They were all beautiful, and we took lots of photos.
Today is glacier day. We basically spent the whole day boating from glacier to glacier.
They
were all beautiful, and we took lots of photos.
I'm
not sure what is so fascinating about a big blue chunk of ice,
but
we just stood and stared in awe.
Occasionally,
there was a loud snapping sound, as if a gun had been shot.
The air was cold and the skies were gray, so I'm afraid the photos won't be very nice.
We watched in awe as huge chunks of ice broke off and crashed into the water below. The noise was surprisingly loud. It literally sounded like the rumbling of intense thunder.
At
one point, we disembarked and visited a glacier up close.
At one point, we got off the Skorpios III and onto a special ice-cutter boat and basically rammed our way through the huge ice field to approach the glaciers. It was fun.
Those
boats take a lot of beating. There were many times when we pushed
aside icebergs bigger than a car, and they drifted by so close you
could touch them.
The
ice cutter was divided into an upper-rear section and a lower forward
section. It was quite cold in the lower front, but we were properly
bundled. The upper rear section was warmer because of the motor and
exhaust. Some of the benches in that section were so hot, you
couldn't stand to sit there for more than a minute or so.
The waiters on board grabbed chunks of ice and chipped them into ice cubes.
Then
they filled souvenir glasses with some 12-year-old scotch whiskey. It
kept us warm.
The
mountains that surrounded us were green with trees that clung
desperately to the rock.
Hundreds
of beautiful little waterfalls cascaded down the mountains around us.
The
water was white with huge chunks of floating ice.
At
one point we passed a good sized colony of cormorants clinging to the
side of a mountain.
Many
sat on nests. They looked and behaved like skinny penguins, but they
could fly.
The
ice-cutter boat took us up a channel where there were lots of
glaciers. At any given time, you could see a half-dozen glaciers
surrounding us.
The boat pulled up to the shore at the site of a pretty little waterfall. But there were so many people on the boat that it was difficult to get a decent photo, or even a look at it.
After
the glacier ride, Kathy and I went down to the engine room of the
ship. It was spotless and obviously well maintained.
Even
with the boat parked, the room was noisy with the sound of electrical
generators. We wore ear protection that we found hung outside the
door.
At
one of the glaciers, I once again put my camera on continuous
shooting mode and snapped exposures while huge ice boulders came
crashing to the ground.
I did manage to see a seal or sea lion playing with a small chunk of glacier ice. I wanted to see a dolphin, but never did. Some people, including Kathy, said they saw dolphins though. Kathy even got a photo I think.