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Published: March 16th 2012
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Iceberg
Love how it looks like a mountain in front of the mountains. Since my ankle was still very sore today, I wanted to take it easy and rest it for a day or two. I had given thought to a boat tour on the Lake to some other glaciers, so I went ahead and did it today. It was a nice sized catamaran and full of people. We first went to the Spegazzini Glacier. The day was sunny and beautiful for the most part. The clouds come and go around the mountains, causing it to be dark and overcast one minute, and sunny the next. Also, I wanted to mention the water in the lake. From El Calafate, it looks pretty blue, but it is really a milky-gray-blue color that is so hard to describe. The glaciers bring so much microscopic sediment into the lake that the sediment is suspended in the water. Light can't get through very well, so the color is odd and you can't see through it. It doesn't show very well in pictures, but take my word for it, it is unlike any water I have seen.
Anyhow, back to the glaciers. As we sailed on the lake, we went past icebergs that had broken off the glaciers.
Some were white colored, but many had the most beautiful shades of blue to them. From what I understand, they absorb all the colors of the spectrum, but blue, causing them to appear blue. I noticed that yesterday as well, but was so tired when I wrote this last night that I forgot to mention it. While we were in front of the Spegazzini glacier, several large ice chunks broke off. I didn't have my camera ready, so missed them which made me stop and think. Really Brendan, just because I didn't capture it with my camera, does that mean it didn't happen? Sometimes I forget that I have a built in memory of my own and can watch, observe and enjoy without having to see it through a camera screen. It made me stop and think about how I view things while I am on the road. So, the point is that I enjoyed hearing the thunder crack of the ice breaking off, seeing the splash as it hit the water and watching the waves from where it went into the water. It was a great sight to see. The Captain turned the boat around, giving us all a
chance to see as much as we wanted. Beside this glacier is another one higher on the mountain and obviously much smaller. Over many years, it had receded, as shown by a clear line of vegetation versus rock. I will post a picture. It is very interesting to see.
From there, we sailed up a narrow part of the lake to see the Upsala Glacier. This is the largest glacier in South America. Unfortunately, it has set off many many icebergs, so we were not able to get close enough to really see the glacier itself. The icebergs were very impressive though. The blue color changed throughout each one, and many had holes or grooves in them. It was a long 2 hour ride back to the dock where we met the bus back to Calafate. I enjoyed seeing the glaciers and icebergs, but somehow after yesterday it just wasn't as fulfilling. Perhaps they could have thrown us into kayaks and made us paddle around the icebergs? Nah, I think it was just fine sitting on the boat.
Tonight was spent organizing and packing. It was time to load all of my pictures onto a flash drive in
case my laptop crashes like last trip. My one digital camera card died today, saying "format error" Luckily I have everything from it on my computer, but there went the back up. I am a belt and suspenders kind of guy when it comes to my pictures. (Although I never actually wear suspenders.) Dinner was at a local brew pup kind of place. It was ok, but nothing special. Now I am back in the room and might actually get to bed at a decent hour tonight. Hope I don't shock my system by doing that. Ok, signing off from El Calafate. Up next, Ushuaia!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Beautiful waters
Sorry to hear about the photo chip but no loss so that is great.