Sailing Río de la Plata

During two hours, you will be able to appreciate an almost unknown face of this porteña metropolis. From the decks of the boat, passengers of all ages discover a new and attractive riverside scenery, where nature and urban concrete merge.

A spring Sunday, after lunch, we headed towards dársena Norte in the Retiro neighborhood. Around three we set off on a nautic getway on the Río de la Plata.

An unusual view of the porteña city showed us a different face of the Buenos Aires harbor and its waterfront.
This ride is not only aimed at tourists passing by Buenos Aires. We had the opportunity to share the excursion with many residents that evidently like to ride about this beautiful city. It is an ideal excursion to make with the family. This may turn just another afternoon into an extraordinary afternoon.

The new Galileo Buenos Aires catamaran has been operating since September 2002, fostered by the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, in order to provide a new tourist alternative in the city.

Measuring eighty meters of length and thirty meters of beam, it has a capacity of transport of over two hundred people. It has large decks for sunbathing and watching every detail of this particular face of the city. There is also a big dining-room, where we had access to a good, though expensive, bar service. As a novelty, it is important to point out that a good barbecue may be tasted by those who choose Thursday night voyage.

Eagerness to leave was increasing every minute. Parents, children and grandparents were getting on board slowly. The sun heat made most of them stay on deck in order to experiment the instant of setting sail in a more active fashion.

The moment arrived. Some sailors untied the catamaran ropes and the Captain started to maneuver in order to set course to the heart of the river. Very gradually, speed knots were increasing to sail this brown-watered “sea” in a period of two hours.

We were constantly escorted by the words of a guide and thus we rediscovered every detail of the Catalinas towers, one side of the luxurious Puerto Madero, the cranes and containers of the harbor and the waterfront with its Fishermen Club and its Metropolitan Airfield.

During the voyage, most of us took advantage of the scenery to take some unusual pictures. Even though we were aware of the fact that we were sailing a river, the sensation of seeing the horizon without a coast made us feel we were floating in a kind of waveless sea.

Just before getting to the same latitude as Ciudad Universitaria, the boat turned one hundred and eighty degrees in order to return to the harbor. Once back, the Ecological Reserve let us see its western side, while several sailing boats were crossing before us. Just like when we set off, the arrival was very quiet, while the sun was setting among the high Catalinas buildings.

This voyage in a catamaran is ideal to be done with the family and friends. A good occasion to meet and enjoy your people, regardless of large amounts of money.

As a popular anecdote, Buenos Aires has always been said to be a city with its back to the Río de la Plata. This kind of tourist undertaking, as well as many others that are being promoted at present contributes to form a more direct tie with the Río de la Plata and in this way experiment it in a more habitual fashion: from its nautic sports to its riverside rides.

The company that organizes these excursions is Compañía Fluvial del Norte S.A., and it also offers private and corporate parties.