Breakfast today was pretty spectacular – a humpback whale off the starboard side; breaching and blowing is the kind of show you don’t see every morning. What a fantastic introduction to Glacier Bay. Charleen was glowing; she finally got to see a whale the way she dreamed of seeing one, big, powerful and playful. She didn’t get the picture, though, the layout of the ship thwarted that.
On the passage up Glacier Bay, we saw wildlife in the form of mountain goats, bears, both black and brown, and some adventurous hikers and kayakers. There were also bald eagles who thought that icebergs were a good perch, and were indifferent to huge white ships lumbering up the bay.
Another hour of cruising passed before we finally reached the top of the bay where the Grand Pacific and Margerie glaciers dump their loads of ice into the sea. The larger, the Grand Pacific, is almost a mile wide and covered with rock and dirt.
The Margerie is the one everyone comes to see; she is icy blue, active and moving and calving large chunks of ice into the bay. We saw a few of those, and almost as impressive as the sight, was the sound – a sharp crack, then a rumbling and a booming that starts after you see the ice falling and continues after the last splash of ice into the sea.
All of this beauty and nature was playing out under crystal clear blue skies and mild, summer-like temperatures. By afternoon we were down to shirt-sleeves to watch our cruise out. This part of the day was even more exciting than the morning’s journey. There were whales galore; most were just surfacing, but there were a lot of groups and as we turned out of the bay, there was one fellow who put on a breaching demonstration, and even waved goodbye.
The only finale a day like this would be to throw fire in the sky, and Alaska delivered. A beautiful sunset awaited us after our dinner.
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