For seekers of uncommon sightings, bewitching islands, and dramatically scenic wilderness, very few destinations match the allure of South America’s Pacific coastline and Easter Island, where glorious ancient cities, brightly festooned fauna, mysterious monuments, and amazingly impressive scenery await to be discovered.
We invite you to participate on a grand, once-in-a-lifetime voyage from Panama to Patagonia that also includes fabled Easter Island. Note that this unprecedented 38-day journey is also available in one of two shorter segments.
Aboard the 100-guest Clelia II, a ship that is uniquely fit for long voyages, given its spacious all-suite accommodations and attractive facilities, explore natural wonders and wildlife of Panama then sail along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru. Here we will explore colonial cities as well as the cities and monuments of civilizations that flourished in this part of the continent before the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th century.
Next, Clelia II will cross the blue Pacific to Easter Island, first calling at the uninhabited islet of Sala-y-Gomez. In Easter Island, we will stay in port for three days, giving us ample opportunity to leisurely and comprehensively explore this fabled isle and its renowned monumental sculptures. Who were the people who created the sculptures and how and from where did they arrive at the island? Did they sail from the coast of Peru or from the west? These are some of the questions our expert study leaders will probe.
From Easter Island, Clelia II will then set sail for the seldom-visited Juan Fernández Archipelago and continue to the Patagonian coast of Chile. From Puerto Montt to Ushuaia, the ship will navigate one of the most spectacular seaways in the world. Here, the coast is dominated by the breathtaking, ice-capped Andes Mountains, which drop straight to the sea. Lining the coast is a maze of islands creating an “inside passage” of fjords and twisting scenic channels stretching for over a thousand miles.
Day 1 PANAMA CITY | BALBOA, Panama | EMBARK
Upon arrival in Panama City, transfer to Balboa to embark Clelia II.
Day 2 BALBOA | MIRAFLORES LOCKS | GAMBOA RAIN FOREST | BALBOA
From Balboa, we drive along the Panama Canal to the Miraflores Locks, where the Visitors Center houses exhibits relating to the history and operation of the canal and also provides a front-row view of the ships transiting the famed waterway. Continue to Gamboa Rain Forest Park, part of the Soberanía National Park, and visit Monkey Island.
Day 3 LA PALMA | PUERTO LARA | LA PALMA, Darién Panama
Sail to La Palma and take local boats upriver to Puerto Lara, where Wounaan Indians welcome us and teach us their traditional dances and handicrafts.
Days 4-5 At Sea
Relax aboard as Clelia II cruises toward Peru.
Day 6 PAITA| PIURA| PAITA, Peru
Arrive in Paita, a port built on a peninsula on Peru’s northwest coast, for an excursion to Piura. Built along the banks of the Rio Piura, rarely visited Piura is Peru’s oldest colonial town and the center of Peru’s flourishing cotton trade. Tour the city’s center, built around the spacious Plaza de Armas, lined with colonial buildings, and visit the Cathedral, the Plaza Pizarro, and the Museo Complejo Cultural, which houses artifacts excavated from the nearby pre-Inca site of Cerro Vicus. There will also be time to visit the town’s colorful market, known for its ceramics, leather crafts, and straw hats.
Day 7 SALAVERRY | HUACA de la LUNA & HUACA del SOL | CHAN CHAN | SALAVERRY, Peru
Visit Huaca de la Luna and see Huaca del Sol, pyramids from the Moche culture, a remarkable pre-Inca civilization. Continue to Chan Chan, imperial capital of the Chimú (A.D. 1000-1470), and the world’s largest adobe city.
Day 8 SALAVERRY | EL BRUJO or TRUJILLO | SALAVERRY
Visit El Brujo Archaeological Complex and the newly opened Museo de Cao or tour Trujillo, founded by the Spanish in 1534 and known for its colonial architecture.
Day 9 CALLAO | LIMA | CALLAO
Arrive in Callao to spend the day exploring Lima, the sprawling capital of Peru, founded by Francisco Pizarro in 1535, now the biggest city of Spanish South America. Visit the city’s historical center, including the Plaza de Armas, a UNESCO World Heritage site, fronted by several colonial buildings; and the superb National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, with artifacts representing all of Peru’s major ancient cultures. Also visit the Gold Museum, the great private collection of Miguel Mujica Gallo, which houses pre-Columbian gold, silver, and bronze objects and other artifacts. Overnight aboard docked in Callao.
