"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 11 Scenic Cruising Hubbard Glacier July 13, 2017 Thursday Partly cloudy & 41 degrees Part #1 Of 2 81 Pictures

During the evening, the ship sailed at a good clip as we zipped across the Gulf of Alaska on our way towards Hubbard Glacier. It is the largest tidewater glacier in North America, and the largest piedmont glacier in the world. What is equally as impressive are the number of mountains in the backdrop. Staring at the lowest elevation, Mt. Cook is 13,760 feet, followed by Mt Augusta at 14,070 feet high. Both Mt. Hubbard and Mt. Vancouver are over 15,000 feet, while the highest point in Canada is Mt. Logan at 19,522 feet in elevation. It is located right over the border, so Canada wins here.

We fueled up at another relaxing breakfast in the dining room. Planning on coming back for lunch, we did keep it light, although that did not happen. Then we spent the majority of the morning catching up on yesterday's reports and photos. It sure makes a difference not having the pleasure of several sea days in between ports, as it is difficult to keep up.

The estimated time for arrival to this glacier was around 2pm, and knowing that the best spot to be would be the bow, we headed up there early. By 1:30pm, we were situated right near the railing that surrounds the flag pole and the ship's bell. We were the only ones out there at this point. Closer to 2pm, we turned around and saw we were trapped there. People had filed outside, and filled this deck like sardines in a can. Since many camera buffs were vying for the perfect spot on the sides, we held our position for the duration of the scenic cruising. That turned out to be 3 ½ hours. And it was worth every second of it.

As the ship sailed closer to the coastline, a pilot was picked up. He would stay with us all day, and continue on overnight to Sitka tomorrow. Jessica, the EXC guide (Explorations Central), began her narration on the outside decks, Crow's Nest, and channel 41 on the stateroom TV's. The speakers on the bow were working OK, but with the number of passengers out here, the constant chattering blocked much of Jessica's talk.

This glacier is very accessible from the sea. In fact, it can be seen as soon as we got near the coast. The mountain peaks in this St. Elias Range are truly majestic. We were so lucky to have a partly cloudy, but bright day. No rain or fog blocked the view. There is always a type of sea or sun haze, but as we got closer, that veil disappeared, and the colors became apparent. Funny thing, as explained by Jessica, the cobalt blue shades in the glacial ice is deeper when there are clouds, as opposed to bright sun, which washes the color out.

We began to encounter bergie bits of ice, then they slowly began to get larger. Halfway into the Yakutat Bay, we saw harbor seals resting on these ice floes. Most were alone, but some were lined up like logs in a wood pile. Some were lazy, and never moved off the bergs, while the majority of them, slipped off into the icy waters and swam under the surface and out of sight. The shade of the water was murky with glacial silt at this point, and not pretty….the perfect haven for these seals.

As the sea ice increased, we wondered how close we were going to get to the face of this glacier. To everyone's surprise, we inched so close, we could almost touch it. Sure it was perhaps a mile away, but close up, it was stunning. The height, depth, and width of this glacier was much more massive than we remembered from past trips.

What a treat it was when we began to hear the cracks and explosions coming from the breaking ice. It began with ice pouring out from the center, and in time, if you were listening to the warning booms from the ice, you were treated to a massive avalanche from the top of the glacier. We must have stood for over three hours by the time the Captain turned the ship, so the glacier could be viewed from both sides of the ship.

The scenery was so awesome, that we never noticed another ship was approaching from behind us. Turned out it was the Island Princess, coming in to take our place. We slowly exited, but got some neat photos of the Princess ship against the glacier. Now we could truly gauge the height of this massive field of moving ice. We had been so fascinated with the viewing, we had forgotten to eat lunch. But that turned out to be a good thing, because we had reservations in the Pinnacle Grill this evening. Actually, we had planned on enjoying some of the pea soup that was served on the outside decks. But with the size of the crowd on the bow, there was no way any of that soup would reach us in the very front. Sometimes, you can't do it all.

The crowd thinned out before 5pm, mostly because that is the start of the dinner time. Figures, that was when the largest calving occurred. On the way out of the bay, we had hoped to see the harbor seals, but they were gone for the day. We expect that the Island Princess scared off the few that were left. And by now, the sun had disappeared and the clouds were getting darker. No more sunning on the ice for the harbor seals.

The trouble with days like these, is that the camera was burning hot, having taken so many pictures. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to sorting through them, saving the best.

Our tablemates are going to think we have abandoned them, since we will have missed dinner with them for the third night now. Actually, the menu did not appeal to us in the dining room anyway, so we decided to give the ribeye steaks in the Pinnacle Grill a try once again. The last time we ordered these, we were a bit disappointed. The grass-fed beef selections cannot compare to the Sterling beef they always served in the past. The flavor is just not the same as we remembered. It was no different tonight, because the steaks were not as tender, or cooked the same as we recalled. Still the closest to the original meat we always liked, are the filets and lamb chops. We also like the veal chops, but they were not offered, and we forgot to ask if they still had some. Around 9pm, a large group of the ship's officers filled many of the big tables, keeping the staff very busy.

The entertainment this evening was a Tribute to the Beatles as performed by Jesse Kazmek. Listening to the practice, it brought back memories of that group that was so wildly popular when we were in high school, a million years ago. It had been an exhausting day, so we turned in shortly after dinner.

Tomorrow will end our final stop in Alaska at Sitka. It will be the only port that rain was predicted in the newsletter. Hope they are wrong……..

Bill & Mary Ann

A fishing boat….one of many