We started this morning navigating the narrow Garibaldi Fiord. The berg bits scattered in the water were giving us clues of what lay ahead at the end of this deep valley: the Garibaldi Glacier!
This deep u-shaped valley has been sculpted by a very active tidewater glacier. Right now this glacier is surging, growing into the narrow valley and eroding the mountains that surround it. We boarded our Zodiacs to get closer to the glacier and explore the tall mountains around, we were all amazed by the constant calving and the beautiful ice covering the surface of the sea.
Long streams and waterfalls mark the rock walls and feed the green hanging forests that cover everything to the very edge of the water. The magnificent southern beech forests serve as a green frame to the immense ice wall at the end of the fiord.
We spotted an Andean condor flying above us and we received a very special treat from our crew. In the middle of the floating ice, a Zodiac serving hot cocoa was there to greet us. The sun came out around noon, crowning a magnificent morning with a rainbow.
After lunch we started heading to our next destination, Karukinka Park. During our sailing we had two very interesting lectures from our staff onboard. Peter Wilson gave a lecture on Darwin and his voyage to Patagonia onboard Beagle. Also, we learned more about Karukinka Park and the conservation effort being done in the area through the Wildlife Conservation Society representative travelling with us, Rodrigo Munzenmayer.
