Day 5 - Glacier Bay - The Highlight

This is what we have come to see. Today we enter the fiords and see Margie Glacier and other smaller glaciers.

The increasing number of iceberg tipped us to the nearness of the glaciers.

One advantage of the Holland America lines is that the ships are smaller and there is always room at the rail for sightseeing.

On the fifth day of our cruise we got to see what we came for, the Margie Glacier. The captain eased the ship up the fiord at a very slow speed. He brought it to a stop and we sat and watched the glaciers for about two hours. The only word that I can use to catch that feeling is awesome.

At the end or every fjord there was a glacier.

Margie Glacier! It was so quiet here. The only sound was the awesome thundering roar of the glacier calfing and the sound of the ice moving down the mountain. The cracking of the ice sounded like someone was shooting a high powered rifle.

More of the glacier.

More of the glacier.

These are the largest gulls I've ever seen. The guide said that there wingspan was about six feet. They are about six stories below us on an iceberg.

Seeing this glacier, our first big one, was an unbelievable experience. 1500 people were standing on the deck and you could hear a pin drop. We were seeing something thousands of years in the making as a living organism. It moves day and night to the sea splitting off large chunks of ice every few minutes. The face was about 200-250 high and it was about a mile wide. Margie Glacier was worth entire cost of the trip.

The blue color is a result of the density of the ice. All the colors but blue are absorbed.

These iceberg are quiet large. There is nothing next to the glacer to give it scale.

Beautiful

The black bands are direct and rocks scooped up by the glacer sliding down the mountain.

This face is about 200-250 feet from the water to the top. That is about a 12 to 15 story building.

And, then it happened. A large chunk of ice, probably bigger than a bus, calved into the water. This happened about every 5 to 10 minutes while we watched.

Even the crew members came up to see the glaciers.

Sometimes the ice would break up before it hit the water.

This was probably the largest we saw in the two hours we were there.

The little caves are caused by ice chunks breaking off.

A couple of the chunks were so large it caused the boat to rock when they hit the water.

That was a good one!

Sometimes it came in big chunks and other times it came in a torrent.

A mass of ice from one event.

We slowly retreated so as not to leave any indication of our presents in the water. That small boat on the right is not that small.

The ice carved these mountains.

Several wanted to hang around for one last look.

Next to the glaciers it was a balmy 45 to 50F degrees or so, but a few brave souls tried the outdoor pool. We preferred the indoor version.

As we left the glaciers, it was like we were leaving a secret world. In some ways it is.

Joy!

A day well spent. Time for dinner and a show.

After about four hours of beautiful weather for viewing the glaciers, the mist rolled in and a light rain welcomed us to dinner. It only lasted a couple of hours.

After dinner we sat on the deck and watch another sunset.

This sunset was about 11:00 PM local time. We were finally out on the Pacific ocean after five days in the inland passage way. It was as calm as the water in a farm pond. However, the next evening we did go through a storm with howling winds. But, the sea didn't get more than choppy.

About midnight I got up to take this shot of the moon. It got dark about 11:30 PM or so.