Glacier Bay National Park

Laura said she could not remember the last time she was awake, dressed and ready to function as early as we were today.  By 6:30 AM the entire party dressed, dressed and then dressed to keep warm while we sat on our balcony and sailed into Glacier Bay National Park.  The Ranger boarded the ship at 6 AM.

At 8 AM the Ranger began her talk about what we were seeing and breakfast arrived.  Replicating the charm and arrogance of Titanic our group dined on pastries, quiche and fruits while sipping champagne.  Add to that the surreal snow covered mountains periodically giving birth to massive glaciers and you can construct your own narrative on the unique landscape in this park.

Only ships or boats can see the face of Margerie Glacier, perhaps the best known feature of the park.  From the ship it is difficult to judge size and scope, but Margerie is 1 mile wide and 250 feet tall (the equivalent of two cruise ships stacked) where it meets the water.  Another 150 feet of the glacier is below water level.  It is a fast moving glacier, pushing forward at a speed of 8 feet a day.  Periodically you can hear cracks called white thunder as fissures develop.  Eventually pieces of the glacier break free from the rest of the flow and fall into the water in a process called calving.

The picture above shows a large chunk of ice falling into the water.  Looks are deceiving.  It is a huge chunk of ice.  In height it is the equivalent of a 15 story building. 

Nature is beautiful and can also be cruel.  A bald eagle perched atop a piece of floating glacial ice is portrait perfect.  A young seal greeting our cruise ship playfully is unaware he is being hunted by a pair of Orcas and moments after he waives hello the Orcas attack and all disappear.

Tomorrow Laura will get another chance to be up and functioning early.  We arrive in Ketchican, our last stop in Alaska at 6 and we are ocean Kayaking with a guide starting at 7.