Cruising among the Fjords and Glaciers

One thing that will never get old to me as long as I live, is the experience of sitting in front of a glacier and hearing the crack & pop of those awesome ice fields slowly migrating down the slopes.  And then the rush as you see it calve into the water below, causing this magnificent crashing thunder and explosive sound that radiates out over the otherwise serene waters and surroundings.  It takes my breath away.  I was on an Alaska cruise a few years ago and we watched several glaciers calving throughout out time in the park. So I had assumed my reaction in the Patagonia Fjords to the glaciers would be a bit more subdued. Note so.  Glaciers are just awesome - put on this earth to really give us a sense of wonder and awe, to know that there's something so much greater than us as individuals going on in this world.  We couldn't get enough as you can tell from the silly grins on our faces.

On our Skorpios cruise we visit several glaciers beginning with Amalia Glacier.  This was one of my favorite stops because we had a little time to stretch our legs and walk about a half mile across the terrain until we came upon the front of the glacier. The walk in itself is beautiful and you begin on the rocky shores, then slowly ascending over the hills covered with moss and ice sculpture remnants from when the waters were higher. We crested the hill and were able to view the vast expanse of glacier in front of us. As the giant slabs of ice and snow were flung into the water, we heard the crashes and then about five minutes later the waves came lapping onto our shore.  We stayed on the hill until all the other guests had left and our guide was slowly shooing us back towards the boat.  If we had protested he would have let us stay for one more calving, but we knew this was not the end and we had more glaciers to see in the day!

Next we visited El Brujo Glacier which was also just a short zodiak ride away from the ship but this time we stayed perched on a huge rock landing to the left of the glacier.  It was a nice change to see it up so close and yet be high enough so you knew you wouldn't be in danger of sinking below the waves that came with every calving. Again we stayed until the guide rounded up the remaining stragglers and sent us back to the zodiaks. 

Our last excursion for the day was in Calvo Fjord on the “Capitán Constantino” icebreaker. We motored through the icebergs and each one made a unique thunk sound.  We climbed up to the front of the boat and stayed there for the rest of the excursion. We couldn't figure out why the rest of the passengers didn't want to join us.  Other than the freezing cold temperatures and spitting rain and need to hang on for dear life so you didn't fall overboard as the icebreaker crashed into each berg. Other than that it was a great ride and exciting to see the jutting mountains and terrain pass you by. We visited Fernando, Capitán Constantino and Alipio glaciers and also a few others that I don't recall the names of.

One of the highlights of the icebreaker excursion was the whisky toast with glacier ice. I'm not sure if it was us getting wrapped up in the experience or what but we swore that you could take different minerals in the glacier ice and it complimented the whisky nicely.  They give you the Skorpios glass as a souvenir too! (Side note: housekeeping took our glasses at one of the hotels we staying in Patagonia. We let the Skorpios office know and they sent a representative to meet us at the airport before we left Chile. What wonderful customer service!)

The following day was the last full day on our cruise and visited sailed through Montañas Fjord toward Bernal Glacier. It was another short hike through the brush to Bernal Glacier and it didn't disappoint - icing on the cake.

The Captain’s Dinner that night was one of the most decidant meals we've had with every meat and seafood dish you could imagine - not to mention the beautiful and tasty desserts. Dinner was followed by the Captain's Dance which included a lot of our classic favorites from the 80s and 90s.  We danced the night away with our new friends from all over the world. Alright we just stayed up until midnight but it felt like the night had been danced away.