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When we woke up this morning, surprise, surprise…more Chilean Fjords and no, not the kind you can drive (ha, ha, I’m not even sure they make Fords in Chile), the kind with big snow capped mountains, beautiful waterfalls coming off the sheer mountain faces and glaciers around every turn! Today we are going to be traveling down the part of the “Avenue of the Glaciers” where the glaciers are named after countries in honor of famous explorers who came through this area.
Glacial ice has a beautiful blue color caused by the density of the ice and it’s ability to absorb rather than reflect the spectrum of light that results in your eyes only interpreting the blue color. Snow reflects all the light back to us, thereby appearing white. Or something like that. This is a travel blog not a physics class after all!
The crew in their power boat collecting a “glacier”.
While we saw a lot of glaciers today, with one seemingly around every corner, we spent a considerable amount of time hanging out around the “Italian” Glacier. No surprise since our Captain — Capt. Felice Patruno is, in fact, Italian! We get “Ciao– See you around” when he broadcasts updates from the bridge at noon each day. He wanted to plant an Italian flag to update the claim on the glacier for Italy but alas there were no volunteers to assist in this endeavor. So instead we settled on launching a few of our brave crew members, dressed in their foul weather garb, to motor out toward the glacier and nab a sample of glacial ice. I believe Capt. Patruno will have is martini “Italian glacier-style” this evening!
Here’s the glacier on display in the main reception area.
Margaret enjoying a view of the Italian Glacier from our veranda.
Meanwhile, back at the Italian glacier, while I was gallivanting about the ship trying to find the best vantage point for pictures and videos, it turns out that the captain decided to use the bow thrusters to turn the boat 360 degrees several times so we could all get fantastic views right from our suites! As our cruise director would say, “It was GLOOOOOORIOUS” (say that with a decidedly British accent please). As it turns out, there is only one good way to see a glacier and that is to sit in your nice, warm suite on a beautiful ship like the Mariner and watch them go by.
We were very fortunate that the weather was fairly clear with blue skies showing through puffy white clouds. Apparently, this is rare in this area. The water was quite calm, enough to give me the opportunity to take some pictures with a reflection of the mountains. Gorgeous scenery throughout the day as 5,000 foot mountains rise up from the sea and the different hues of green contrast with the grays and browns of the volcanic remains and the white of the snow-topped peaks.
Some calving (ice falling from the face of the glacier) was going on and the ship would respond with a toot of the horn. A moose (or some other large antlered animal) was responding by making strange noises and banging his horns against a tree on the opposite shore. Perhaps the moose thought we were a “giant” moose coming to his territory to either fight (if he thinks we are a “male” ship) — or mate (if he thinks us female)..not sure if we like either idea! Best we keep our distance from shore. Can moose swim??
We continued on down Glacier Avenue the rest of the day but without further stops. Just spectacular scenery, smooth waters and constantly changing weather. The pictures in the Gallery will speak for themselves.
Avenue of Glaciers Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Avenue-of-Glaciers-Feb-3-2010/25168388_7zBXjR#!i=2064185857&k=Hqss7bj