Glacier Bay

Julie had a morning massage and then watched the sights from the stateroom balcony with commentary on the tv. Nick and Sue went up to the Crow’s Nest to take in the sights of Glacier Bay. Mary joined a bit later. It was super crowded. A park ranger gave commentary about the landscape and the Tlingit people who lived here. 

We learned that in the so-called Little Ice Age, a huge glacier advanced to the sea carving up the landscape and then retreated, forming Glacier Bay in its wake. Now there are several “smaller” glaciers in its place. 

First was Reid Glacier, which extends from Brady Ice Field. Very dirty looking - lots of moraines. We sailed past Gloomy Knob but without binoculars on (we were eating lunch), we did not see the mountain goats. 

A bear was spotted on the other side of the ship, but Sue and Nick didn’t see it. We did get to see a raft of otters floating in the water and some seals sunning themselves on one of the Bergie bits (the correct name of the smaller icebergs here). Mary said the bear was very tiny, even through binoculars. 

We saw the Grand Pacific Glacier that is a different type of Glacier that mostly looks like solid dirt and rocks. Then we spent an hour viewing Marjorie Glacier both from the observation deck and our stateroom balcony. It is about 0.85 miles wide with an ice face that is about 200 feet wide and about 200 feet above the waterline.  We were able to see several instances of calving. It made booming and cracking noises. 

We then sailed into the most picturesque scenery yet - gorgeous snow-peaked mountains against the bright blue sky and sea foam green water. As we approached Lamplugh Glacier, we were advised to be on the lookout for harbor seals. We sailed into Johns Hopkins inlet and saw the Johns Hopkins Glacier. Some parts of this glacier did not reach the water. On the beach we saw a small boat and 2 people walking. The people were the size of a thumbnail, with the massive glacier as a backdrop. 

We took in these sights from the observation deck and our stateroom balconies. We went to a presentation by one of the park rangers and Fred, a member of the Tlingit tribe. The ranger showed amazing photos of barnacles of all things. Fred was dressed in traditional garb and played a drum. He showed slides and told stories about his mother’s experiences with the glaciers. Sue found it too hypnotic and nodded off a couple times. 

We met up at the crow’s nest on the 11th floor - Nick, Sue and Julie all took the wrong elevator at first. When we found the place, we were rewarded with otter and whale sightings. Binoculars were needed to see most of the whales, but Sue did see one without them. After Nick retrieved the binoculars we were treated with sighting a pod of 6 - 8 orcas. They did not breach as dramatically as at Kenai Fjords, but it was still really cool to see them. 

We had a  great meal at the Canaletto restaurant on the ship (Sue had spaghetti with shrimp and clams; Mary had Oso buco; and Nick and Julie had a pork sausage ragu over short noodles). Some of us enjoyed a Frescobaldi Chianti with our meal. We then retreated to Mary and Julie’s stateroom balcony where we were delighted to see beautiful pink skies over the mountains. Tomorrow we visit Skagway where we have 2 shore excursions planned.