We have had a lot of Â"first-timeÂ" experiences while in Laguna San Rafael. Dwyer, the captain on s/v Rascal, the other boat we were at the glacier with had on his bucket list to snow ski from his boat; I add the Â"snowÂ" in case there is any confusion since it is from his boat. Well I was to be the head photographer at the base of the glacier for the quest. Reina and I set out on our dinghy and Dwyer and his female guest, Jess, set out in their dinghy. We had to go about 2 miles to get close to the glacier. We were dodging icebergs the size of a 2 story house (and that was the part above the water) and got to within 1/4 mile of the glacier when I got worried about the pack ice. Reina was on the bow of the dinghy with the boat pole to fend off the small floating ice to avoid damaging the inflatable. The pack ice got so dense that I finally got worried enough to tell Dwyer that I would not go any further and the crazy bastard (Dwyer) in his soft bottom dinghy kept going.

After we bailed we decided to tie our dinghy to a moving berg and enjoyed a beer while listening to the shifting ice. The noise is like nothing you can imagine. It has the intensity of a close lighting strike with a much longer duration. A few sips of beer later we got to witness a massive chunk of ice, as tall as a 50 story building, fall off the face of the glacier. It sounded like a building imploding. The noise is incredibly loud as it breaks free from the glacier (calves). The next sound you hear is the impact with the water. If you can, visualize the impact of a sky scraper falling into the ocean and the sound it would make, add to that the subsequent splash and the wave that follows. Wait, the visual continues, there is a little delay in the subsequent sounds as the splash subsides. The next thing you see is the ice pack that is large and tightly packed close to the glacier comes to life. These large pieces that have separated earlier in the day are now being tossed about like a cork. The accompanying sound of the pack ice shifting is like hearing glass breaking.

Just to keep the show going....the next thing we experience after opening another beer is like nothing I expected. While relaxing in the sun, still tied to our own personal iceberg, we hear the now familiar cracking sound of ice shifting. The difference this time is that this sound came from a different direction than the glacier, it was behind us. A very large berg about 500 yards away was breaking into pieces. This happens when the bottom area melts and the berg becomes top-heavy. The 2 story tall, now broken, iceberg then decided to roll over. Let me tell you, this is every bit as violent as the "calving" pieces I described earlier but this time instead of a few second event this takes over ten seconds to complete. The quantity of water that is being lifted into the air as the berg is rotating is amazing. You are then presented with a beautiful gift, the prehistoric ice that has never been exposed to the air is now at the top of the berg. The ice is absolutely transparent and the color is the most amazing blue. It looks like there is a light shinning from inside. It is amazing.....

While all this was taking place, on our beer break, I was trying to locate Dwyer in the distance. I wanted to stay close in case he had a problem with his dinghy. We chilled for about two hours but had no sign of him. Since we did not plan on getting separated, we did not bring our portable VHF radios. We agreed that if Dwyer had a problem he could use his Delorme satellite messaging device he had on him and send a text to his brother who could then email us if he had a problem. With this in mind, we went back to Karma to check our email. No message, so no news is good news. A couple hours later I hear Dwyer approaching. The stories this guy can tell!!!! He had checked off another bucket list item. The ice pack broke up for him near shore. He was able to park his dinghy in a rocky protected area and hike up the side of the glacier that we had looked at previous. He and Jess then put on their crampons (sharp ice climbing things you attach to you boots) and packed all their gear up the smooth ice sheet to the side of the glacier and proceeded to ski down. I am not lying; this guy really did this stuff!!! I have pics for the blog to show all of you.