Our approach to the Dawson Glacier was slow and methodical, weaving in and out of icebergs. Because of the density of the compacted glacial ice compared to water, only about 1/10th of an iceberg is seen above the surface. We didn’t see one as big as the one that sunk the titanic; but, we showed them a lot of respect anyway.

Dawson-Lambton glacier was named by British expedition leader, Ernest Shackleton, just over a hundred years ago.  He named it for Elizabeth Dawson-Lambton, a financial backer of his expeditions.  Seeing this rugged country, I tried to imagine what it must have been like to be an explorer around 1900, travelling by ship.   I really enjoyed being on a luxury liner holding a camera, hot chocolate and coffee and knowing that when I got too cold, my fabulous breakfast was waiting inside in a beautiful, warm restaurant.

The blue colors we captured with our camera were so exciting and so unexpected.  Sometimes the whole area was a brilliant turquoise and other times the translucent blues appeared out of  murky grey-green water.

I had to know:  why are glaciers blue?  Well…..the ice is so dense it absorbs every other color of the spectrum but blue.  So blue is what we see.  The crystalline structure strongly scatters blue light so we see a myriad of blues.  They were spectacular.

The captain described calving to us over the intercom system. It seemed everyone on board the ship was holding their breath, cameras at the ready, watching for the birth of an iceberg to happen right before our eyes.  We didn’t see one…..but it was so awe-inspiring just being that close to the glacier, we didn’t really care.

Happy Anniversary to us!