Thursday, March 15, 2018

Cruising the Chilean Fjords (Sunday, March 11)

It was definitely worth getting up early to see dawn break over the Amelia Glacier.  
"Hey Harry, something is wrong with your settings. Ice is white." I hear you think.  Not glacial ice.  

Blue ice 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. (Wikipedia)
Throughout the day we weaved our way along channels that always kept one or more islands between us and the open sea.  This made for a smooth passage.  The sky remained overcast most of the time, the grey conditions challenging my ability to get good pictures.
Towards the end of the day we came to the wreck of the SS Santa Leanor.  The story went that the captain and pilot were talking on the bridge.  The captain said something about "right" and the crewman at the wheel spun the wheel to the right.  In the narrow channel, there was no time to recover from the mistake.

In the evening, we turned generally east, entering the western end of the Straits of Magellan which we would follow to Punta Arenas, arriving there the next morning.

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