Actually set an alarm today for 0530. Why you ask? The ship arrived in Glacier Bay at 5 a.m. The adult Koi made their way to one of the observation decks as the sun was rising. It was chilly, and unfortunately the fog was too thick to see much at that point.
The fog cleared away as the sun rose higher, revealing more horrible scenery as the shipped turned deeper into the bay.
The rest of the day was mostly spent by the windows next to the pool. The view was good, with quick access to hot tea and coffee when we got chilly (after they opened the retractable roof above the pool).
Rangers from the National Parks Service joined us onboard. They were able to spot a brown bear and mountain goats on the shore as we passed, but neither us nor the couple next to us with binoculars were able to locate them. (Those NPS staff have super vision!). There were also some whale spouts, but they were too far away to get pictures.
We did see a sea otter! And then another sea otter. And then… we’ll just say it was a veritable procession of sea otters and leave it there.
Due to an unexpected number of bergy bits and growlers (yes, those really are the terms for sub-iceberg-sized chunks), the captain and NPS changed plans and routed the ship to Johns Hopkins Glacier.
You can almost make out the deep blue that characterizes glacial ice, due to the compressive force leading to significantly increased density with less trapped gases compared to “normal” ice. This density reflects blue light.
On the way out of Glacier Bay, we saw about 20 more sea otters, a few seals, and several surfacing humpback whales (none of which were close enough for photos with an IPhone, though).
Another rough day in the Gulf of Alaska…
The last highlight of the trip was Harvard Glacier in College Fjord. I’m not sure it’s possible to describe a tidewater glacier in words. The immense size, the brilliant blue ice, the chill radiating off the glacier, and the periodic report thunder-like report of pieces calving off the face of the glacier and plummeting to the water are hard to envision. The “bergy bits” also make noise as they grind past the hull.
Just for reference, here is another shot of the boat at the end of the last video. Hard to say, but my best guess is it’s at least 30 feet long. And the boat isn’t very close to the glacier. The face of the glacier rises 300-400 feet above the water.
The cruise wound down as we left College fjord and Chugach National Forest. Due to incoming weather, the captain brought us into Whittier ahead of schedule, but the weather held off long enough for one more beautiful sunset.
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