The striped tower
Red and white.
Ricardo Martins — CC BY 2.0 · Liam Quinn from Canada — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Py4nf — CC BY 4.0 · Dwilban — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Eugeniabaccaro — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Leandro Neumann Ciuffo — CC BY 2.0
Les Éclaireurs lighthouse is one of Ushuaia's best-known symbols: a small brick tower painted in three bands, red, white and red, on a small rocky islet in the Beagle Channel off the city's bay. The tower is 11 metres high, its lamp 22.5 metres above the sea, flashing white and red every five seconds. The islets' French name, «the Scouts», was given by a French expedition in 1882-1883. The lighthouse first shone on 23 December 1920 and still works automatically on solar power; it is closed to the public. Around it, rocky islets hold colonies of sea lions and cormorants, so every boat trip in the channel passes by, with the snowy Tierra del Fuego mountains behind. It is seen on boat and catamaran trips from Ushuaia harbour, usually two and a half to four hours long, which also take in the sea-lion and bird islands.
Red and white.
On the islets.
Behind the light.
Les Éclaireurs islets in the Beagle Channel, off Ushuaia bay
No, it is closed, but boat trips in the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia pass close by.
