Thursday, August 8, 2013

El Brujo Glacier/Pío XI Glacier

As I mentioned before, the geography of the Chilean fjords is very complicated (as you have seen on the maps I have attached to a couple of posts). Witness this description (from Wikipedia) of how to get to El Brujo Glacier: Peel Fjord is a fjord in Chile. It branches off from the Sarmiento Channel[1] and is located at 50°52′S 74°0′W.[2]The east side of the fjord has three side fjords, named Amalia, Asia and Calvo.[1] At the head of Amalia Fjord is Amalia Glacier. El Brujo Glacier is found in Asia Fjord, which is another glacier spilling from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Calvo Fjord splits into several arms towards which also descend glaciers.

We left the navigation to the crew and enjoyed the scenery. El Brujo was by far the bluest glacier we have ever seen--it was a bit surreal to see the colors and texture of this massive bit of ice. The Zodiacs were the vehicle of choice for this side trip to see some of nature's wonder!

Glacier fed waterfalls in the Amalia Fjord

El Brujo Glacier
Up close and personal
Crunching through the ice in the Zodiac
What a beauty!
Enjoying the ride with our new Aussie friend, Laurie

 

The Mother Ship patiently waiting for all the little rubber boats to return through the ice

 

The Pío XI Glacier (aka Brüggen Glacier) is the longest (40 miles) glacier in the southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica and is still advancing after a 3 mile growth spurt between 1945 and 1976. It covers a whopping 488 sq mi! This was the last large glacier that we would visit on this cruise and we were very thankful for the good weather we have experienced to date.

Approaching Pío XI Glacier at dawn
Pío XI Glacier
Glacial ice for the bartender!

 

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