Glacier Bay One post 10 of 16

June 29, 2018

Glacier Bay is the northern terminus of the Inside Passage. Anchorage, Whittier, and Valdez are to the north. Skagway and Juneau are to the south:


Our adventure involved cruising into the Bay to the very northernmost point on the map on the right, above. The waterway ends at Margerie Glacier, and that was the site of our calving experience.

The maps on the left provide a sense of where we were.

I do not know, but I believe we still had our glacier captain onboard. That would only make sense.

Our first clue relative to closing in on Margerie was floating in the Bay:


This floe was perhaps twenty-five or thirty feet long. Portending things to come...


Of course we were accompanied by multiple gulls. Please note, this is a color shot. Color.

I would hasten to point out, I was not the only passenger shooting that day. The temps were in the mid-forties at this point. But notice, we could all shoot from the comfort of our own balconies (we were on deck 11, that many stories above the Bay):


That is a calving event in progress, on the left side, below the dark hole toward the top of the glacier wall. Some waves have started to emanate from the fall zone.

To actually witness a calving event is a little tricky. You hear it, but sound travels more slowly than light, so unless you see the motion, by the time you hear it and pick out the location along the glacier's front, you've pretty much missed it. I think those who film these events have a lot of celluloid on the cutting room floor. Well, you know what I mean.

In any event, here's ours. We heard two, and I was able to capture this "action" shot. Notice the gulls down low... the crashing must bring fish to the surface. The gulls are maybe a hundred yards from the glacier face.


The debris field in front of the crashing chunks is from the first event. The chunks float away from the face into the bay, toward our position, farther out than the smaller boats.

Here's more of a panoramic look. Notice the tour boat on the left. The calving site is pretty much dead center here... maybe a bit to the left of center:



This next shot I sent to our travel agent and wrote, "the case for upgrading to a cabin with a balcony..." (the tour boat has made its way across the face of the glacier):



As we left the glacier and cruised southward, there was incredible scenery, made all the more dramatic by the sun and clouds:


OK, that's the sun effect. Let's see the cloud effect:


Literally, beauty at all compass points.

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