Well, today was our second time to scenic cruise Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. It is almost impossible to wrap one's head around the fact that it is 3.2 million acres. You could spend a lifetime here, and never see all of it.
Beginning the morning in the Pinnacle Grill at 7am, we inquired about two missing waiters. We were informed that they had tested positive for Covid a few days ago, and are currently in a ten day quarantine. And here we thought the virus was mostly gone. Wishful thinking…… With this in mind, we will continue wearing our KN95 masks while inside the ship, and anywhere else that appears over- crowded. Hope their recovery is quick, as they are missed.
By 8:40am, we were approaching Gloomy Knob, the cliffs where we spotted the mountain goats a week ago. Since they are territorial, we figured they might be in the same area. By gosh, they were, although not resting together on a knoll. The park ranger had seen them as well, and said the name Gloomy Knob translated into the land of the mountain goats in the native language. He added that the indigenous tribes gathered their shed wool, and used it to weave fabric. Many kittiwake sea birds were nested in this area, and we even saw some pelagic cormorants, as they are called here.
We had exceptional weather today, even warmer than last week. Oddly enough, the day started out with low fog and clouds, but eventually the sun came out and the skies turned blue. How lucky was that? Once again, we were able to get a glimpse of Mount Fairweather in her white glory at 15,300 feet in elevation. At this point, we began to see some ice floating in the bay as we got deeper into the fjord. Saw some stray otters also.
There was a ship following in our wake, which turned out to be the NCL Sun. There was no mistaking the colorful symbol of a shining sun streaming on the bow of the vessel. We understand that only 2 ships are allowed in the bay each day. Further up the bay, they turned into Tarr Inlet to view Margerie Glacier we think. We are so glad we have this cabin, and don't have to go to the bow, where the people were like sardines in a can. No social distancing there. We did notice that most everyone was bundled up, but on our veranda, we were actually peeling off the layers.
The ship glided past the smaller Reid and Lamplugh Glaciers with the promise we will see those on the way back. As we approached Johns Hopkins Inlet, the ranger had some good info of this area. He said that the glaciers are a river of ice with year round snowfall that compacts and flows down the steep downhill slope. The storms providing this snowfall come from the Gulf of Alaska. Some of the tallest mountain ranges in the world exist here such as the Fairweather Range. A whopping 145 feet of snow falls annually in this area. There are over 1000 individual glaciers in this park.
By 9:45am, we passed by Jaw Point, and searched for signs of black or brown bears. There were no sightings today. It's the luck of the draw, and we had that luck last week. By the way, we have to mention that there are no speakers on the verandas. We can't even locate a speaker in our room….only one in the hallway. Good thing we can turn on the bow camera, and get the lecturer talking. We do have to dart in and out of the room to hear the commentary. The door can be propped open, but with the huge mosquitos outside, we did not do that.
Once again, we were told that Johns Hopkins Inlet was closed to ships most of the season, due to the protection of the harbor seals. The size of a human, these seal numbers have been declining as much as 75%, and the experts are not sure why. Who knows, it could be like Covid for people. On the other hand, other seal species numbers are on the increase. At the end of the inlet, we could see the tidewater glacier with the width over one mile wide, and the face 250 feet high. The closer we got, the ice increased in the inlet. The larger chunks of ice are not big enough to be called icebergs. They are bergie bits, and home to hundreds of the harbor seals. Only 10% of these chunks of ice are visible above the water surface. The rest, 90%, is under the water. The smaller ice is called growlers.
Captain Friso gave each side of the ship 30 minutes of viewing, with the hopes we would experience some calving. Today all we saw were a few small chunks of ice falling near the face with small cracking noises. Now last week, we heard the thunderous cracks of calving, followed by giant pillars of ice falling into the waters below. Reportedly, the glaciers calve a few times every hour….it just wasn't our hour today. Maybe next week……
Yesterday, we had received a flyer advertising a sale of a souvenir HAL stainless steel insulated mug filled with a choice of four coffees with alcohol, or steaming hot chocolate. We called up the Exploration Café to see if this offer was still going on, and they yes. So we ordered one hot chocolate and one Gold Rush coffee with Grand Marnier, coffee, and hot chocolate. They were perfect to drink while viewing the bay. And we think we got a better deal, since we do have the Have-It-All beverages, so we only got charged for the mugs. We can use these to get coffee in the Explorations Café, saving them the paper cup with lids.
We would like to thank Secretary of State, William Seward, who bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for a mere 2 cents an acre. "Seward's Folly" as the deal was known, was quite a deal, wasn't it? Just think, if that never happened, we would probably have never seen any part of this wonderful state.
This seemed like a good time for lunch, so we ordered from room service again. Salads, quesadilla, sandwiches, and one bowl of soup filled us up. No cookies this time, just fresh green apples. The service has been on time and nothing was missing.
The NCL Sun was on its way to Johns Hopkins Glacier by the time we were exiting. We back-tracked past Lamplugh and Reid Glaciers with no commentary. By now, we were doing 18 knots heading back. The guide suggested keeping a lookout for otters and seals, as well as humpback whales. He did level with us that most all of the humpbacks are gone on their way to Maui now. Just like us pretty soon. The final sealife we spotted was at South Marble Island, where we viewed Stellar seals that weighed up to 2000 pounds. Most all of these red fur sun bathers were males, while the females stayed away on the outer rocks.
The rangers had to leave the ship by 3:45pm to go back to Bartlett Cove and the Glacier Bay Lodge. A catamaran-type boat picked them up. They circled the ship, giving us all a chance to wave goodbye. Somewhere around 4:15pm, the NCL Sun appeared, and the same process happened with them. Their group of rangers were also transported back to shore.
Once again, we filled out the Canadian customs form, and inquired about the Arrive Can we have to do again for the following stops in Vancouver. The guest relations manager offered to do this for us, and all she needed was to make copies of our Covid vaccination cards. Perfect. We provided them, and she had the form printed with the new code, then sent it to our room. This should take care of that until we head for the South Pacific.
Once the ship began to sail to open waters, we had some rolling. We consider ourselves lucky that the storm that hit the Bering Sea area missed us altogether. With 54 foot seas predicted, we sure did not want to experience that again. Twenty years ago while on the Volendam's Asia/Pacific Explorer Cruise, we navigated through 55 foot seas near Dutch Harbor. Never again did we want that kind of ride, we said. Knock on wood….we never did come close.
Dinner tonight was labeled "dressy". Except this time, dressy was just casual for most. We spotted one fellow in a suit in the upper dining room. Glad we did not put on the ritz, or we might have really felt out of place. We have a feeling the guests on the longer 50 day cruise will be more conventional. We'll see…..
Anyway, we ordered the veal chops and they were great. Tasty and tender, and even served hot, we were happy to see this on the menu.
Tomorrow we will be back to Ketchikan with the promise of temperatures in the 70's. How nice it that???
Bill & Mary Ann
