Chillin' In Chilean Fjord
A cruise through the breathtaking Chilean fjords is a must on a South American trip.
Castro, Los Lagos, Chile Thursday January 26, 2017
Glacier Alley -Charles Darwin documented this area during his voyage of discovery aboard the HMS Beagle (1831–1836). Darwin described how the “beryl blue” color of the glaciers here contrasted with the foreboding landscape of rock, mist, and steel grey water.
Glacier Alley is a stretch of the 150-mile long Beagle Channel in Southern Chile which is made up of five tidewater glaciers spilling from the huge Patagonian Ice Field sprawled across the snow-capped Darwin Range. Darwin Ice Field covers 2,500 square kilometers of Isla Grande, the largest island in the archipelago of Tierra Del Fuego. The icefields creates the tidewater glaciers that cascade down to the channel.
Tidewater means the glacier flows into a body of water such as ocean or lake into which it calves icebergs. The Beagle Glaciers were named after five (5) European countries by the 19th century explorers who documented the region. They are named Holanda (Holland), Italia ( Italy), Francia (France), Alemania (Germany and Romanche. The five (5) glaciers differ in look but they all provide a breathtaking backdrop while we are cruising through the Beagle Channel waterway. The channel is named after its voyage, made by the HMS Beagle, with the Naturalist, Charles Darwin on his way to the Galapagos Islands. The five glaciers are all characterized by its breathtaking scenery and for being one of the most important tourist attraction in South America.
Further along the Chilean coast, lies a stretch of wild and untouched territory where the mountains meet the ocean, creating a network of fjords. Here sub-Antarctic forestlands and tidewater glaciers hug the deep icy waters, providing sanctuaries for all manner of wildlife, including rare Chilean dolphins, humpback whales, seals, and Andean condors.
A very close look at the glaciers dramatic rock-like formations and its spectacular bluish color.