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.