After leaving
Skagway, we cruised down the Lynn Channel, around the
Chilkat Range, through Icy Strait and up into Glacier Bay.
Glacier Bay National Park consists of 3.3 million acres of mountains, glaciers, forests, and waterways. The Bay is part of the 25 million acre World Heritage Site.
The area was first inhabited by the Tlingit people. They were displaced by advancing ice in the mid 1700's. The Tlingit relocated just across the Icy Strait. When the giant glacier retreated it had carved out a bay 100 miles long and thousands of feet deep.
The silt, which is ground rock from the ice, gives the water a beautiful blue color.
The water is like glass.
At the northern end of Glacier Bay is the
Tarr Inlet with
Margerie Glacier to the left. The glacier is 250' above water and 2 miles across. I love the stripes of silt.
Thousands of sea birds nest in the cliffs. These Black Tip Gulls were beautiful.
Calving is a spectacular event. When the ice breaks off the sound is thunderous.
Glacier Bay National Park consists of 3.3 million acres of mountains, glaciers, forests, and waterways. The Bay is part of the 25 million acre World Heritage Site.
The area was first inhabited by the Tlingit people. They were displaced by advancing ice in the mid 1700's. The Tlingit relocated just across the Icy Strait. When the giant glacier retreated it had carved out a bay 100 miles long and thousands of feet deep.
The silt, which is ground rock from the ice, gives the water a beautiful blue color.
The water is like glass.
At the northern end of Glacier Bay is the Tarr Inlet with Margerie Glacier to the left. The glacier is 250' above water and 2 miles across. I love the stripes of silt.
Thousands of sea birds nest in the cliffs. These Black Tip Gulls were beautiful.
Calving is a spectacular event. When the ice breaks off the sound is thunderous.
It is so hard to get an idea of the scale of the ice. The ice cave looks so little but in reality is completely dwarfs the gulls.
We cruised on over to the northwestern fjord of Glacier Bay to look at the beautiful Johns Hopkins Glacier. This glacier is actually advancing, moving forward into the water about 3000' per year.
This is very deceptive. It was about 40 degrees out on deck 12 where I was looking at the spectacular scenery. Evan was the only one in the pool for a couple of hours. It does get warm inside so they crack the roof for cookouts.
We had decided we would skip formal night but Evan really pushed and begged to wear his tux again. I am so glad he wanted to get dressed up. (Erik and I were just worried we couldn't get into our formal wear.)
Right about dinner time we left the protection of the Inside Passage and headed out into the Pacific Ocean. The ship was rocky once again. For a bit we went up along the coast of the Glacier Bay National Preserve. The Fairweather Range is just breath-taking!
1 comment:
I can't say it enough! Your pics of the scenery are spectacular! I am in love with Alaska! But I am cold just thinking about it. Evan was crazy swimming!
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