Day 10 CALLAO | PACHACÁMAC | PURUCHUCO | CALLAO
Before the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century, the area of Lima contained vibrant cities, and today we will explore two important sites that predate the Spanish conquest. Pachacámac, which we will tour first, was the largest coastal Peruvian city and ceremonial center. Dedicated to the creator-god Pachacámac, the city was a vast complex of palaces, pyramids, and other buildings built around a low hill, crowned with the Temple of the Sun, built in 1350. Further up the Rimac valley, we stop at Puruchuco to visit the palace of a pre-Inca Huacho noble. The small museum houses textiles and ceramics from the area.
Day 11 SAN MARTIN | PARACAS | BALLESTAS ISLANDS | SAN MARTIN
Call at the port of San Martin, our gateway to the Paracas peninsula, a national reserve created to protect one of South America’s most important marine ecosystems. The area is home to large numbers of marine birds and mammals. Paracas was also a necropolis of the Nazca culture, where over 400 mummies were excavated, each wrapped in the fine textiles for which the Nazca culture was renowned. Explore the peninsula, including the Ica Regional Museum, which houses an impressive collection of pre-Inca items, including fine woven textiles, and also take an excursion to the nearby Ballestas Islands, which are home to thousands of seabirds and other wildlife.
Days 12-16 At Sea
Relax aboard, attend lectures, and enjoy Clelia II’s facilities as the ship cruises the Pacific en route to Easter Island.
Day 17 SALA-Y-GOMEZ, Chile
Situated near Easter Island, the uninhabited islet of Sala-y-Gomez abounds in bird life. Search for masked boobies, red-tailed tropicbirds, brown and blue-grey noddies, and the great frigate birds.
Days 18-20 EASTER ISLAND
Few of the world’s archaeological treasures are so shrouded in mystery as the moai, the massive and brooding carved figures of Easter Island. Archaeologists and historians continue to debate how humans first arrived on this island, a tiny speck some 1,200 miles from the nearest inhabited island. What motivated the inhabitants to carve and set up hundreds of moai? Our three days on Easter Island (a UNESCO World Heritage site) will allow us to explore this unique island and all its important sites thoroughly and leisurely and also to meet its hospitable people and learn about their culture and traditions. Among the visits we will make are to Rano Raraku, the hard basalt quarry where the moai were carved and where some 200 sculptures in various states of completion are still scattered about; Anakena Beach, said to be the landing site of Hoto Matua, the legendary first settler of Easter Island; and the site of the Orongo Ceremonial Village, famous for its petroglyphs of the ancient birdmen and for its spectacular sweeping views. Also learn about the enigmatic civilization of Easter Island at the excellent local museum.
Days 21-24 At Sea
Cruise in the South Pacific towards the Juan Fernández Archipelago.
Day 25 ISLA ALEJANDRO SELKIRK, Juan Fernández Archipelago
Reach Chile’s remote Juan Fernández Archipelago, which consists principally of two main islands, Alejandro Selkirk and Robinson Crusoe, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Land at Isla Alejandro Selkirk, known formerly as Mas Afuera (“farther out”), the smaller and more isolated of the two islands. If conditions permit, board Clelia II’s Zodiac boats to visit the island’s small fishing village.
Day 26 ISLA ROBINSON CRUSOE
Arrive at Isla Robinson Crusoe, named after Daniel Defoe’s popular novel, The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, which was in turn based on the real-life castaway Alexander Selkirk. A Scottish sailor, Selkirk lived on the island for almost five years (1704 – 1709) in complete isolation. Take a nature hike, which features stunning panoramic views. Along the way, see the island’s abundant flora—over 60% of the plant life here is endemic. Afterwards, board the Zodiacs for a short ride to a replica of Selkirk’s cave dwelling. Alternatively, visit in the town of San Juan Bautista where you will meet local inhabitants and learn about lobster fishing. Visit the fort of Santa Barbara, the so-called Patriot Caves, the Casa de la Cultura, and the extreme north of the bay where remains of a WWI naval battle can be seen.
