2019 Alaska - Glacier Bay

We were up in the Crows Nest lounge at 7:30 this morning to hear the National Park Service rangers start their daylong program as we cruised Glacier Bay. Again we were blessed with glorious weather, perfect for seeing the Alaska that, as Greg commented, one pictures when they want to visit this northern state. 

Some people picture cruising the Inland Passage with calving glaciers lined up across the water from their balcony. That is closer to the case in Antarctica. Most of this route to Alaska is heavily forested (we're still adjacent to the enormous Tongass National Forest) and until you are well north, you have to delve deep into fjords to find tidewater (the calving kind of) glaciers.

But today, we did see them. Two cruise ships a day are permitted into Glacier Bay, always under the auspices of the National Park Service. The rangers, accompanied by a Tlingit woman who presented her own interesting cultural program, boarded our ship from a small boat when we approached the bay. They provided a running commentary throughout today's cruise on the geologic features and history of the park. We went about 40 miles up the main channel to Grand Pacific and Margerie Glaciers, which is about 35 miles further than Captain George Vancouver could sail in 1794. 

The deeper we went into the bay, the less established the forest along the coast. When glaciers melt or retreat, they leave only rock, water and soil. It takes decades to establish ground cover, then shrubs and finally mature trees. 

We finally reached Margerie Glacier, where we spent an hour idling, taking in the sights and sounds of the calving glacier.

An intrepid sailor had ventured deep into the bay. 

Margerie Glacier


Johns Hopkins Glacier. Seals nesting on the glacier necessitated we keep a 5 mile distance from the ice. The noise of the glacier provides sound camouflage from predators for the pups.

Silt line demarking runoff from the Johns Hopkins Glacier. (Lamplugh Glacier in the distance)


Lamplugh Glacier has receded100 yards in the last year.  The huge chunk of dark ice in front of it fell off last summer.

View along Johns Hopkins Inlet

The bow platform on the 4th deck was open only today, and we spent a couple of hopeful hours there in the late afternoon with about 20 other people. Wildlife spottings were sparse, but we did see orcas spouting in the distance, one closer whale, and a few solitary seals and sea otters. Oh, and one inquisitive eagle who scoped us out.

That little white speck near the middle of the shore line? Yeah, that's a whale exhaling.

Evening cruising north continued to be lovely.