Amalia Glacier

On a Saturday morning the Crown Princess reached the end of the Magellan Strait and turned to a northerly heading through the Pacific Ocean along the Chilean coastline. The temperatures were in the mid 40F (8C) with Force 5 winds of 18-24 mph and seas 6-9 feet (as per the Beaufort Scale for maritime).
This was certainly much calmer than we had experienced the day before. We were on day 36 of our 56 day journey and our travels were now focused on the Pacific side of South America.

On this particular day the ship was scheduled for a scenic cruise to the famous Amalia Glacier. To get to the glacier, it required us to temporarily exit the Pacific and wind our way through Nelson's Strait then into the Sarmiento Channel. Once we reached the glacier, which was our turnaround point, we headed back to the Pacific. This entire roundtrip passage would last all day and into the night until about 11:00 p.m.

That morning we went to the International Cafe for a visit with the friendly baristas, had our tea and coffee and slowly idled our way into the early day. One of the crew came up to us and asked us if we had "our photos taken with the penguins yet". Well, our last three ports (the Falkland Islands, Ushuaia and Punta Arenas) had created a lot of chatter on board amongst passengers and crew about penguins. In those ports, the opportunity to see those cute little waddlers were available in tours and a highlight that many passengers (and some crew) took advantage of, including us. Thinking they were talking about the previous ports, we were about to rattle on about our tour in the Falklands when another crew member came and asked us the same question. This time they pointed to the window in the Cafe overlooking the ocean. There we saw it - two tiny little paper penguins taped to the window. Funny and clever! So, we gave the penguins their photo moment.

Towards noon, Rick and I went up to Deck 15 in the back of the ship and found a seat in front of the floor to ceiling windows in the Adagio Bar. Around that time, the ship was sailing past small ice chunks in the water. The scenery was awe inspiring and unspoiled along the channels and islands comprising those Chilean fjords. To think that 10,000 years ago this entire area was covered in ice and was once known as the Patagonian Ice Fields. Dramatic rock formations and snow capped peaks towered in front of us. Captain Foster slowed the ship down. As we reached the Amalia Glacier around 3:30 p.m., the Crown Princess came to a near stop in front of the glacier. Rick and I dashed outside into the cold air to take photos. The ship SLOWLY turned 180 degrees using the thrusters, taking care not to create a wake that would cause a chunk of ice to move and hit the ship. Remember, only the smallest portion of ice is above the surface of the water. It is what is below the water that creates the concern. The silence was serene - I could hear the flag at the rear of the ship catching the ever so slight breeze.

  

  

  

Our ship retraced it's path back towards the Pacific Ocean. The following day was a day at sea as we followed a northerly path along the Chilean coastline to our next port of call Puerto Montt, Chile: South American Cruise 2014