The cruise that keeps on giving ... and maybe a looming problem

Glacier-spotting at 5:45am

Last night we decided to opt out of the world and had omelettes and chips in the cabin. We didn’t even go out to the gaucho show, but stayed at home, reading. There comes a point when you just have to stop! Then it was off to bed because the Captain had notified us that Chilean glaciers would be visible on the starboard side (our side) from 6am. So alarms were set for 5:45am. 

During the night, Chilean Border Control boarded the ship at Puerto Williams to stamp everyone’s passports. Fortunately, these had been taken from us on boarding so we had nothing to do with the process. There’s been a bizarre process of providing a signed Affidavit, which we have kept with us, but then have to hand them in to Reception on 9th or 10th February, for them to present to the authorities when we complete our visit to Chile on 11th at Arica. Up until then however, we have to carry the affidavit with us whenever we leave the ship to go ashore in Chile. It’s all very bureaucratic and has a whiff of what you might expect from a stereotypical South American republic.

The view from our balcony as we passed the glaciers

But, back to the main event: to wake up to towering, snow-capped mountains is quite a thrill and then, emerging from behind an island, was visible the unmistakable tongue of blue and white ice of a glacier. We seemed so close and yet the temperature was 13.5 degrees - already over double what it was yesterday. How did glaciers form and why does the ice not melt? Charlie tells us that “more snow falls than melts higher up. Ice flows downhill to the warmer coast, so is continuously replaced.” Thanks, Charlie!

The glacier falls to the sea

Memories of Wordsworth’s “huge peak, black and huge” (The Prelude) come to me from A-level English as mountains in the Alberto de Agostini National Park emerge from behind others. Then, slowly, a big glacier coyly reveals itself and you realise that its tumbling blue ice reaches the sea where you are sailing. The texture of the ice looks like blue Edinburgh Rock or meringue and it’s hard to comprehend the amount of ice buried under the surface. Where it touches the water, fragments break away to melt in the fjord-like sea and a clear dividing line is evident between the meltwater and the fjord’s saltwater. 

Striking blue colour, even in grey, misty weather

We were in and out of the balcony door, sliding it back to go out and photograph then diving back inside when the cold got too much - we were, after all, still in our dressing gowns! We saw four major glaciers, named Holland, Italy, France and Romansch but, apparently, the best is yet to come. Darwin apparently saw his first glacier on The Beagle on 29th January 1833.

Water pouring from under the glacier and the distinctive dividing line between fresh and salt water

As each successive glacier appeared, so too the sense of wonder grew. Here was a massive cascade pouring from under the ice-sheet, tumbling down the mountainside at thousands of litres a minute and the noise of its falling could be heard on the ship, even by me! Then more great peaks, each seemingly to be larger than the previous one, loomed out of the mists and rain. One particularly large one was Mount Darwin which towers above most, but not all, of the whole range here at 2,438m (7,999 ft). The highest peak is one less-known, called Mount Shipton which is about 2,580m (8,460 ft), only latterly awarded the accolade of highest peak in Tierra del Fuego.

We know that in the coming days we shall see more glaciers as we begin our progress North up Chile’s western flank. We reached our southernmost point yesterday at Cape Horn, so now the climate should, slowly, begin to warm again - but not until we reach Northern Chile and Arica, which is on the edge of the Atacama Desert - the driest place on earth! This truly is the cruise that keeps on giving because, as each new wonder is revealed to us, so we are taken aback once more and have to pinch ourselves to believe that, yes, Gabs and Nick really are in Chile!

And now, today’s fun facts: since docking at Puerto Williams last night up until midday today, we have travelled 114 nautical miles at an average speed of 8.8 knots (slow, because we have been navigating in the Beagle Channel and the associated fjords). We have 176 nautical miles to go until Punta Arenas tomorrow and are currently sailing in water that is 150m deep. The weather is a comparatively mild 11 degrees C and water is 8 degrees. However, our comparison to Newcastle-upon-Tyne the other day still holds good in terms of comparative latitude, but the summer weather here is not comparable to that city. Weather is strongly influenced by Antarctica and the cold currents flowing up from the South. This afternoon we hit a bumpy stretch as we came out of the fjords and into the open sea for a couple of hours, before ducking back into other fjords on our way to Punta Arenas. No walk today because, after all the excitement of the glaciers, the weather has closed in and we have heavy mist, rain and of course, the swell. 

Tomorrow we dock at Punta Arenas and we are off on an expedition, weather permitting, that involves a very rickety, primitive-looking chairlift, followed by a downhill walk in the Andes. Plenty of layers, methinks, and a hiking stick!

One final point - the Deputy Captain did the Ting-Ting at midday today - most unusual - because the Captain was on a conference call to head office. We are naturally suspicious types and we wonder whether the worsening political situation in Peru is going to cause us to change our itinerary, which has two days in Lima. Watch this space.