MONDAY 15TH – GLACIER BAY

Spectacular day today. While the day started with some promise weather wise with sun showing between the clouds, it developed into a gloomy overcast day with some light rain but that didn’t detract from most of the experience.

The tourism brochure promised the scene below.

What we got was the scene below with close up encounters of Margerie Glacier and Lamplugh Glacier. The face of the glaciers above the water is taller than the 15 stories of the ship and there is another several hundred feet under the water.

We were close enough to hear the ice cracking and see the extraordinary range of shapes adopted by the twisting ice. There was no significant calving while we were there but we saw plenty of small icebergs floating in the water which had obviously come from the glaciers.

A very informative commentary was provided by a National Park Ranger who informed us that, because of the calm conditions, the Captain was prepared to take the ship further up the bay so that we could view John Hopkins Glacier which he described as the Sistine Chapel of glaciers. Unfortunately our visit coincided with a deterioration in the weather so all we saw was the foggy image below.

We received our disembarkation instructions this morning which reminds us that this is the second last day and I gather most of tomorrow will be at sea heading for Whittier where we board the Denali Express for the nine hour train trip to the Denali National Park. Will we be successful in our last chance to see bears?