We passed into Glacier Bay at 6 am this morning -- I wasn't awake to see it, but apparently a little boat came by and did a "controlled collision" with our boat and then traveled at the same speed alongside it so that the National Park Rangers could climb from the little boat on the big boat using rope ladders on the side. Once they got onboard, they started announcing sightings of wildlife and describing the different islands and glaciers that we were passing. We traveled north through the bay very quickly and then parked at the end of Tarr Inlet for about an hour. This was the view out of our balcony - not bad, right?
But the actual star of the show was the OTHER side of the ship -- Marjorie Glacier!
I didn't make it to a viewing spot early enough to catch good shots of the ice calving, but there were some big ones -- the waves from the huge chunks of ice falling off got halfway to the ship even. After half an hour the ship turned so that the people waiting in the balconies on the other side could get a view:
I was able to catch an action shot this time - it wasn't nearly as impressive as the big ones earlier, but you can still hear the thundering sound of the ice falling.
The kids didn't have much patience for watching ice fall all day but we managed to snag at least one shot to prove they were there.
I'm afraid all the other shots today are just of the scenery. Here's a close up of I think the Lamplugh glacier?
I theoretically knew that glaciers were rivers of ice created by years and years of packed snowfall but having now seen them, I feel like only now so I really understand how they are literally "rivers" that are slowly moving down the mountains.
I think this is the end of Johns Hopkins Inlet. The colors would have been more impressive if we had some sun...
Close up of Johns Hopkins Glacier.
A shot of one of the many runoff streams -- it was so quiet passing through the Bay that often the only thing you could hear was the sound of these little waterfalls.
A picture of the lower half of Glacier Bay - lots of floating ice all along the way.
We also did a close pass by Marble Island, where dozens and dozens of seals were sunning themselves.
At this point, the clouds also parted and the sun came out -- all of us in our parkas and mittens suddenly shed all the layers and felt like it was a Caribbean cruise!
While technically there was no "port" today, it still felt kind of activity-filled. All of us are looking forward to having a restful sea day tomorrow!
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