SLICK ROCKS AND SLICKER SIGHTINGS
The Pia Glacier was a more exciting land experience. Our last afternoon aboard the Via Australis, wrapped heavily in rain gear, 12 of us set out in a zodiac in a chilly rain across Pia Bay to visit the Pia Glacier. We had been cautioned to don waterproof boots and rain gear, good advice under the circumstances.
We landed on a slick black rock ledge of an island. To make it onto shore we had to hop off the boat and scramble over a makeshift wooden landing bridge set up by the boat crew standing by. The crew had already rolled out a red carpet. This unexpected luxury helped us make it more easily over the slick black rocky surface to a mud filled path that snaked up the hill.
We hiked to the top of the island. There our guide motioned for us to squat down on any comfortable flat rock to listen to his talk and watch for a calving on the Pia Glacier.
It was worth the relative discomfort. We had an eagle-eye view of the glacier facing us just a short distance across the bay. We listened and watched for the first display of calving. We didn't have long to wait. A reverberating clap of thunder accompanied the avalanche of ice that plummeted down from the face of the glacier to cast wide ripples across the slate grey water. After each icy display, I sat silently, peering slowly from left to right across the panorama. Catching a calving at its very starting moment called for patience and silence, but it was worth the wait. We witnessed several huge displays of falling ice that afternoon.
Finally, the cold began to seep into our bones, and our guide signaled our departure. Awaiting us at the bottom of the slippery path, the Via Australis staff had been hard at work breaking up an iceberg into tiny chunks of ice. Waiting cups filled with glacial ice and whisky or hot chocolate for the non-drinkers brought welcome heat to the chilled but cheerful hikers to end a successful calving-watch that afternoon.
[Go to Patagonia Part Ten]
