Day 13 - Grey Glacier

---

Day 13 - Grey Glacier

It was an early start - 6am, which meant that we missed breakfast. We had instead, asked for a packed breakfast to be provided by the hotel.

Our companions for the trip, Roger and Lynne, came down after us, and i had already retrieved our breakfast. "Ive got beakfast", i said to Roger. "ill just get ours then", "No, ive got it all", "All in that one paper bag", "Yes...." and i waited until the bag was opened and they could appreciate the quality of the breakfast provided - one ham and cheese sandwich each and an orange. Lynne took this to reception and said "this is terrible", "i know" the receptionist replied, "thereś not even a drink, "i know" the receptionist replied....

What do you do? We got on the bus and our driver took us to the Grey Glacier Hotel which runs the boat trips to the glacier. When we arrived, the reception was not even open, but once it opened, we were straight in there booking in. We had to complete our passport numbers on a form and were issued a boarding card. We went and sat in the lounge area of the hotel and waited, and ordered a coffee whilst we waited. Roger and Lynne started to eat their breakfast, but were quickly stopped in their tracks by a hotel employee who objected to them eating their own food. "But its my breakfast!" Roger protested, and slyly continued to eat the sandwich from inside his backpack.

Once we were called forward to the boat, we made our way inside and were given a short introduction by one of the crew members. We decided the best place to be would be outside, and so made our way to the back of the boat It was a little breezy, but we had all brought sufficient warm gear to survive.

As we approached the first part of the glacier, we were amazed by itś sheer size. From the beach the previous day, it had seemed quite small, but up close it really was huge.

There were three faces to the glacier that we visited, each having its own unique qualities. The amazing blue colour eminating from inside the glacier was difficult to capure on the camera. The colour comes from the ice compaction, and the human eyes ability to see the colours of the light spectrum. The more compressed the ice, the less light passes through and the only colour the eye recognises is blue. Less compaction means the eye sees white and other colours.

One of the faces in particular had a really jagged top to it, which is caused by the glacier moving and finding places to move to. The other two faces had far smoother faces to them - no less impressive, just different. Once again, the Pisco Sour or a whiskey was served using a piece of ice caught from the glacier face.

All the time we were sailing, everyone was hoping that a huge chunk of ice would drop off the glacier face just as the camera was pointing at it. The boat did sail quite close to all three faces, before returning to the port, and we were collected from the car park and returned to the hotel.

We had asked for a late check out, which meant we had time to change and pack before we were being collected for the 1.5hr journey back to Puerto Natales, and back to the Costaustralius Hotel again.

On the way back, we had a little snooze, as the journey was pretty uneventful. We were pleased to see that the wind had dropped in Puerto Natales, meaning that there were considerably more people out and about. Our guide had warned us that the next dayś journey was very long, and there would not be anywhere to get any lunch, so we called at the supermarket to pick up some provisions. Then when considering something for tea, really we were a bit "meated out", so opted instead for pizza at a place with long wooden benches and a clay oven in the back. The pizzas were great, and a welcome change from just meat. We even managed a dessert!

We went back to the hotel, and had our welcome drink in one of the "snug" areas, consulting the guide book to read up on the days ahead.

---

Photos

Sunbathing Penguin Iceburg
ok if you've got a good imagination

Comments

[Tom Gallagher]

Grey Glacier
Kathryn & Russ how can you call this a holiday!!!! but I'm enjoying reading what you to are up to, see you when you both get back, Tom

[H.Gasgarth]

Cruise
Think you should go on a bigger boat next time. We dont have to wear life jackets all the time on our cruises.