Everyone awoke excited to get started, despite the rain. While the first couple of days were rain days, I think this was a blessing in disguise; I'm convinced that had we had sun first, a good number of participants would have stayed on the boat and skipped some excursions. As it was, everyone donned their rain gear and their life jackets, and boarded the zodiacs to better explore Endicott Arm, a fjord of about 30 miles into this glacial coastal mountain region. And despite the cold and rain, they were all really glad they did. Especially the first day--when do you get to see blue blue ice like this?!?
Each day the naturalists would mark the map for where we'd been.
Yes, really blue ice. The deeper the blue, the more compact the ice.
Haha! We saw a little fishy frozen into the ice. Poor thing.
The bay was just full of ice chunks. However, without our smaller boat, we wouldn't be here at all.
And the zodiacs mean getting up close and personal. How spectacular is this!
Water just cascading into the bay off the peaks.
And the glacier itself. This is Dawes Glacier. At this point, at the head, the fjord is narrow and steep.
Most of this rock is granite. I think the intrusions are plutonic quartz. It's stunningly beautiful.
Hehe. Icebergs on top of icebergs! The base is ice, just with a layer of silt over the top. It's like someone left a sculpture....
Some of the icebergs are quite large; they can be the size of city buildings. Most are not this blue. But I love it.
Some have amazing shapes. Some had harbor seals hanging out on them.
And some have holes through which you can see other icebergs! Actually, this was the only one like this we saw. And it's incredibly hard to get a decent, non-blurry photo looking through an iceberg hole while it's raining and your zodiac is bouncing in the waves.
Given the cold of the glacier and the icy rain in our faces, the ship sent out the cocoa boat--hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps for everyone! And the crew manning that zodiac got to wear Viking hats. Serious fun.
After a warming lunch, we bundled back into our rain gear (or wet clothes as the case may be) and back into the zodiacs in order to visit one of the smallest and most remote fjords in the entire region, Ford's Terror.
This spectacular place is named for the explorer who did not heed the local Native populations and got caught in the ginormous tidal surges at the entrance and was trapped for hours. Our group went in with the tide and came out again with the tide. It's rare to be here, and we had great timing.
And it was amazing! The cliffs, the water, the sound.... Complete sensory overload for me.
Here comes part of our group.
Each zodiac holds about eight people and the driver. Some of the naturalists drive too, some use a driver. See how close we can get!
Our boat was a little late getting back to the ship and changing out for the "odd" cabins, because we had harbor porpoises playing in our wake! John asked to slow us down because usually they are very shy and will not engage with boats and people. Given that this was our first real encounter with wildlife, and that the behavior was so unusual, well, small ship cruising allows for some flexibility.
Goodness it was beautiful.
So, an incredible day, despite the cold and wet. I got to touch glacial ice! And I learned a lot about my gear, what made it and what didn't. My waterproof pants? Not so much. My hat, missing, so I had to buy one on the ship. My poncho to protect my not-so-waterproof-anymore jacket? Worked, but not full-sleeved. My waterproof gloves? Those I knew I didn't have. My thermal underwear? Also waiting for me at home in that pile. I did have lots of good warm socks though, and with the rented AK boots, my feet were dry and warm. The warm shower before dinner was so nice....
And each evening there was something. Usually cocktail hour would begin around 6p, and hors d'oeuvres would be served. Around 6:30p was recap, where the naturalists talked about the various excursions and highlights of the day, including animal behavior or local custom. There usually was a preview of the next day too. Then dinner about 7:00p. Most folks went to bed early, which surprised me. But they were full days that started early.
In any case, the next day was one of our few port calls, Petersburg. One guest was hoping for a luggage delivery. And I had some shopping to do because who knew for how long the rain would continue?
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