Thursday, September 09, 2010

Glacier Bay

We said goodbye to Skagway around 7:30 pm
and enjoyed the view until it was too dark to see much.

Around 6 am we picked up the required
National Park Rangers that
would give us direction and commentary
throughout our stay in Glacier Bay.

Below is the glacier that our boat was allowed to
stop and visit for an extended period of time -
probably about an hour.
We were on the Starboard side so our 1st view
doesn't look like much - but that dirty ice
looking stuff to the bottom left is part of the glacier.
To better understand it's size - there are 2 men walking around
on the shore just to the right of the glacier
and there are 5 tents on the far right side of the picture.
After about half an hour the boat turned
and we had this view of the glacier.
We sat there and waited to see if we would
get to see it calving. Steve thought it was like
watching ice melt - isn't he funny.
We did see some parts fall and it was amazing
at the 'crashing' noise such a little bit would make.
And we often heard loud crashes within
the glacier that we couldn't see.
We cruised by several other glaciers as we
wandered through the bay.
On our way out of the bay we started
seeing a lot more wildlife.
We saw a humpback whale crest
but I was too much in awe to snap a picture.
But we saw lots and lots of whales (orca and humpback)
sea lions, sea otters, and eagles.
The rangers got on and off the boat by climbing
down a ladder to this smaller boat.
The end of the day brought some beautiful horizons
and we continued to see whales for quite awhile.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have NEVER wanted to go to Alaska before. But now after seeing all these pics, I am wondering when I will get a chance to see it! Would you recommend this for kids, or just us "older" people?
KarenT.

Anonymous said...

Ann,
Mark and I went on this same cruise a few years ago as part of a Purina business trip. Your pictures are lovely! It rained almost the whole time for us. I loved the scenery but it was way too cold for the middle of July for me!
Beth C.

Denise said...

So beautiful! Hope I can go some day. Jim and I were just talking about how we need to plan a "sibling" vacation. What do you think? Wondering if Joe and Sandi would be interested? Know they have limited days off. We thought it good be great fun!

lilabet said...

Karen - you got my message on FB, right?

Beth - that's funny that you thought it was too cold - that was the main attraction for me!

Denise -sounds like a good time to me - but you're right that it could be hard getting schedules to line up.

Becky said...

Beautiful pics mom!