We turned up a thin fjord toward a glacier.The glacier was around a few bends but I was still excited. We motored up the channel toward what looked like one big white mass that turned out to be small icebergs, known as bergey bits. As we drew nearer, chunks of ice drifted past.The ice got denser and Big Jack went to the bow to warn Daddy, who was steering, about any ice we might hit. Several minutes later, we were in the ice floes. They surrounded us. I had never seen anything like the ice before. Chunks from as big as a chicken's egg to the size of a car drifted very slowly. We went very slowly as well so we would have plenty of warning before a piece of ice hit us. The ice came in all shapes. Not one was the same as another. Some had jagged and pointy edges, some had smooth and rounded edges. Some bobbed under the surface (usually the smaller ones), others rode high on the water (usually the bigger ones). We stopped the engine for a couple of minutes when we were in the middle of the pack of ice chunks. We could here a crackling from the ice. I think it was the ice breaking and small air bubbles coming up or the water lapping at the floes. The ice was so cool but I did not know that the day would get 100 times better.
We continued motoring toward the glacier. We came to the base of it and anchored. The glacier loomed in front of us. All of the pretty peaks above it were coated in ice and snow. At the bottom of the peaks, jagged and tall columns of ice rose, giving the glacier a threatening look. It was blue and white and it came all the way down from the high peaks. Ice and snow were everywhere up the 2500 meter tall mountain. Another thing about the glacier is the sound of falling ice. All through yesterday a rumbling sound, like that of thunder, would break out and all five of us would look up at the glacier. Once or twice I caught a glimpse of falling ice or an avalanche of snow. The first glacier we saw a few weeks ago was quite wide and between two mountains. This one was much taller and appeared to be creeping down the side of the mountain. It was amazing.
After we watched the glacier for a while, we went into an inlet where we anchored for the night with the glacier in the background. The five of us went on a brief hike then came back to the gravel beach. Daddy, after making a shallow hole, instructed Porter and me on what sticks we needed to make a beach fire. Daddy lit the dry grass I had collected and the fire started to crackle. It was a very smokey fire due to the damp sticks we had gathered. Mama had collected food, layers, and eating utensils from the boat and she was back.The dancing fire was now a large size and the three adults put potatoes wrapped in tin foil and bread dough in a fry-bake in the fire coals. They also put beside the fire, on a flat stone, two cans of beef stew. There was still a good amount of bread dough left and we put the remainder of it around sticks and roasted it over the fire. Stew, potatoes, and bread made a satisfying and delicious dinner.
The five of us chatted and played with the fire. Porter and I amused ourselves by burning one end of a stick and using the hot coal to draw on flat stones. I drew two cave men hunting. We would burn the images into the stone and admire our handy work. We finally tossed all the sticks into the fire and let the flames burn themselves out. The fire was low when the day got even better. The moon. It rose above the glacier peaks, nearly full. The blue cloudless sky became alight with colors and the glacier lit up.The snow at the top was orange and, striped with shadow, the ice was purple. The fire, the moon, the glacier, the lights, and the sky made the wonderful evening almost too much to take in. I will never forget it.
It had been a nearly perfect day. It was like bacon for breakfast: it cannot get any better than this! -Jack Rabbit
Ed. Note: The area the Rabbit is describing is called Seno Pia and the glacier is called Ventisquerio Romanche. Our anchorage was 54°47.8'S 69°37.8'W
superb!
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