On our second day in El Calafate, we went on an all day cruise to see the other glaciers. It was supposed to be an all day cruise and was to include going to the Upsala glacier which is the largest of the glaciers. However, Upsala had different plans. Approximately 10 days prior to our visit, a piece 2 - 3 kilometers wide broke off the face of the Upsala glacier. To put that into US terms, 3 kilometers is just under 2 miles. That means a piece of ice approximately 1 1/2 miles wide and in parts over 30 feet higher than the water level broke off the glacier and started moving pushed by the wind and the current. If you consider that only about 15% of the iceberg is above water and 85% is below the surface then some of these icebergs went down almost 200 feet below the surface of the water.
Look at the icebergs in the picture below left. (That's Granny looking out the window.) The picture below right shows the same icebergs as we are passing them.
Below are two of the larger icebergs we saw on our boat ride. Each one is probably 20 - 30 feet high. If we apply the 15% above water rule, that would mean that there are about 170 feet of iceberg below the surface.
