Western Canadian Rockies (WCR) – Day 17 – Glacier Bay

We entered Glacier Bay on Wednesday June 26 around 6:00am when we picked up the National Park Rangers.  I was a little disappointed because there was a fog that opened up only briefly revealing mountains.  I could see the cruise ship that was just ahead of us slipping into the fog.  It looked a little like a horror movie and hoping that the rest of the trip up to the glacier would get clearer.

 

The low visibility only allowed sightings of nearby icebergs, like this one that looks like Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, only fallen over.

Also, there were sighting of otters and a humpback whale or two along the way, but the fog was so thick you could not get good pictures. 

Every now and then, the fog would break just enough to catch a glimpse of the land that we were sailing by.

The trip up the fjord, in heavy fog and cloud cover, included spurts of drizzle.  As the ship sounded its fog horn, about every 5 minutes, I could hear an echo returning, so I knew we were near land.  About half way up the bay the fog started to dissipate and someone spotted a bear on the beach of the land on the starboard side.  It is a long ways away, zoomed to 300mm and have cropped the picture, and because it is still hard to see, I also put an arrow so you do not have to guess where the bear is. 

Further up the fjord, I heard on the intercom that there was an eagle on one of the passing icebergs.  I was at the back of the ship, but was able to get a quick picture before it flew off towards the front of the ship and out of sight.

I heard that the Princess ship that is ahead of us is returning without seeing or staying at the glacier.  However, by the time we reach the glacier, the fog is beginning to lift and we have clearing views of the glacier.  Yes, that is the glacier even though it is black; that is rock dust from the grinding.

We see fast moving water coming from a tunnel beneath the glacier.

The glacier ice in some places become so dense that the only color that reflects from the surface is blue.  Hence, you can see the deep blue in spots along the glacier face.

I took several photos of the glacier and stitched it together for this panoramic picture.  Just to give you an idea of the size the glacier is about a mile wide.

Just to prove that Carmen and I were at the glacier, here we are on the top deck with the glacier in the background.

While we were watching the glacier, several places had snow slides, dropping parts of the glacier into the sea.  Finally, one of the slides started and created some ice to calve which started more ice to go.  The day seems to be ending better then it started.

There was more calving and a large piece came crashing down into the water. I have to admit, it was fantastic to actually see this in person. It wasn't an extremely large piece, but we were there.

We were at the glacier for at least half an hour and took a number of pictures.  From this picture, you can see the mountains in the background. 

The glacier is quite large and there is much to see.  Looking back along the glacier one can clearly see the expanse of the glacier. 

As we begin to leave, I am able to get a picture of the other side of the glacier and the mountain rising up from it. 

The return trip to the beginning of the fjord saw the fog lifted and we had clear views of the mountains along both sides of the ship.  Wow!

Besides the mountains, we saw more otters which are too far away to get a good picture in the low light, but there was a seal on an ice berg.

On our return trip, I saw several more glaciers that we missed on our way up the fjord.  This one you can clearly see the lines of ground rock on the top creating lines running the length of the glacier.  Fantastic!

Mountains that we did not see on our way in now we see them on our way out.  There are mountain peaks rising to sharp peaks out of the water.

We pass another glacier on our way out.  You can see the stress lines of the ice as the center moves faster than the outside lateral positions of the glacier.  I’m sure some of the ice burgs we have passed on our way in may have come from this glacier.

Looking forward of the ship and toward our destination, we can see that besides the awesome mountains it appears that some clouds are beginning to filling in.

Back in the direction we came, you can see how the mountains look.  Imagine these mountains are in the 8,000 foot range.  Some of that snow will never melt and are glacial in nature.

It’s beginning to get cloudy and as you can see, it is coming in layers.  We have clouds low, then some about half way up the mountain, and finally the regular cloud cover that we have had all day.

We passed several otters and I was finally able to get a picture of one that was close enough to have somewhat of a clear picture.  Doesn’t he (or she) look so cute?

As we sailed by a couple of islands, we began to see some seals on the rocks.  The closer we got we saw more seals.  Then as we passed by the island, it became clear that this is a resting place for the seals and there was a tour boat stopped near the island looking at the seals.

Speaking of sea lions, I saw one in the water and quickly grabbed a picture.

There were many otters in the water besides the picture of the one I added earlier.  This one appears to have a baby otter lying on her mother’s belly. 

We saw a number of whales, mostly in pairs.  They never would sync up and go down at the same time.  But, I did get a good fluke or whale tail shot. 

As we were leaving the bay, after dropping off the Park Rangers, we saw one whale with its flipper raised out of the water as if it were waving goodbye.  Everyone who was watching it was as amazed as I was. 

Shortly after that whale, we saw a whale slapping its tail flute on the water.  Apparently, this is to attract female whales.  Another whale showed up and after more tail slapping, they both disappeared.  Hmmm, your sea bed or mine! 

We again saw two whales breaching at the same time.  This was our last time we would get to seeing two whales and as close as we got to having two whales actually flip their tails at the same time. After this we were long gone from where the whales where located.

 

Now that we have left the fjord, we should arrive in Ketchikan sometime tomorrow morning until then Bob and Carmen.