Day 11 snapshots

Once again, the ship was moved overnight. In the morning, we were at Neko Harbor. Here, between glaciers coming down to the water were more Gentoo penguins. This parent and chick are together at feeding time. The chick seems more bulky than the parent. It is true. The chick still has its downy coat and must replace all of its down with watertight feathers before it can go into the water. That takes a lot of energy and its current fat will be turned into feathers.

From the shore, we walked a bit up one of the glaciers. Every once in a while we would hear a sound like a gunshot that echoed throughout the harbor. After one such sound we turned around to see a section of the face of a glacier across the way slide into the water with a great roar.

I was not quick enough on the draw to catch the glacier calving, but saw part of it and watched as the subsequent tidal wave broke on the near shore. I did catch some of the resultant debris surrounding the area where the huge chunk of ice and snow went down. I spent the rest of the time we were near glacier endings with one hand on my camera, waiting for the telltale crack of calving opportunity.

After lunch, we went to another nearby area called Paradise Bay. There is not very much exposed land at Paradise, only glaciers coming down and into the water.

We were fortunate to have a group of about twenty Japanese on the ship with us. Here is one Zodiac with Japanese at Paradise Bay with us. I must say that the icebergs in the bay were extraordinary to us and I took lots of pictures. The photographs don't do justice to the forms, the colors, the scale and the overall magnificence of these wonders.

With no point of reference and not having a stereoscopic view, it is impossible to tell the scale of this picture. You will have to accept that the face of this glacier is between 16 and 24 meters (48-72 feet) in height. This was not one of the highest of glacier faces in this bay.