What is “Scenic Cruising” Anyway?

One of the big draws to this cruise was the “Scenic Cruising” in Chile along Glacier Alley, the Chilean Fjords, and around Puerto Montt.

            First, we must practice how to pronounce the word Glacier.

            To the uninitiated, you may think that it would sound like glay-shur.

                                                Hah!

                                                Since we are all cultured here and have all graduated (with Honors) from the Galactic University of Higher Learning, Earth Campus, and even though those credentials may be suspect, we should at least sound like we are snickery-smart! So, from now on we will pronounce the word that conjures up images of the Ice Planet of Hoth, as glaah-see-ur….. as in sounding like a graduate of Cambridge or Oxford.

Try it.

Glaaah-see-ur……

See?

Now, don’t you feel like going on Jeopardy?

                        Now that we are all so educated we also know that there are about 200,000 glaciers in the world and that the vast majority of them are in Antarctica and Greenland. And quite a few of us have taken advantage of the Field Trip and Outside Learning Opportunities for undergrads and have been on Expeditions, mainly to Alaska on one of those Sometimes Learning, Always Gambling, and Eating Fancy Floating Hotel Resorts that regularly ply those waters in the Summer. Some of us (Karen!) have even been to Antarctica to gather facts and souvenirs to bring back for Show ‘n Tell. (This is only for those who are working on their Doctorates in Penguinolgy and Glacierwatchingology.)

                        Our particular Field Trip was quite successful when it came to Glacial Inventory and V.E.M.B.S. (Very Early Morning Breakfast Snacks) The latter were needed because our Floating Classroom always came upon Items of Interest very early in the morning.

                        The first Big Item was the Amalia Glacier which comes right down into the fjord. This allowed the Ship to cruise as close to the Glacier as was permitted. Since we were the only ship there we were able to stay and actually perform a 360 degree turn as if there was an axis protruding from the center of the ship. The Amalia is about a half mile wider than the Mendenhall in Alaska (for comparison purposes) coming in at two miles wide and thirteen miles long. I mentioned that it sits on a fjord, one of the many in this part of Chile. Most “real” fjords exist only in Iceland, Greenland, New Zealand, Chile, and of course, Norway. There are specific criteria that pertains to fjords and their designation as such. They must be longer than they are wide, and the sides need to descend down into the water, with no real “beaches” or land protruding. Suffice to say that these waterways down here are considered the real deal and are quite spectacular in their own right. Throw in a few glaciers and we’ve got a real winner of a visit to this region.

                        I mentioned yesterday that getting the Posts written in a timely manner with all of the excursions and early morning “drive-bys” of Natural Wonders of Highly Significant Interest happening was hard to do. For example, the Amalia Glacier was booked for a 6:00 am arrival and even though we were scheduled to hang around for a bit, the excitement on board was palpable and most folks were lining the rails as we approached it. The rail up on Deck 16 was jammed three deep so I retreated to a more suitable position on Deck 7, technically the Promenade Deck.

The view was a little bit lower than from the top but there was practically no one there so I had the run of the rail and used that to my advantage as I did not need to jettison anyone overboard (and get thrown in the Brig for a third time!) There were small chunks of the glacier that had fallen off the main body. This process is called calving and is quite spectacular and dangerous when larger pieces let go of Mama. Luckily for us all we had were small, floating Bergie Bits, no large icebergs or anything dangerous.

                        The day after Punta Arenas whilst on our way to Ushuaia, the furthest south city in the world, we sailed through a slot called Glacier Alley where we saw five or so other glaciers in different states of being. Remember it’s the start of the summer season down here and/but there is still snow on the mountains even though those mountains are not even 3000 feet above sea level. This “event” commenced around 05:30 and was in full swing at 07:00. We passed glacier after glacier down here, some more spectacular than others, but that is to be expected. For those of you that have been on the Alaska Field Trip you will know what I mean!

                        That classic blue tint that is inherent to glaciers was present in some of them and I suspect that if we had a sunnier day then we would have seen even more. That bluish tint/look that is characteristic to glaciers comes from the light that “escapes” from the ice. Sunlight wavelength’s longer than blue tend to get trapped in the ice while the shorter, bluer wavelengths can wiggle through and escape to be “seen”. The examples are fascinating and kind of eerie in a way as they almost “glow” with that blueish tint. Think of the ice as assort of vice-principal prism/filter that separates the light’s wavelengths and lets the blue ones out for recess while holding all the others in for a detention. We don’t care because we like the Blue Kids better anyway!

                        The rest of the day is what this industry terms “Scenic Cruising” instead of another Day at Sea and we couldn’t agree more!

On to Ushuaia which I can neither pronounce correctly nor spell, so be prepared for another Phonics lesson!