Pacific Northwest and Alaska: Glacier Bay and College Fjord

We spent the last two days of our northbound cruise touring Glacier Bay National Park and the College Fjord. Both days had beautiful weather with only a few clouds the first day. On both days, rangers gave running commentary on what we were seeing. They talked about the geography, the dynamics of glaciers and some of the history of the area.

I was so glad we had a balcony room. Russ periodically went out on the top deck to see what was on the other side, but I was content to stick with the port side, where our room is located. We will also be touring Glacier Bay on our south bound trip, so I will get the starboard side then. And when we were in front of a glacier, the captain twirled the ship around so everyone had a great view.

We viewed three major glaciers in Glacier Bay: Margerie, Grand Pacific, and Lamplugh. We also viewed the Johns Hopkins glacier from a distance – we weren’t allowed any closer because the harbor seals were in their new baby stage and the ship would have disturbed them.

Besides being a National Park, Glacier Bay is also an UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve. There are 15 tidewater glaciers in the park – these are the ones that calve huge ice chunks into the water. We saw a few no huge calvings, but they were exciting anyway. There are frequent earthquakes with some resulting in tsunamis. In the distant past, a few of these are believed to have reached 1,600 feet in height. Fortunately, we did not get to have that experience.

The Grand Pacific Glacier is the one that carved out Glacier Bay. It has quickly receded – in 1750 it completely covered the bay. Today, you have to travel 65 miles up the bay to see the glacier. And it is not the prettiest one around – it is covered with silt and most of it looks like land, not a glacier.

The second day, we toured the College Fjord. This is part of Prince Williams Sound (the place polluted by the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez). The Fjord was largely saved from the effects of the oil spill. There are five tidewater glaciers and many hanging glaciers. All have been given East Coast College names, hence the “College” Fjord. It was another glorious day and a great way to spend the last full day of our northbound cruise.

Cruising Prince William Sound on a glorious sunny day!

You can see the line above which snow will form. People living on the Alaska coast rarely get snow. It is cloudy, rainy and cold, but no snow.

A lone Eagle standing on a mountain side. We saw several hanging out in trees.

Waterfalls were everywhere. They are formed from the snowmelt off glaciers.

Birds and harbor seals like to use the icebergs for resting areas.

All those little white dots are birds - this is a rookery for the terns that live in the area.

Margerie Glacier is known for its blue ice. This is ice that has been deeply compressed, changing its molecular structure and causing the ice to absorb all light except blue. The ice is about 250 high at the face and about 100 feet below. It is about 200 year old ice at the face.

Lots of cracks and fissures. Russ caught a bit of calving.

Depending on whether we were in the shade or in the sun, we were constantly putting on our winter wear and taking it off.

A full view of Margerie Glacier.

This shows the path the cruise ship took in Glacier Bay.

Right next to Margerie Glacier is the Grand Pacific Glacier. Not nearly as pretty or impressive, it is actually the glacier that carved out the bay.