Garibaldi Fjord - Chile

Today we arrived at Garibaldi Fjord in Chile. We sailed around the southern tip of South America last night and arrived early in the morning. It started out as a rainy day, but quickly turned into a sunny, warm-ish (low 40's) day.
We went out on a Zodiac at 10 in the morning and did not have to wear all the layers that we did in Antarctica. They took us out into the small glacial ice and as near as possible to the shore to see gulls and Sea Lions. The Fjord is a valley cut between mountains in the Darwin Mountain Range. We saw gulls, sea lions lying along the edge of the water, waterfalls and ice-capped mountains.
We took a second Zodiac out later on and were able to see more birds, sea lions and jellyfish. The Zodiacs are not large enough to make it to the glacier. They have to stay out in the glacial ice fields and bay formed by the melting glacier.
Our last excursion was on the Special OPs boat. It is much larger and sturdier. We were able to make it to the Ventisquero Glacier at the end of the fjord. Since the weather was warmer than earlier in the day, the ice field was not as packed and we were some of the lucky few that actually made it to the mouth of the glacier. Along the way we saw more gulls again, a colony of sea lions and more beautiful high mountains with waterfalls and snow / ice covered tops. What a beautiful start to our tour of the Chilean Fjords.Read more