These had broken off the glacier and had been blown by the ever present wind down to the bottom of the lake where the boat trip started from.
We transferred by small boat off a pontoon out to the main boat. It was quite large, about 40ft and when full took about 50 people. This trip runs several times a day, but is often cancelled in the later part of the day due to the wind. It is not uncommon for this area to receive 100mph winds!
The trip lasted about three hours. One hour each way and an hour at the glaciers. The Grey Glacier is actually divided in two, East and West. The East is smaller, but equally as impressive as its bigger brother.
The boat gets within 50 metres of the edge of each glacier, close enough to appreciate the size, colour, shapes and beauty.
The colour is an amazing blue, turquoise and white in varying and various shades. The shapes are carved by wind and water and are smooth, jagged and rounded all at the same time. The size varies in height, but the average must be around 75 metres, but some of the jaggered peaks rose well above that.
After visiting both glaciers we headed back, warmed by a glass of whisky over glacial ice! As we got back to the pontoon there were two condors, sheltering from the wind on their nest above the boat. You really got to see how large these birds are.
Back on dry land we headed for several view points of the Devil's Crown. We were fortunate with the weather as it turned sunny with big fluffy clouds which blew past the mountain on a tremendous wind. Several times we had to sit down to prevent being blown off our feet. Clare was actually blown over whilst in the process of trying to shelter from the wind. The gusts were probably in the region of 80 mph and this wind stayed with us as we travelled around the various view points.
We stopped at some water falls and witnessed the power of the water swollen by the rain we had had the previous day. Back on the bus between stops, Emi served up pisco sours to help the day along!
Shortly afterwards we stopped to view a group of 16 condors flying and soaring above the grassy tundra. They were amazing to watch and marvel at thier size and grace of movement, using the wind to best affect.
Further on we saw some flamigoes feeding at another glacial lake. They looked beautiful in the sun gracefully striding along the shoreline.
Finally we made our way back to Punta Natales for a brief overnight stay, before we start our journey back to Santiago via Punta Arenas.
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