Glacier Bay. I was here 18 years before, my first trip to Alaska. At that time, I couldn't imagine that I'd make several more for work, especially since I wasn't even in this job then. But Alaska is so incredible; I've been most fortunate. Most of the other stops on this trip did not overlap with that one. Maybe the places within Glacier Bay didn't either, but broadly speaking, I'd been here before....
As I've been "reclaiming" spaces and places, it's so interesting to me how easy it's been. Maybe because those memories aren't tainted to begin with. Maybe because the new memories are so different, and filled with wonderful people and experiences. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful.
Glacier Bay was first named so by Captain George Vancouver, as he encountered a massive glacier covering the whole region, extending out from what he also named Icy Strait. Now, 200 years later, this glacier, the Grand Pacific Glacier, has retreated more than 60 miles, leaving behind one of the most incredible landscapes in all of North America. Bays, inlets, glaciers, forest, meadows, bogs. The sciences of glaciology and forest succession have greatly benefited from this region. John Muir was here in between, and helped to popularize it. The park is more the 3.3 million acres in size, and is part of the Inside Passage UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had a whole day here, and the pleasure of the company of both a National Park Service ranger and a Tlingit cultural interpreter.
And so we were woken early by expedition leader Rab to come and see the most amazing sunrise. We were in the park, at the Johns Hopkins Glacier. That's right, Johns Hopkins. Who would have imagined?
What incredible alpenglow! This is a little after 6a.
The captain told me the last day that this trip had the most spectacular sunrises he'd yet seen in Alaska. I believe him; this was special.
And of all the things I DID have with me.... a JHU t-shirt! Turns out, one other passenger was an alumna, from the school for public health. It was chilly, but I figured I needed to do this. So the photographer was given my camera, and one of the passengers became my stylist to make sure the letters were straight.... Pretty funny. I think the crew and passengers both were highly amused that they had an alumna on board. What are the odds, after all? And the small glacier coming in on the left, just in front of Hopkins, is Gilman Glacier, named for the university's first president. Huh.
This time I caught the moon AND the reflection. Wow.
Then I went up to the bridge. The captain likes to keep an open bridge policy, but we'd had such rough weather and so much ice that he really hadn't been able to thus far. But this day he hoped to keep it open all day, and also hoped that folks would come visit.
He has pretty cool "toys" up there. The new systems really provide such robust tools for navigation, showing routes, depths, estimated time travel, all kinds of things. I was fascinated.
A close-up of the chart, showing Johns Hopkins Inlet and our present location.
As you would imagine, the windows on the bridge are pretty wonderful. It is a treat to be able to go and hang up there.
Then we visited Margerie Glacier in Tarr Inlet. Just across the way is the remains of the Grand Pacific Glacier, and about a mile from there is the Canadian border. I should note that the Hopkins Glacier is the only glacier that is advancing, or gaining mass each year. Margerie is the only one that is stable, neither losing nor gaining. All other glaciers are retreating. Sad.
Glaciers are pretty amazing. This one was constantly calving and sending off pieces, and here I captured a bit of spray as one chunk hit the water. John McPhee has talked about glaciers sounding like ginger ale, with a constant fizzy noise. I thought about that while listening to this.
Some blue ice too, from the compaction. It looks tiny, doesn't it?
Well, here's some scale. That's a huge Norwegian floating hotel for 3,000 passengers. Margerie Glacier actually is about one mile wide at this front point and more than 250 feet in height. Those pieces falling off? Some were probably the size of automobiles. So we took some group shots here--both the whole group and SI-- just before the cruise ship arrived and our quiet time here ended.
That morning I discovered that the space in the stern where all the divers' equipment was stored was a great bench for sitting, and I curled myself up there to watch the mountains drift by. I like to do this on train trips, when I'm on those old narrow-gauge trains with caboose cars. I find it very relaxing to watch where we've been unfold, rather than where we're going. At one point, I noticed that not only were there beautiful mountains, but also that the cirrus clouds were doing some lovely things. Then I realized that I'd been there for about 1.5 hours and I should get back to the group. Also, it was lunch time and I was surprisingly hungry for not having done much of anything all morning.
And after lunch, we had some great wildlife spotting, including humpback whales and mountain goats. Wow, do the binoculars make a big difference in looking at things! Along with the goats, we also saw bears and harbor porpoises at/near Gloomy Point. Towards sunset, we passed Marble Island, which has huge colonies of sea lions. And boy were they vocal! We could smell them too.... We also saw sea otters and lots of birds, including both tufted and horned puffins and surf scoters, in addition to the birds we'd seen previously on the trip.
After dinner we anchored at Bartlett Cove, the Park headquarters. There was the opportunity for some short hikes, and there was a year-in-pictures of the park that we were invited to see. Most folks did that, while several of the guides were able to catch up with friends and fellow guides.
One highlight here is Snow. She was a humpback whale that was struck and killed by a cruise ship. A horrible situation, but the outcome is somewhat positive: her skeleton was preserved and she is a teaching tool now, and the accident helped set numerous regulations for tourism in the park.
Yes, it's quite impressive.
Blurry, but the ship is pretty at night. What a difference from the big cruise ship!
And the day's map.
Then, we had an incredible treat. Conditions were right for northern lights, and the crew had been on the lookout. The passengers had voted; if they happened, Rab had permission to wake them all up with the intercom. Unbelievably, they happened, and it was only 10p! So we really didn't wake people up at all. And they were so worth it....
Northern lights, or aurora borealis, are linked with sunspot activity, and actually are solar particles that have been blown into the earth's magnetic fields. Generally they are about 60 or 70 miles above the surface of the earth, much much higher (about 10 times) than an airplane flies. Often they are green (from oxygen), sometimes red or yellow. Sometimes they are streaks, sometimes bands. Sometimes they "dance" across the sky.
Not my photo; I've copied it from general images on the web. I'm not sure if my SLR camera has an ISO setting high enough to capture this, being an old camera, but what I had with me certainly couldn't. However, this is a pretty good approximation of what we saw that night. Big bright green bands (no red or yellow) sweeping across the sky, and dancing and changing constantly. Folks who had seen them before were awed. It was absolutely remarkable.
So a pretty fabulous day! Another one. And we were trying not to think that the next would be our last aboard the Sea Bird.
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