We have arrived at the glaciers. It is two glaciers that come off the same mountain and it is very beautiful. We can see the spires of Torres del Paines off in the distance. I set my phone exercise monitor foe a buke ride and after we got back I was surprised to see that we had traveled almost 75 miles! That is a long boat ride for a half of a day! In the promotional materials they said that the price did not include glacier trekking, not a problem, but did include a whiskey drink. I found that a bit odd but when in Patagonia do as the Patagonians do. As I said before the blue of the glacier is so intense out of place that the eyes are drawn to that color. We motored up the the first glacier for pictures and then the Capitan asked everyone to get back inn to the boat. We then docked up and brought on four Park Rangers, their gear and their trash bags. I had a front row seat of the whole process. Three of the rangers were orderly: each handing over their gear and then walking onto the boat through the gate area. The last Ranger handed his gear over but then swung his legs over the railing to get onboard. One of the workers grabbed him tightly so that there was no way he was going overboard. I could see that he was not pleased with such cavalier behavior. The water is just above freezing and that means just minutes of meaningful movement before the cold gets you. Luckily I was in the cabin sipping on the free whiskey! One shot gives you an hour of meaningful movement, two shots is less and three shots is like falling ion that cold water.
The first glacier is the Serrano Glacier and it reaches all the way to the water
The blue in the cracks reminds me of the red parts of a lava flow
I wonder how tall these ice towers are
This may be redundant but this selection of photos is a small fraction of the ones I took
Zooming ion on the bluest of the blue
A ranger station at the base of the glacier
The mountain top
Perhaps another glacier at the very top of the mountain
This river must be seriously cold as it flows out from the base of the glacier
All aboard!
The rangers hitching a ride
Another large national park in Chile
Triple Wood...fill in your own joke
Loosing all motor control
The second glacier is the Balmaceda Glacier
It has receded from the waters edge
They look like the Ice Giants of Norse mythology
Our trip!
the anchor chains
Here is the flow off of the glacier
I could see more of the glacier as we motored away
One last zoom in on the blue
Ice shark fin
Ok another zoom in on the blue
this is really the last one
Liquid water, ice and snow all in one picture
The bridge of the boat
This is the flag for this region of Chile, the Magallanes region. The yellow is for the grasses on the pampas, the white is for the mountains. The southern cross is up in the corner of the blue field. This blue represents the night sky that apparently never gets fully dark.
Looking back at the mountains
More glaciers on the way back
Torres del Paine one last time
A long path from the top to the water
Not the boat we had to take!
Seagulls flying by this tiny boat
The trees are permanently bent
Waterfall - ice - waterfall
Splashdown!
Pouring out of a crack in the rocks
Last picture of this waterfall