Days 27-28 TALCAHUANO | LOTA | HUALPEN | TALCAHUANO
Crossing over to the mainland of Chile, Clelia II will dock at the port of Talcahuano, sited near the mouth of the Bio Bio River, one of Chile’s longest rivers. Travel to the former coal-mining town of Lota to visit Parque Lota, a lovely formal garden commissioned in 1862 by local coal magnate, Matias Cousino. Designed by an English landscape architect, the garden is a refreshing retreat of fountains, neoclassical statues, beautiful ponds, and winding footpaths. Also visit the district of Hualpen, where 50% of the area is declared a Nature Sanctuary. Here, we’ll visit the Hualpen Museum which consists of a house, built in 1885 and opened to the public 1938 as a museum. It retains the original furniture as well as Mapuche silver work, religious iconography, Egyptian art, and an archaeology collection. Also visit the nearby park, located by the mouth of the Bio Bio River, where native forest, lagoons, wetlands, beach, cliffs and an important variety of flora and fauna coexist.
Day 29 At Sea
Cruise along the coast of central Chile.
Day 30 PUERTO MONTT | VICENTE PÉREZ ROSALES NATIONAL PARK | PUERTO MONTT, Chile’s Lake District
Built along the shores of the spacious Bay of Ancud, Puerto Montt was founded by Germans in the mid-1850s. Drive through lush pastoral scenery and dense forest to the Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park, which incorporates the emerald-green Todos Los Santos Lake, a land of magnificent vistas ringed with high-rising volcanoes and snow-capped mountains.
Day 31 CASTRO | CHILOÉ NATIONAL PARK | CASTRO, Chiloé Island
Just south of Puerto Montt is beautiful Chiloé Island, with its small fishing villages, characteristic old wooden churches, friendly population, and placid landscape, a place that has changed little through the centuries. Call at Castro, the island’s main town, founded in 1567 on a promontory at the head of a deep fjord. Tour this charming town, including the striking Cathedral, the Regional Museum, with artifacts of the aboriginal tribes that inhabited the island, and the covered market, known for its hand-knitted woolen items. Also travel to the nearby town of Chonchi, with its well-preserved 18th-century buildings. Alternatively, explore the Chiloé National Park, a dense and pristine wilderness of rain forest on the island’s west coast facing the Pacific.
Day 32 CHACABUCO | AIKEN RESERVE | CHACABUCO
Discover the private Aiken Reserve, where Patagonian biodiversity is found in its purest condition.
Days 33-34 CHILE’S FJORDS and PUERTO NATALES
Enjoy a vista of mountains, fjords, and forests as Clelia II cruises through the channels lining Chile’s Patagonian Coast. Arrive in Puerto Natales on December 12 after navigating the narrow Kirke Pass.
Day 35 PUERTO NATALES | TORRES DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK | PUERTO NATALES
Take a full-day excursion to awesome Torres del Paine National Park, filled with twisted peaks, waterfalls, and lakes.
Day 36 PUERTO NATALES | THE CHILEAN FJORDS
Navigating through the Reina Adelaida Archipelago’s channels, round the western entrance of the Magellan Strait.
Day 37 CHILEAN CHANNELS | USHUAIA, Argentina
Continue passing through the Chilean Channels before arriving in Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost city, beautifully situated on the Beagle Channel in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego.
Day 38 USHUAIA | DISEMBARK | BUENOS AIRES
Disembark in Ushuaia for return flights
Deposit & Payment
Initial deposit is $1,000 per person, and most travelers will call our office and pay the deposit with a credit card. We accept Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. Alternatively, you can send a check to our Missoula, Montana, office or register online at: https://www.adventure-life.com/mail/fourways.php
Final payment is due 100 days prior to departure, and most travelers will pay the final balance with a check, money order, or bank transfer. You can also pay the final balance by credit card, but please note there is a 3% convenience fee assessed to all credit card-not-present final payments.
Booking last minute? No problem! Please contact one of our trip planners, and we can get you on your way if booking less than 100 days prior to departure.
Click here to see a copy of our Terms and Conditions.
Cancellation Policy
| Days Prior to departure | Fee |
|---|---|
| 91 days or more | $500 per person |
| 61-90 days | 55% trip cost |
| 60 days or less | 100% trip cost |
