Laguna San Rafael, Aisen Region, Chile

4sotola 5:00 PM Jan 4, 2020

Trip from Chacabuco is more of a cultural experience than nature
if you want to enjoy the glacier closer and for longer, select option from puerto tranquillo - smaller catamarans and less time for logistics to get to/ from. Departure from Chababuco is rather a cultural experience and the enterntainment follows this plan: 70 people, only 7 foreigners the rest Chileans (and some Argentians) 1. get everyone on the boat by 7:40am, depart at 8am 2. 1.5h into sailing serve hot breakfast 3. by 9:30am open the upper deck for people to wonder around 4. by 10:30-11am start a powerpoint presentation about glaciers - types, background, size data, history 5. 11:30am - serve lunch (with vino) 6. by 1pm arrive to the glacier and start rotation of the small inflatable motorboats to/from the glacier in groups of 10. Overall 1h, not longer than 10-15min each boat. I guess for liability issues with one side of the glacier being 50m boats staying at least 100m away. I got to experience a much closer drift in Greenland if you want to get more personal. 7. While tourists are charting on/ off in the boats, crew pick up a few pieces of ice 8. Get everyone on the catamaran and leave glacier by 2:30pm. Meantime, get that ice and start drinking pisco and whiskey on the ice (polite version is "tasting'). 9. by 3:30pm get everyone warm and happy and let them sing Chilean songs for as long as effect of the tasting lasts (just please hide the microphone!) - at least for the next 2-2.5h. 10. Serve hot snacks with coffee at 5pm. 11. By 7pm half of the signers are tiered and will take a nap. But as we get closer to port, everyone takes microphone and thanks everyone for a wonderful experience they are having on the trip (at least this is as much as i managed to derive from my poor Spanish). 12. Arrive to the puerto by 8pm. 12hours have flown by! Enjoy

4Singababe 5:00 PM Jan 26, 2018

Laguna San Rafael - with Destinos Patagonia. Adventurous and breathtaking experience
We almost did'nt get to go since the catamaran with Lobrias del Sur was sold out. We were initially disappointed as our sole purpose of there was to see the San Rafael glacier. We got to know about Destinos Patagonia from another agency. Instead of leaving fron Puerto Chacabuco we had to leave from Puerto Tranquillo in a small speed boat. We rented a car from Balmaceda Airport and drove 4 hrs to Puerto Tranquilo, a pretty and tranquil town next to a lake. We made our reservation with Marco of Destinos Patagonia. Friendly nice chap who runs the agency with his friend Emilia. The next morning we drove another 2-hrs on unpaved road to Puerto Grosse - our embarkation point where we got on a speed boat. There were ten of us. It took us an 1-1/2 half to the glacier. We spent an hour in front of San Rafael glacier and had our lunch and whisky on ice. We had a very friendly and gentle guide Franci. The boat ride was very bumpy but the experience of going with a small group with a fast boat to us was very intimate and immediate. A long ride but definitely a worthwhile trip to witness this breathtaking glacier.