Founder
Who leads you into the fjord
This expedition isn't run by an agency. It's led by Jaroslav Sokol - together with the captain, fishermen and families who live in the fjord. Trust rests here.
Jaroslav Sokol
"For years I sat in a server room fixing other people's networks. Then my son was born - and I realized I didn't want him to know me as a guy who spent his whole life staring at a screen. I left IT, went back to what always pulled me outside - and then came the Aysén fjord."
Military training at nineteen. Years in IT as a systems administrator - servers, networks, windowless air-conditioned rooms. When my son was born, I left IT and went back to what made sense from the start: outside, in the field, among people. Twenty years of solo travel - from Java before the tourists to freediving with orcas in Norway's Tromsø - taught me one pattern: people arrive, infrastructure follows, and the thing you came for disappears.
Alongside the expeditions I still actively serve in the security forces. Discipline, planning under uncertainty and a cool head when things go off script - that's not website rhetoric, it's daily practice.
Aysén today is where those places were twenty years ago. Raw, inaccessible, authentic. That's why I bought land in the region and built connections with local people - from fishermen and a boat captain to families living on remote estancias. And now I'm opening it - carefully - to a small group of people who will appreciate it and not spoil it.
The people who write me about Patagonia tend to fall into one of two groups. The first has never seen it, but senses that if they go, they want to go right. The second has driven through it and came back with the feeling that something stayed out of sight. This expedition is built for both - because both are after the same thing. A layer you can't reach from the road.
How I run this expedition
1. Restraint. I don't take more people than the place can carry. Six, not fifteen. That's why it costs what it costs - and why it still looks the way it looks.
2. Preparation. Before I take anyone in, I've been there myself. I know where the signal is and isn't, who's a local captain and who's a tourist with a boat. Plan B means another Plan A - not improvisation.
3. Responsibility. For you. For the place. For the people who live there and will still be there after we leave. You pay me, but most of the money goes local - to captains, fishermen, and families who host us.
4. Return. The point isn't to conquer the place. The point is to come back different - with something that stays with you on Monday at the screen.
I don't enter the field to defeat it. I enter it to leave it different.
Aysén Fjord SpA is building a long-term partnership network in the Aysén region - selected vessel operators, local guides, and accommodation hosts - to provide premium expeditions through 2031 and beyond. Our approach is multi-year, not seasonal.
Applications go through a short selection interview - not everyone is accepted. The introductory call takes 15 minutes and is non-binding.
What the expedition stands on
Restraint
We don't take more people than the place can carry - six, not fifteen.
Preparation
Before I take anyone in, I traveled the route myself, at my own expense.
Responsibility
Most of the money goes straight to Chile - to the captain, fishermen and families who host us.
Return
The point isn't to conquer the place - it's to come back from it different.
Nobody lives here. That's why you need people who have known this place all their lives.
Without locals, you won't reach the inner fjord
Captain and boat
The inner fjord can only be reached by water - and only with a captain who has sailed it all his life. A boat that doesn't carry tourists carries us.
Fishermen and locals
Lamb roasted on the shore, fish caught that morning, a night's rest by the fjord. Food and lodging come from local people - not a catering company.
The money stays in Chile
A substantial part of the expedition price goes directly to the people who make it possible. The region lives off it - and that's why they welcome us there.
The Navega Patagonia crew, who knew Václav Nový, the vessel Patagonia I, and the Martínez & Núñez law office in Coyhaique - the expedition's entire support base in one place.
Meet our partnersWhy does the expedition cost what it costs? The four principles that shape the price are on the page The Price of Four Decisions. The book where it all began: The Memoirs of Václav Nový.
January 2027 is full. We’re taking a waitlist. The second departure, in February 2027, opens depending on the number of applications, with exact dates to follow. Applications for the 2028 season are open.
Non-binding application · full refund up to 90 days before departure
From the blog
The Aysén region: a province younger than Czechoslovakia → Patagonia Without the Crowds: Where to Go Instead 8 min listen → All articles →