Full Day Yamaning Gable Island Kayaking and Trekking

Cost: $80.00
Tour Length: Full Day
Activity Level: Moderate

The Yamanas (also know as Yaghanes) was a starling tribe, incredibly adapted to their environment. They inhabited the shores of the Beagle Channel and the island and up to the Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn). Expert canoeists, they spent practically all their life on their boats made out of lenga and guindo bark, always carrying a burning fire. Oblivious to the freezing cold, they lived almost naked, using only occasionally the skin of a sea lion as a loincloth. They survived on bivalve mollusks, especially mussels collected at low tide. The big mounds of shells, still visible today on the bay shores, help us to identify the sites of their old settlements. The missionary activity of Thomas Bridges was concentrated on these Indians.

GABLE ISLAND is the largest on the Beagle Channel. It is wild, isolated and uninhabited. Its only constructions are an old sheep shearing storehouse and some traces of the Yamanas Indians. We start in the morning from Ushuaia, driving along the J route, which offers interesting views of the famous "Flag Trees" till we reach Bahia Brown. We put our wetsuits and row (1 hour) in very safe duckies (Canadian canoes) to the island, (a short way because the Beagle Channel does not offer any difficulty in this part). On the island, we will be able to hike and observe old native settlements, lots of birds such as gulls, steamer ducks, petrels, cormorants, albatross and Magellanic Penguins, among others. We have lunch and then enjoy a relaxing but also demanding hike. The view over the Beagle Channel is breathtaking till we get into a beech forest with white orchids, wild berries and strawberries and ferns. After a 3-hour hike we return to the refuge, stop for tea and then row back (45 minutes) to the continent.

Return in Ushuaia by 10 pm.

Includes: bilingual expert guides, exclusive vehicle max. 15 participants, entrance fee, lunch & tea, wetsuits and gear.

This tour is available daily October to April.

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