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Our Ship - MARINA
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Ports
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Santiago de Chile
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Puerto Montt, Chile
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Puerto Chacabuco, Chile
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Laguna San Rafael, Chile
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Chilean Fjords
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Punta Arenas, Chile
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Ushuaia, Argentina
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Drake Passage
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Antarctica
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Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
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Puerto Madryn, Argentina
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Punta Del Este, Uruguay
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Montevideo, Uruguay
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Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Points of Interest
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Iguazu Falls
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Resources
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Books
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Laguna San Rafael National Park is a park located on the Pacific coast of southern Chile. The park is named for the San Rafael Lagoon formed by the retreat of the San Rafael Glacier. Created in 1959, it covers an area of 17,420 km2 (6,726 sq mi) and includes the Northern Patagonian Ice Field. A fjord more than 16 km (10 mi) long is one of the park's principal attractions.
Non-indigenous people first explored the area of Laguna San Rafael in the year 1675. The glacier of the same name was a land-terminating glacier during that time. It probably reached again the lagoon at some time between 1741 and 1766, and it has been a tidewater glacier since that date.
The park was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1979
The park comprises some of the higher Andes mountains of Patagonia, such as the Monte San Valentín, Cerro Arenales, Cerro Hyades and Cerro Pared Norte.
This park contains a number of rivers. San Tadeo River is located in the Isthmus of Ofqui and flows into San Quintín Bay in the north part of the Gulf of Penas. Also there are various rivers bordering the park, such as the Baker River and the Exploradores River. Témpanos River (not really a river) connects San Rafael Lagoon with the Gulf Elefantes, the southern part of Moraleda Channel.
Presidente Ríos Lake spans the border between the park and Las Guaitecas National Reserve.
Several species of birds find shelter in the park, including black-browed albatrosses, great grebes, black-necked swans and cormorants.
Terrestrial and marine wildlife in this area also include South American gray fox, South Andean deer, Chilean dolphins, South American sea lions, marine otters, southern elephant seals, and so on. Baleen whales migrate into Gulf of Penas, and it is notable that the gulf is possibly a wintering/calving ground for the critically endangered population of Southern Right Whale.
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Links Chile's Parque Nacional Laguna San Rafael Laguna San Rafael Glacier: Fjords, Icebergs & Seals Parque Nacional Laguna San Rafael - A Park to Yourself (Almost)
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