Sunday morning found the Zaandam entering the Glacier Bay National Park, right after the park rangers, Alaska Native Voices Cultural Ambassador, and the Geographic Reps boarded the ship at Bartlett Cove at 6:30am. This park has over 3.2 million acres of forest, inlets and shorelines, mountain peaks over 15,000 feet in elevation, and glaciers. Many glaciers. Last night we all got flyers and maps with the details of what we might see and experience today.
First of all….it was cold, extremely cold with some fog and driving wind. Lucky for us, there was no rain. Breakfast was served at 7:30am because they treated this day as a port day. However, that was about the time we knew the ship would pass a granite knoll where we always see mountain goats. It is called Gloomy Knob with an elevation of 1331 feet. So we bundled up with our Arctic jackets, gloves, scarves and camera and went to deck six forward. Since Gloomy Knob is on the starboard side, we had to brace ourselves for the freezing wind. We would not see any animals from our room on the port side.
A handful of folks went out on the bow for the scenic cruising and narration from the park ranger who was positioned on the navigation deck. We could see her from deck six while she scanned the steep hillsides with powerful binoculars. Within minutes, she began seeing some goats in the usual spots we always see them. It was still quite a distance away, but we could make out at least five of the animals as they grazed on the green grasses. They appeared no bigger than a grain of white rice from our vantage point. But we were happy to see some of them. How they exist in such steep cliffs is a miracle.
We knew that the next sighting of Margerie Glacier would be an hour or two away, so we headed for breakfast. Very few customers were there until near 9am. We sure appreciated the hot coffee and cappuccino this morning. The ship continued heading north and into the Tarr Inlet where the most photographed glacier was located. That was Margerie Glacier with a one mile wide glacier of ice and a 200 foot face above the waterline. The captain kept the ship in this inlet for one hour, giving each side equal time to hopefully see some calving of the ice and hear the thunderous cracking of the tidewater glacier. However, it was not to be. We have been lucky on past visits here, and the experience stays with you forever. Maybe next week…..
Piping hot Dutch pea soup was served on all outside decks at 10am. Then the ship continued on to the John's Hopkins Inlet to see that glacier. The Norwegian Joy was already there and got closer to that glacier. We turned around at that point and headed past Lamplugh and Reid Glaciers. We did see some wildlife in the area. There were a variety of birds there such as gulls, and a few bald eagles, diving ducks and sometimes puffins. Sea otters and harbor seals are commonly seen. More rare sightings are of brown bear, moose and the mountain goats. Humpback whales and orcas will come into these inlets, but not often.
Glacier Bay is over 1000 feet deep, and the area gets 70 inches of rain annually. Only two cruise ships are allowed entrance in a day. The tallest mountain peaks are in the Fairweather Range and St. Elias Mountains. What a fantastic backdrop they make covered with ice and snow. And another stroke of luck was that the fog had lifted, and we had mostly blue skies and little wind the deeper we got into the bay.
We watched most of the scenic sailing right from our veranda. On our way back out of the bay, we passed by Gloomy Knob once again. This time, we were able to capture many more photos of the roaming mountain goats. In total, with the scenery and added benefit of the wildlife, over 980 pictures were snapped today. Processing these many photos will be a challenge, which will take the remainder of the afternoon, as well as tomorrow morning. We also passed the very small North and South Marble Islands where a colony of Stellar sea lions live. By the time we reached that point, the fog began to creep back, but we did get some shots of the lazy sea lions as they like to "sunbathe" on the rocky shore. Sea otters were all around us but dove the minute the ship approached. By 3:30pm, the rangers and their crew departed the ship and headed back to Bartlett Cove near the mouth of the bay. They will repeat this service every day until the end of the season, which is coming up soon.
The only negative aspect of the day was the inability to get the TV to work. Not even the in- house channels. An NFL football game was advertised to be shown at 4:15pm, but there was no reception. We kept trying and eventually it began to work. We did catch the tail end of the game, then tried the other stations. Lo and behold, they worked. Now we will keep our fingers crossed that we don't lose the signal.
Working on photos and reports took the rest of the afternoon. Dinnertime was casual with a touch of Orange. It was Dutch night and the cuisine matched the theme. Guests wore a splash of orange, and if they not have anything that shade, the Captain's Corner sold some orange things, like headbands and bowties. The Orange Party with line dancing was in the Crow's Nest at 8:30pm.
For dinner, we had salads, pea soup, and pork cordon bleu. The plates were hot as could be and the food was excellent. Even better than we remember on the recent world voyage. The comedy of Rob Little was the entertainment tonight. He promised a show of inventive, funny, spontaneous and unique comedy.
Tomorrow's port and the final one will be Ketchikan. Always look forward to a visit there, mostly to see the salmon going upstream. Hope this nice weather continues…..
Bill & Mary Ann
