Before heading down to Ketchikan the ship headed north to Glacier bay to view several of the glaciers found there; Lamplugh, John Hopkins, Grand Pacific and the biggest of them all Margerie Glacier. The day was very misty and bleak and viewing the distant glaciers at times was difficult. We arrived in glacier bay at about 6 am and I didn't hold much hope that we would be seeing too much of Margerie Glacier and given all the hype by the crew on-board that would be a real shame since the glacier is over 110 metres tall and 1.6 km long. The day didn't get any clearer however as we approached Margerie Glacier we saw a few then hundreds of small icebergs until out of the gloom reared the glacier in all its glory. We parked in front of the glacier for 30 mins on each side of the ship to allow guests from both sides of the ship to see the view from their rooms. I have to say that the view was amazing and it was impressive to hear the cracks and groans as the ice ever so slowly flowed to the ocean. We witnessed a few slabs fall from the front of the glacier into the sea and saw a couple of kayaks, dwarfed by the shear size of the glacier, paddling through the small icebergs along the length of it.
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| John Hopkins glacier. |
The blue hues of the ice combined with the darkness and gloominess of the clouds made for a surreal scene and hopefully some great photos to come after I get time to review them.
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| Margerie Glacier |
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| Centre section of Margerie Glacier |
We turned from the glaciers at about 4:30 pm and headed for Ketchikan, tomorrow's destination.
Cheers
Gary and Penny
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