The day begins on an island and ends on the continent, with the Strait of Magellan crossed by ferry in between. It is a day of thresholds — between Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia proper, between the southern extreme the journey has reached and the immense country that lies ahead.
Crossing the Strait
The landing craft Melinka departs Bahía Chilota at 08:00, carrying passengers and vehicles across the eastern narrows of the Strait of Magellan — a crossing of roughly 35 kilometres (22 miles) that takes just under two and a half hours to the terminal at Tres Puentes, 5 kilometres north of Punta Arenas. This early sailing runs on Wednesdays and Fridays only; the other weekday crossing departs at 14:00, which would compress or eliminate the Punta Arenas stop and require either overnighting in the city or driving straight through to Puerto Natales. The morning departure is worth protecting. The strait here is wide enough that both shores are visible simultaneously on clear mornings — the flat, wind-scoured coast of Chilean Tierra del Fuego to the south, and the Brunswick Peninsula rising gently ahead. Dolphin and seabird sightings are common on the crossing; the crew moves through the vessel selling coffee and small provisions, but the deck is worth the cold.
The Melinka has run this crossing daily since 1984, operated by Transbordadora Austral Broom, the same company that has managed transport through these waters since the 1960s. Before the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Strait of Magellan was the primary route for steamships passing between the Atlantic and Pacific — Punta Arenas grew wealthy as a coaling station and provisioning port during that era, its prosperity written in the grand European-style mansions that still line the waterfront. Ferdinand Magellan himself transited the strait in 1520, taking 38 days to navigate its convoluted channels. The crossing on the Melinka takes a fraction of that.