Glacier Bay (Tue, Aug 21)

I was up early again today (still not used to the time change from Fort Worth, which at Juneau and Glacier Bay is three hours earlier). When I looked out my window…there was nothing to see! All fog. And I heard the ship’s fog horn, so I knew visibility was low. I checked the TV for the view from the ship’s front and rear cameras, and sure enough, no visibility.

It did seem to clear some as time went on, and suddenly when I looked out, it was clear! And a beautiful blue sky, no less. Again, the weather was very cooperative for our visiting and photo purposes.

I took a shower and got warmly dressed (cashmere top, down vest, light down jacket). I loaded up with my fanny pack of essentials, with my camera strapped across my body, and with my second lens hanging in a pouch from my belt. I felt really trussed up, but with the way everything was slung, my hands could be free.

I wasn’t sure how cold it was going to feel. The temp said 59 degrees, so I didn’t take my heavy down coat, thinking I could always come back and get it if I needed it. I was out on the deck by about 8 AM and seemed to have made the right coat choices. I was comfortable, though it was a bit cool in the breeze. Glad I had gloves!

I expected to be out for several hours as we traveled up Glacier Bay and indeed that’s how it turned out. It was so beautiful, I could hardly face going inside in case I would miss something. I snuck in a quick breakfast and then found a good viewing deck where I could walk from port to starboard. There was almost no one there when I arrived, though it did get pretty busy as we got closer to Margerie Glacier at the end. Just for a sense of perspective, that glacier is a mile wide and at the face is about 250 feet above the waterline (100 feet below).

The scenery was just breathtaking. There was no bad view and lots of awesome pictures. See what you think.

There’s not much more to say about today other than reiterate how fortunate we were with weather. It was mostly sunny and beautiful for our entire trip to the end of the bay. The clouds started increasing as we reached the end and it started raining as we were there just observing. At that point it was about 11:45 and I called it quits, heading inside to stay out of the rain. I had waited around a while to see if a “calving event” would happen that I could catch, but I decided not to wait and risk getting soaked. (I heard one did happen, but oh well…)

Back in my stateroom as I was working on catching up on blogs, I looked out the window and found a visitor seagull. He stayed there quite some time, not seeming to mind when I went on the verandah and took his picture.

Last pic is of the animal of the day…a seal! These are a really cute cruise tradition.

Tomorrow it may rain in Sitka, but I’m prepared with a rain jacket and umbrella for the nature walk in the Tongass National forest. Hopefully I can keep my camera dry!