Trips

Wed., 12/31/14 – Via Australis
        The Chilean fjords are owned by Chile and the waterways are considered intracoastal so only ships and boats flying a Chilean flag and are registered in Chile can navigate them – like our Eastern intracoastal seaway. As a result, we have this part of Patagonia to ourselves.  We passed our sister ship run by the same company and have seen one private sailboat.  There are no TV’s on our ship, no cell phone or Internet connections, and only the ship’s mobile satellite phone.  It is a very peaceful cruise.
        This morning we sailed along in the Beagle Channel and disembarked at the Pia Fjord to go see the Pia Glacier, perhaps the largest in South America.  It is one that is calving but still growing from the Darwin Ice Field.  We walked along a monolithic rock across from the glacier terminus and watched several chunks calve off with the typical “gunshot” crack.  The approach to the glacier was a zodiac ride through lots of small growlers – floating ice chunks.  Then we took a “difficult” hike through mud and slippery wet rock to a higher viewpoint of the Pia Glacier.  The sky lifted enough to be able to see some of the huge and high (deep) Darwin Ice Field above the terminus.  The hike was a highlight and Marge and I had no trouble traversing it.

Landing at Pia Glacier to take a hike	Pia Glacier in the Pia Fjord
Pia Glacier	Pia Glacier - beautiful blue ice
Pia Glacier	Pia Glacier calving
Via Australis out in the Fjord	Waterfall and growlers
After lunch our ship cruised into the Garibaldi Fjord and inched up closer to the Garibaldi Glacier.  We went up on the open top deck and enjoyed the view of another large and active glacier.  It was pleasant outside.  It was not raining and the wind was very calm.  The water was flat but filed with ice chunks (growlers).
Darwin Ice Field	Growlers in Garibaldi Fjord
Garibaldi Glacier and Garibaldi Fjord	Garibaldi Glacier
Waterfall in Garibaldi Fjord	Waterfalls in Garibaldi Fjord
After dinner, Marge went up on the top deck to photograph the sunset and some of the beautiful snow covered peaks we could barely see in the distance.         At 11:45 Gale went up to the lounge to join the party.  At 0:00 hours, Berenice gave us all grapes and lentils to eat.  It is her Argentinean New Year’s tradition.  I hope it works for me like pickled herring is supposed to.
Sunset on the Andes	Sunset on the Andes
Sunset on the Andes	One of the higher peaks of the Andes
With the telephoto lens
Thurs., 1/1/15 – Happy New Year – Via Australis        At 9:30 OAT boarded two zodiacs (it was so nice not to have other travelers horning in on our group) and rode through the ice in Chico Sound to look at the Piloto and Nena Glaciers.  Nena is dying and receding and Piloto is active and a very pretty ice blue.  Both originate from the Southern Ice Field.  At the end of the fjord carved by these two glaciers is a rookery of Emperor cormorants.   We were taken quite close to them and watched them feeding their two-week-old chicks in their grass and guano nests.  It smelled wonderful!  Cormorants are not efficient flyers so they do not migrate.  They stay here on the rocks all year eating fish and krill.  On the way back to the ship we stopped at the wonderful long cascades of a waterfall sliding down the rock face from the ice field.  Back at the ship we had more hot chocolate with optional whiskey.
Nena Glacier	Piloto Glacier
Piloto Glacier	Ice in the water
Nesting Emperor Cormorants	Nesting Emperor Cormorants
Enjoying the Zodiac ride at Piloto Glacier	Enjoying the Zodiac ride at Piloto Glacier
Waterfall
At 3:30 we got ready to disembark at the Aguila Glacier in Agostini Sound.  We walked on the pebble beach to get very near the glacier.  The Chico Sound has eight glaciers and some impressive rocky peaks in the Darwin Mountain Range.  Next to the pebble beach were low plants and bushes and then a tangled mass of lenga trees.  They formed a nice contrast to the glacier.  The misty rain of the morning had stopped and we even had patches of blue sky and only a slight breeze.  It reached 55° this afternoon.
Aguila Glacier	Beach and lenga trees
Mussels on the rocky beach	Hole in shell bored by Oyster drill snail
Agostini Sound - Darwin Mountain Range - Mount Sarmiento	Agostini Sound - Darwin Mountain Range - Mount Buckland
Aguila Glacier	Aguila Glacier
Aguila Glacier	Aguila Glacier
Aguila Glacier	More hot chocolate and whisky made the ride back to the ship very enjoyable.

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