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Chile and Easter Island

Glaciar Dickson and Cerro Cubo in the background.

Our visit to Torres del Paine National park the weather was cold. Trekking each day required layers of warm clothing. We were so lucky to dodge several rain storms in the area.

Valparaíso played an important geopolitical role in the second half of the 19th century, when the city served as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by crossing the Straits of Magellan. Valparaíso mushroomed during its golden age, as a magnet for European immigrants, when the city was known by international sailors as "Little San Francisco" and "The Jewel of the Pacific".In 2003, the historic quarter of Valparaíso was declared a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.

Puerto Natales is a city in Chilean Patagonia. It is the capital of both the commune of Natales and the province of Última Esperanza, one of the four provinces that make up the Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region in the southernmost part of Chile. Puerto Natales is the only city in the province. It is located 153 miles northwest of Punta Arenas. It is the final passenger port of call for the Navimag ferry sailing from Puerto Montt into the Señoret Channel as well as the primary transit point for travelers to Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.

I loved this promotion for Puerto Natales on a sign walking around town.

We boarded the MS Skorpios III, our home for three nights as we cruise the Chilean fjords. This family owned vessel is uniquely designed with a reinforced hull for navigating ice and a small size for treading through the narrow fjords and bays.

We depart Puerto Natales and sail through the Kirke Narrows toward Bernardo O"Higgins National Park, home to the furthest flows of the massive Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

Our ship is the only one that sails this particular route following the path of Darwin and FitzRoy.

Expedition teams have only crossed the full length of the ice field once, and parts remain unvisited.

Valparaíso is a major city, seaport, and educational center in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. Greater Valparaíso is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about 120 km northwest of Santiago by road and is one of the South Pacific's most important seaports. Valparaíso is the capital of Chile's third most populated administrative region and has been the headquarters for the Chilean National Congress since 1990. Valparaíso has seven universities.

Calving, is the breaking of ice chunks from the edge of a glacier. It is a form of ice ablation or ice disruption and is normally caused by the glacier expanding.

Every slip of land we've traveled in Chile was once covered by the Patagonian Ice sheet which stretched all the way to the Andes. The remaining southern Patagonian Ice field still sprawls nearly 5,000 square miles.

We disembalk on a nearby beach for a walk across sand and rocks to get a better look at Amalia glacier.

A view point to see the Amalia glacier.

Amalia Glacier, also known as Skua Glacier, is a tidewater glacier located in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park on the edge of the Sarmiento Channel. The glacier originates in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. From 1945 to 1986, its terminus retreated 4.3 miles, being, along with the recession of the O'Higgins Glacier, the most dramatic retreat of the glaciers of the mentioned ice field during that period.

These are 6foot waves coming from a calving.

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