Chilean Glaciers

After rounding Cape Horn,  we cruised the Beagle Channel, a 150 mile strait connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  It is named after the British ship HMS Beagle which surveyed the coast of South America between 1826 and 1830.  The ship returned in 1833 to continue its work with Charles Darwin aboard as a naturalist.

Beagle Channel meanders through Parque National Alberto de Agostini.  Countless small islands form one of the most scenic archipelagos in the world. We are seeing this untouched wilderness much as Ferdinand Magellan, Charles Darwin and other early explorers did centuries before us.

Soaring snow capped peaks form the corridors for the fjords that are heralded as some of the most rugged and untamed places on earth. Compare the size of the fishing trawler (in the lower left) to the height of the peaks forming this fjord.

We entered a region of the strait known as Glacier Alley, home to the massive Darwin ice field. It creates numerous tidewater glaciers that cascade down to the channel where the ice melts or calves icebergs.  A decade ago, the glacier pictured above (high between the peaks) touched the water’s edge. Global warming has changed that and today we only see a rivulet careening down the steep slope.

Alemania Glacier is also known as Roncagli Glacier.  The advance of one of its lobes blocked the drainage of some streams, forming Martinic Lake.

The ice of España Glacier has a bluish tint.  It occurs when snow falls on a glacier, is compressed, and becomes part of the glacier. Air bubbles are squeezed out and ice crystals enlarge, making the ice appear blue.  Though it looks to be only a few feet thick, it is actually several hundred feet in depth.

The melting rate of España Glacier is considerable as witnessed by the volume of water cascading to the sea.

The upper portion of Garibaldi Glacier is near the peak of the mountain.

At the end of this fjord, one of the tongues of the Garibaldi Glacier touched the channel.

Garibaldi has a well defined meridian, the dark line progressing vertically along its face.  This was created when rocks and earth were trapped between two glaciers that merged together high in the mountains.  

The Viking Sun dispatched a tender to the glacier.  (The 80-foot tender is the small dark object floating near the face of the glacier.)  

The tender's crew was tasked with capturing and returning a sizable chunk of glacial ice.

Success!  The crew netted and dragged back a 600 pound mini-iceberg.

The mini-iceberg was brought aboard and displayed next to the pool.  As expect, lots of selfies were taken.


Report on Jan's recovery:
Two-weeks ago Jan fell in the shower on an overnight excursion to Iguazo Falls in Argentina and suffered a severe contusion on her back and ribs.  Luckily no bones were broken.  For 10 days she was in considerable pain and remained in the stateroom, Gene acting as nursemaid.  Two days ago, she managed to walk to the restaurant for meals, (the restaurant is a distance of two-football fields from our stateroom.)  Her discomfort remains high, but the pain level is half what it was.  Prognosis--a month or two for full recovery.