Glacier Bay

We had five nights in Glacier Bay and 4 of them were in perfect sunshine. Without the last day of low cloud and fog we may not have appreciated the sunshine for the glory that it was! We were welcomed into our first anchorage by a pod of humpbacks lunge feeding at the surface.  We sounded giddy as we pointed out the whales- about 10-15 of them, all around. Kolby put the boat in neutral then turned the engine off as the ways came closer. One surfaces right abeam of us, look one look at Asunto and dove down – too close for comfort for that big whale. We, of course, were ecstatic. He actually was so close Kolby and I look at each other and said ‘please don’t hit out boat’. The owners of our last boat, Georgia Dawn had a whale hit their rudder (somewhat intentionally as they too were engine off and drifting) and caused a lot off damage just south of here.  Humpback whales, up close, are just massive. They are so big it is hard in fact to grasp the scope of their size. A full grown adult humpback is 40-50 long and weighs over 35 tons. Basically they are the same size as Asunto. And we live in Asunto!

The next three days were glorious and sunny – tank top weather! We motored up and down the inlets, visiting the Glaciers. We explored the ice flow from the McBride Glacier, which is rapidly retracting, went ashore at the Riggs Glacier where Fynn and I played crack rock. Basically you through a small rock at a bigger rock and see if the small one shatters. Many do, already cracked from the weight of the glacier that has retreated. Most of the Glaciers are retreating or thinning, causing the ground beneath the to rebound and raise at a rate equal to the increase in water level. We loved the Marjorie Glacier which towers 250 feet above sea level and runs a mile wide. The top was covered in spires and towers that majestically reached for the sky. We motored back and forth, dodging ice and waiting for her to calve a big one. We loved the  Marjorie Glacier!

Each Glacier is very unique!

When we had our fill we headed for our anchorage at Reid Glacier, watching the ice float by and calling out shapes. “there’s a whale!” “That one’s a dog” “Anyone else see the kayak?”.

By the time we dropped anchor a high cloud cover had rolled in and there was a icy wind ripping down off the glacier. The next morning we had to bundle up as we headed for John Hopkins Glacier. The as we rounded the point the landscape because barren. Dark grey granite mountains raced towards the sea, icy blue glaciers nestled in their valley. The grey sky matched the sea, which was filling with bergy bits (floating ice) and growlers (little ice bergs). Kolby stood on the bow, directing the path through the ice, occasionally pushing a few away when there was no path to be found. As we approached the glacier the ice built into a solid flow on the starboard side, and became littered with seals and their pups. It felt as though we had been transported to the Arctic. The John Hopkin’s Glacier is the only glacier in the park that is advancing/thickening at a rapid rate of 15 feet per day. We watched two huge spires fall off and crash into the sea before we headed back out the inlet and said goodbye to the glaciers.

The next few days the cloud was low and heavy in the sky. Kolby and his Dad caught more halibut and we went shore and found wild strawberries. We also found evidence of bears, but no luck in seeing them yet.

 Well we did see them the first anchorage in Glacier Bay but night was falling and it was difficult to make them out on the shore. Before we said goodbye to Glacier Bay National park we stopped by the Steller Sea Lion rookery and marvelled at the huge bulls atop the rocks, weighing in at 2 tons. Several of the mamas had their babies with them, no way we were considering swimming with these mammoths! We also stopped by the ranger station where Fynn received her third Junior Ranger Badge. She was a bit shy but was pretty happy about it!. Goodbye Glacier Bay, it has been amazing!