Glaciers and Fjords Near the Strait of Magellan

At Garibaldi Glacier, the Purser of the National Geographic Explorer waited for the Zodiac cruises with hot chocolate.

We are home from Patagonia with our hundreds of photos and fantastic memories of a remarkable trip. Our ship spent one day moving through the fjords and glaciers of Tierra del Fuego and the Beagle Channel. Both morning and afternoon, we boarded inflatable boats -- Zodiacs -- and explored the icy waters and very blue faces of two glaciers.

Garibaldi Glacier from the ship's bow.

The walls of the glacier are steep, with interesting trees and small streams falling down the cliff faces.

As we left the glacier, the captain (a bird lover!) caught sight of this Andean condor
on the shore just beyond the ship. 

The Romanche Glacier from the Zodiac.

Ashy-headed geese along the shore quite near the glacier.

While we were looking at the glacier and searching for birds, many of our fellow-passengers kayaked in the cold waters.
The wind came up and quite a few of the kayaks had to be towed back to the ship. Our Zodiac towed these friends who
almost made it to the ship but then were blown right back downwind.