Nautical Safari to the Perito Moreno

In addition to walking along its footbridges (fully renovated today), one of the most traditional tours to see the Perito Moreno Glacier is to get on board a catamaran and slowly approach the great walls of ice across the waters of Lake Argentino.

Not only do passengers catch a good glimpse of this wonder but they can also listen to the movements generated by the glacier, which generally end up in some calvingfall of ice blockslarge portions of walls.

Popularly known as the nautical safari, this tour displays the great white mass and all its cracks and peaks with different hues in an extremely safe way.

The company “Hielo y Aventura” offers several departures for this tour every day. Technically, the route goes across what is known as the Rico Arm of Lake Argentino.

The nautical safari, as well as other tours, wait for passengers to get on board at the bay called Bajo las Sombras (Under the Shadows). One of the most outstanding excursions available is hiking on the glacier with the aid of crampons to walk on the Perito Moreno itself, a memorable episode indeed.

But the catamaran is an adventure with capital letters. At its own pace, slow but steady, the ice floes that float adrift on the surface of Lake Argentino are captured by the cameras coveting a souvenir from this tour.

The catamaran gets as close as possible to the point where the glacier meets solid ground and the famous ice bridge is formed. Every now and then, this bridge collapses and this is known as “the rupture”. In fact, there is no such rupture; the glacier is constantly breaking off.

As we approached Canal de los Témpanos (the Channel of the Ice Floes), the boat stopped in front of the glacier and started to tour along its front. Afterwards, the passengers who had hired the mini hiking excursion landed on the shore where the footbridges may be spotted.

In the meantime, most passengers were on deck trying to capture this show starred by nature with photographic cameras and camcorders. Silence and expectation prevailed. Nobody wanted to miss some great calving event and the truth is that this tour guarantees astonishing scenes.

Suitable for the entire family, the nautical safari is ideal to see one of the most beautiful sites on the planet from a very close distance: the Perito Moreno Glacier.