long time guides, have spent the last two winters exploring various areas of the coast and now would love to have you join them for the inaugural Spirit of the West: South America tour.

As this is our first tour with guests in this area, we will be calling this an ‘exploratory’ tour and therefore need our guests to be willing to work with us to experience the unexpected. Two winters of research and networking have put us in a great position to run tours here and we have some great connections, but this tour is the trial run. The advantage to an ‘exploratory trip’ is that we are offering the tour at a significant discount. If you have ever wanted to explore Patagonia, now is the time to do it.

To help round out your South American experience, we would also be more than happy to help connect you with reputable local travel companies if there are any other activities you would like to add on to your sea kayaking experience.

 

Where We Travel

The coast of Chile stretches for over 4300 kilometers, providing endless opportunities for kayakers. The region we have chosen for our tours is considered Northern Patagonia and is part of the Aisen region. Most people think that the southernmost portion of Chile (Southern Patagonia) is the most rugged and wild, but think again. We will take you into difficult to access areas with stunning landscapes, abundant wildlife, hot springs and glaciers dropping into the sea, all while enjoying the Spirit of the West safety and service you have come to expect.

For the 2010-year we will be offering two trips in the Chonos Archipelago on the outer coast of Chile. Both tours will start in Santiago and head south via a short regional flight to Balmaceda airport. Here we will be met by our tour van. We will have a stop in the town of Coihaique for lunch and a quick look though the shops of local artisans and then we continue on to meet our floating home, a 57-foot motor vessel called the Noctiluca.

The first tour departing Santiago on March 6th will take us north through the Chonos Archipelago exploring the islands by kayak and boat while we travel to the Golfo de Corcovado. This area was recently discovered to be a foraging and nursery ground for the world’s largest mammal, the Blue Whale. The second tour will head south from Puerto Aisen exploring the islands and coastline while making our way towards the world famous San Rafael Glacier. Here we will indulge in a toast to our journey with ice from the glacier in our glasses! This tour also takes us through the Guaitecas Archipelago, recently designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 2008.

 

When To Go

 

The perfect time to travel in the Southern Hemisphere and enjoy their summer and early fall weather is January through until mid April. This conveniently is also the same time when the rain of the Pacific Northwest winter is at its peak and the deep freeze is taking hold of Central Canada and the American Mid-west. What a great way to extend your kayaking season!

The best part of a Spirit of the West tour of course is our wonderful and dependable service. We will ensure that you feel well taken care of from start to finish. Breanne or Rick will meet you at the airport and ensure that your travels are worry free and that you don’t miss any of the highlights.

 

More About Our Floating Home

 

While we schedule our tours to try to make the most of the Patagonian weather as well as good wildlife viewing times, you never know what kind of weather you will experience - it is very similar to the British Columbia coast this way. For this reason we feel that mothership kayaking is the perfect way to experience this wild and rugged area. The mothership also allows us to cover much greater distances each day and to explore areas that would take weeks to reach by sea kayak alone.

The ship was constructed using a unique Patagonian wood, Cipres de Las Guaitecas, used for centuries by the maritime Chiloe (a coastal region of Chile) seagoing culture. Blending the traditional artwork of experienced Chiloe boat builders with the latest technology in boat design, safety and interior finishing, the Noctiluca offers a cozy wooden interior and comfortable cabins as well as safety and reliability. The ship features two double guest cabins (lower double berth and upper single berth) and a front cabin with four single beds. All share two roomy heads (bathrooms) complete with hot water and showers. The yacht is handled by a skilled crew and captain with decades of experience in Patagonian waters.

Our Captain, Robin Westcott

Robin Westcott has over 30 years of experience in this area which he is proud to call home. Robin has spent many days exploring this region by sailboat, motor vessels, by horseback and by foot and is the perfect guide for our adventures. A highly experienced fly fisherman and boat captain, he is able to share the subtile nuiancese of every nook and cranny with us. The Westcott family also owns an expansive hacienda in the Guaitecas archipelago just six hours north of the San Rafael glacier - complete with hot springs and world class fly fishing (which we visit on our Southern Tour).

Our local Guide- Maurico Inostroza

Maurico grew up in Patagonia and started sea kayaking as a student with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), an American organization that provides wilderness leadership and technical training to young adults around the world. He has worked for several years with NOLS teaching students from around the world and has been fortunate enough to paddle in places most of us just dream about. Maurico will share his intimate knowledge of the Patagonia coast with us as our local guide. He is currently the NOLS Patagonia Kayak Program Supervisor.

 

Things To Know About Chile

-19 percent of Chile is preserved as national parks, monuments and nature reserves.

-Chile contains apx 10% of the world’s active volcanoes.

-The Lonely Planet Guide to Chile (2009) has this to say about sea kayaking opportunities in Patagonia

“…the southern fjords and bays of Southern Chile are a sea kayaker’s paradise”

-spanning 16,800 sq km the Hielo Continental Sur (Southern Ice Field) is the world’s third biggest extension of continental ice after Greenland and Antarctica.

- Michelle Bachelet Jeria is currently president of Chile. She is South America´s second elected woman president.

- Chile has an unusual ribbon shape. It is 4300 km long and just 175 km wide (on average)

- Chile has an incredibly diverse climate from the dessert regions in the north all the way to the wind swept glaciers and coastal regions of the south.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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