The Rest of Our Alaskan Cruise

 

We awoke on May 11th to our cruise ship having arrived in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve sometime while we slept. Though seeing every shade of gray from the constant rain, we still garnered some beautiful views. A few otters popped their heads up but too quickly for me to snatch a photo, unfortunately. The national park naturalist who had come on board for the day mentioned spotting some humpback whales but we didn't catch a glimpse of their telltale spouts.

The 'park' was dedicated as a National Monument in 1925 before being upgraded to national park status in 1980. I don't think we'd ever been to a national park that we couldn't actually touch, didn't see a physical entrance or exit, or a sign proclaiming its name. This was just so unlike any other national park we've seen in the US! It was hard to comprehend that this park comprised over 3.2 million acres of forest, inlet, and mountain peaks rising more than 15,000 feet. 

"A sheet of ice as far as the eye could distinguish" was what Captain George Vancouver said when he first caught a glimpse of the small five-mile inlet in 1794. Almost a hundred years later, the ice had retreated enough to reveal a majestic wilderness to naturalist John Muir and a group of native Tlingit who saw the bay as their ancestral homeland. 

How absolutely wild and remote was Glacier Bay!

We knew from our trip to Newfoundland last summer these miniature icebergs were called bergy bits, my favorite scientific name to denote the size of the iceberg!

One of three named glaciers in the park was John Hopkins Glacier named after a glaciologist (never heard of that profession before!) who was a professor at the renowned university of the same name in Baltimore, Maryland.

Just 250 years ago, there was NO bay here, it was just all glacier. A massive river of ice, extending thousands of feet deep and 100 miles long, took up the entire bay before retreating north.

We learned from the naturalist that sea otters had a million hairs over every inch of their bodies!

A Norwegian cruise ship also accompanied our ship in the bay.

Steven and I have been so fantastically lucky to be up close to glaciers in some of the world's most gorgeous places that I admit we didn't get all mushy and gooey at this otherwise stunning sight. We found it difficult not to be jaded and fully appreciate the beauty right in front of us, and accept it for what IT was. Reflecting on that now, I wonder if the grayness might have played a role in us not celebrating this beauty.

But the wispy clouds playing a game of hide and seek did make me smile.

Even though we were more blase than we 'should' have been, it was still a huge thrill seeing the glacier calve which means when a massive piece of the glacier falls with a thunderous noise into the bay. Even though the glacier was moving forward at over five feet a day, calving was unpredictable. 

We followed as a small boat came alongside ours to collect the ranger back to where, we wondered, as we had seen no signs of any settlement anywhere that day.

Sarah: I hope you have a better appreciation of these largely black-and-white photos as I know you have a finer eye for the beauty therein.

While we had spent the day admiring Glacier Bay, the ship's bakers had been crafting Baked Alaskas that were then delivered in a conga line by the culinary staff to much applause amid the dimmed lights. I don't know who ended up feasting on them as we came temptingly close but no cigar, as they say!

The next morning, May 12th, was another stay-on-the-boat day but with no naturalist to let passengers know much of what we would see in College Fjord. Staff were smart to make the best of it by having those interested listen to a spiel about just how much effort had gone into making us all a few pounds heavier this week! Fully, 65% of all staff were culinary which seemed more than a tad obscene! Four thousand croissants and danishes were made each day. Naomi: Where or where was Joel when we needed his delicate French touch with pastry?!

Yes, we'd had a really delightful week-long trip northbound from Vancouver to south of Anchorage but certainly had no desire to turn around and immediately repeat the same trip southbound. I couldn't understand why 424 people were staying on board to do exactly that. I wanted to ask some of those people we'd met onboard where was their sense of adventure? Why didn't they sign up for a land trip to Denali National Park or some other place in the Interior, as the vast inland portion of Alaska is known?

At 6pm, our Grand Princess was the first cruise ship this season to enter the fjord. As the sky was less gray than the day before, our spirits lightened at the ethereal beauty of Harvard Glacier.

Next post: Beginning what was for us probably the most exciting portion of our Alaska adventure, discovering the remarkable beauty of the state on our own.

Posted on July 16th, 2023, from Denver's suburb of Littleton where the rains have gone and summer has appeared at last! Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.