February 20, 2014

We’ve been sailing north for 2 days through the Chilean Fjords.  Our first day was picture perfect with the sun glistening on the 5 glaciers we passed.  The 2^nd day was just the opposite with grey skies, fog and rain.  Our destination was the 101,000-acre Parque Nacional Laguna San Rafael to see one of the 19 glaciers in the park - the San Valentin glacier.  At almost 200feet tall, it fronts Monte San Valentin (over 13,300 ft high) – the highest peak in the southern Andes.  Yesterday, our ship anchors in a lagoon and a catamaran comes along side to us to board. During the day there will be a total of 4 trips so everyone gets an opportunity to view the glacier.  We are assigned 11:30AM departure.  We’re warned that skies are nearly always overcast but today we have one of those rare sunny days and the cobalt blue colors from the pieces that have calved from the glacier twinkle with every shade of blue imagined.  As we approach the glacier, we begin to hear “thunder” – the birds start to fly in swarms and small bubbles come to the surface right in front of the glacier.  Cameras at the ready and all of a sudden – the thunder gets louder and pieces drop into the water.  We could stay all day but others are waiting for their turn so we return to the ship. 

We continued through the maze of fjords last night to arrive Puerto Chacabuco – usually the jumping point for campers and boating to visit Laguna San Rafael.  The port is only about 2000 people so 3 of us hire a cab to go 20 minutes into Port Aisen – population about 5000.  The scenery along the road with the snow-capped mountains as a back drop is stunning.  We have just enough time to take a few pictures before returning to our tender to get back on the ship. 

Tomorrow we arrive our last port – Port Montt – another day at sea – and before we know it – time to return home from Santiago.