Friday | May 20th

Unbelievable shooter produced massive ice-berg. The face of the glacier is 200-300 feet above the sea level and another couple hundred feet below sea level. Just like a cow drops a calf during birth, a glacier dropping ice is called calving. Below sea level a calving event is known as a “shooter”. The brilliant dense ice is a dramatic blue and often greenish in appearance. Within an hour or so, the face of the ice-berg shows signs of micro-fractures, allowing air to penetrate within the matrix of frozen ice, thereby creating a more whitish appearance, not unlike that of a waterfall. Why is that you may ask? Trapped air bubbles are convex in shape, thereby reflecting all the light spectrum, making it appear white.

Stunning mountain scenery on the way back. During our usual dinner meeting on the top deck in the mid-50 degree Fahrenheit weather, I spotted a spectacular avalanche cascading down a Half-Dome like cliff face 5000 vertical feet above our fjord. The pure white snow looked like a frozen waterfall against the granitic peak. Speaking of which: Much of the geology in this area has gneisse (pronounced “nice”) rocks…do not take them form granite (bad joke relating the former metamorphic vs. the latter intrusive igneous in origin).

We enjoy a delightful sunset and are all so excited about the marvelous times we have had during our two week voyage that unfortunately ends tomorrow.

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