[Glacier Bay National Park, July 30, 2024]

Today was one of the longest and best days on the cruise! The plan was to see 2 glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park, then head south to the visitor center at Bartlett Cove and view wildlife on the way. It was a lot of ground to cover; we were going to traverse the main bay from north to south over the course of the day.

Things kicked off bright and early. At 5:40 am, the captain came on to say we were approaching Johns Hopkins Glacier, a tidewater glacier at the north end of Glacier Bay National Park.

We docked about a quarter mile from the glacier and watched its mile-wide face for calving. We saw a few pieces of ice break off, but I could only ever catch the end splash on video. We saw some pretty good calvings though. They are part of the natural lifecycle of a glacier. As snow falls up top, the resulting “river of ice” slowly (over decades and centuries) slides down the mountain until it reaches the glacier toe (also called a snout, a face or a terminus). When there is more snowfall than melting/calving, the glacier advances. Otherwise it retreats. Climate change has had an incredible impact on this process, accelerating the calving/melting and decreasing the snowfall.

We also saw some sea lions hanging out on ice chunks in front of the glacier.

I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the glacier. This is close as I’ve been to one and I couldn’t get over its jagged icy peaks and its rocky moraines embedded in the middle. There were some clouds in the sky but the sun was trying to poke through, adding to the drama. We spent about 90 minutes here but I could have stayed all day!

We headed to breakfast while boat turned around and went down to Lamplugh glacier where we docked for our morning activity.

It was tough to pick one; we were both torn between kayaking, taking a moraine walk in front of the glacier and a ridge walk above it. But since we were supposed to be on land later in the day, we both opted for the kayak. It was cold by the glacier so I put on all the layers I brought with me and Linda, the lady from Raleigh, NC let me borrow her neoprene waterproof gloves. We started out I front of the glacier, then off to the side in a small beach area where we almost got stuck in the shallow end. It’s amazing how different the glacier looks from different angles and distances. We also kayaked through some bigger ice pieces. The gulls perched on top of them did not like the extra company and flew away as soon as we approached.

As soon as we got back, guess what – I got into the hot tub ! I am trying my best to dollar cost average the price per hot tub dunk.

We had lunch while the boat started sailing down towards Bartlett Cove. There were no afternoon activities because we had a lot of distance to cover, but we did go by a couple of places where wildlife was abundant. First, we passed by Gloomy Knob where we searched for and found some mountain goats through the binoculars.

Then, one of the guides gave a presentation about which birds we might see later on as we passed by South Marble island. Immediately after, I strategically placed myself in the hot tub *again* on the correct side of the ship and did all my bird watching on South Marble Island from there. We had left the clouds with the glaciers and I almost got sunburnt! We did see some puffins and more whales, as well as a bunch of sea lions.

Eventually, I did get out of the hot tub, only to decamp to the sundeck. The clouds were insane!

After dinner, we docked at Bartlett Cove. Sadly, we arrived after the rangers had left so I didn’t get a stamp in my passport, but we did get pics with the sign! A lot of people stayed at the lodge because it had wifi! I checked out the second floor, where the ranger usually is, hoping that they had left the stamp out, but no luck.

A short trail from the lodge took us by the skeleton of a whale that got killed by a cruise ship. Snow was well known in Alaska, as she had been spotted since Alaska and Hawaii since 1975. In 2001, her lifeless body was found floating in the bay. It was determined that she was struck and killed by a cruise ship. Sadly, she was pregnant when she died. Many volunteers stepped up to retrieve and clean her bones, creating of the world’s largest humpback skeleton displays.

It was nice to see this park acknowledge the Native Americans who first inhabited this area. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is the ancestral homeland of the Huna Tlingit clans. Their villages inside the Bay were overrun by the Little Ice Age glacial advance of the 1700’s but they re-established them soon after glacial retreat. The Huna Tribal House memorializes the clan houses that once lined the shores of present day Bartlett Cove, now the site of National Park Service headquarters in Glacier Bay.

With the last little bit of daylight left (it was now after 9 pm), we walked the Forest Loop Trail. We learned from the signs along the way that this whole area was covered by glaciers. When they retreated, the depressions they left filled with water once the ice pieces they also left behind melted. These are called blackwater ponds. An errant rock carried down by the glacier would also sometimes be left behind, called a glacial erratic (love that name!).

Then it was time to get back on the boat and head to our next destination further south. It as an absolutely unforgettable day!