....the scale of it all....

...so this glacier that you see above is over 20 km wide/long.... (some can be 25/30km)
The scale of this place takes my breath each day. In the Arctic, we encountered vistas and seas like this, but this seems endless. Without start or end....you imagine that this is now the state of the whole planet! Time, despite being under such time pressures here for many many reasons, seems irrelevant, meaningless, like it is too small somehow. Words too I'm afraid!!

This stunning photograph is taken by John from the landing site. After a couple of hours with the penguins I am taken on a solo zodiac run with a very interesting glaciologist; Sanna. We search the bay for safe icebergs where we can pull up close and anchor with only minimal risk of it turning. (For those of you reading who don't already know let me digress to say that about only 10% of an iceberg is visible above the water. The rest is underneath and can be either attached to the sea floor or floating above it. Either way they are constantly and very gradually turning/moving. There are of course signs as to the state of an iceberg, which is what Sanna is looking for, but there are also many factors that can alter that state....and quickly. In wild places like this everything changes extremely quickly and to the untrained eye/ear without warning. (I remember being really effected by this in the Arctic and am pulled back to that state of readiness here. If I had heckles.....they would be up!!!!) I am both exhilarated by the thought of getting so close to these beautiful, strange, silk islands and a little terrified about all of the unknowns of this place. In the cold too you atone to your breathing more. I am aware of a gathering speed and try to pull things back and focus on the sound.
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The final image above is us pulling away after quite a long time where we actually anchored ourselves to this beauty. You will also see the anchor and perhaps even get a sense of the mass ice below the surface from the images. We were actually sitting above an ice shelf, which changed the sound quite a bit. I heard stronger bass movement and pops than ever before as the bergs chatted and I think complained about the boat hovering above their space! Towards the end and after moving to a new location to try to escape the zodiacs, I heard a new murmuring from the ice that was extremely conversational. Wonderful. For this you'll have to wait for the 1st new commission with RTÉ Concert Orchestra!