The water is filled with ice calved from a glacier. And, yes, the answer to the question, how many glaciers are there in Chile: 26,000. In the fjords headed by those glaciers, lots of ice for the Zodiacs to avoid. Often it felt like we were in that scene from Star Wars, the high speed chase swerving through the trees. Although we did visit one glacier that has been, for some unknown reason, stable, practically all of them have been very noticeably receding due to a combination of warming temperatures and less snow to feed the snow accumulation fields that feed the glaciers. The vertical black streaks in the glaciers are the result of the accumulated scrapings and scrubbings of rock from two glacial streams joining into a single glacier gouging out its path. The waterfall is, of course, the outlet for the substantial internal melting within the glacier. The finger or tooth-like appearance on the top of the glacier is due to its expansion when released from the compression of the surrounding rock.
From our Zodiacs or after clambering on shore, we saw quite a few endlessly fascinating glaciers and very up-close, all named for human beings just passing through. They really are: magnificent.
