Day 24 (2nd September) Glacier Bay

Today we spent the day sailing through the beautiful Glacier Bay. The Park rangers boarded the ship around 6.30am. During the day they would make a number of presentations in regard to what we were viewing and some of the history of the area.

The Tlingit people lived in Glacier Bay on the plains below the mountain ranges. In 1680 an unprecedented flow of the Grand Pacific Glacier saw them flee their homeland (It was said to be moving at the speed of a running dog - not sure what breed!). The glacier carved out the current bay only stopping when it reached the coastal sea. Since 1750 it has been receding.

We sailed up to the top of the fjords to Grand Pacific Glacier which is retreating and is up on the land. This is due to the winter snow not being sufficient to continue feeding this glacier. On the other hand, the Margerie Glacier is still growing and flowing. It is a tidal glacier and it flows into the water. The mountains surrounding the Margerie Glacier are of significant height that the snow that falls does not disappear during the summer but it compacts and adds to the glacier.

We sat off the Margerie Glacier for around an hour slowly moving across the face of the glacier. Some areas were covered in dirt from the moraines on the sides of the glacier. Other areas are white ice and yet others have varying shades of blue. (in the light spectrum blue is not absorbed by the density of the ice but reflected giving the blue tinge).

We heard what is referred to as the white thunder. This is when the ice calves (sheers off and falls into the water below). As sound moves slowly we would hear the boom after the ice fell. Luckily by constant scanning of the ice face we managed to see the calving on several occasions. There were also ice caves at sea level.

We then sailed up to Johns Hopkins Glacier. We were the first cruise ship this season to sail in this bay area as it only opened the day before (1st Sept). There is a colony of seals in this area and as it was breeding season the larger ships were not allowed in until the pups were more mature.

We did see quite a number of seals in the water and on some of the smaller ice flows around the glacier. As there was still some distance between the ship and glacier add in the size of the seals you have to look very closely in the photos to see them. Other wildlife seen during the day were otters (far too small to show up in photos), birds and whales.

They only allow two large ships into glacier bay each day.

We then sailed passed South Marble Island before the rangers disembarked and we continued on our way out of the bay into the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska. We were advised that we had a better chance of seeing whales and other wildlife in this area but luck was not with us. We reached open waters whilst sitting at dinner on the second of our Formal Dinners.

The night before the skies had been clear and the Northern Lights were visible in the late night sky. Before going to bed we went to the Front Desk and requested a call should the lights appear again. At 12.15am we received the call. Dressing in warm gear we went up on deck. The lights were not as bright as previous nights (scale 0-9) rating a 3-4. The green light was very evident flowing across the sky but we did see some orangey-pink movement at one point. After viewing for awhile we headed back to bed.