Early this morning two park rangers came by in a small pilot boat alongside our ship and climbed a ladder to get on board. The rangers helped the captain guide our ship up Glacier Bay. We were up bright and early to see the beautiful views of the ice capped mountains on either side of the ship. We went up to the Palm Court to get panoramic views of the bay. The sun was shining brightly as we took turns taking photos of the glaciers. The waiters were coming around with hot chocolate and rum. Hmmmm a great warm drink. The following is what we learned from the rangers as we were cruising.
First of all, we were guided to Reid Glacier, then Grand Pacific Glacier, and finally Margerie Glacier. These are all tidewater glaciers for anything that touches the sea is called a tidewater glacier. Tidewater glaciers are formed in only three places on earth: Chile, Scandinavia, and here in Alaska. Glacier Bay Park includes some 12 tidewater glaciers that calve (break off) into the bay. Calving is when great blocks of the glacier up to 200 ft high break loose and crash into the water. Today, we saw a little bit of calving with the accompanying loud noise as it broke off and crashed into the water. The sound was thunderous and gunshot like. The broken pieces that fall and float on the water are called bergs and these may last a week or more, providing perches for bald eagles, seals, and puffins. These bergs are of different colors. Blue bergs are dense, greenish-black bergs have calved off from glacier bottoms and dark-striped brown bergs carry moraine: rocky rubble picked up along the way.
The impressive blue glacier called Margerie Glacier was 350 ft in height (picture a football field straight up) and was 100 ft in depth below the water line. The Grand Pacific Glacier was 21 miles inland from the water back. It was one mile from the Canadian border. As our ship proceeded down Glacier Bay, we were told that the length of the bay was 65 miles but 250 years ago, the Grand Pacific Glacier was by the sea. It had receded 65 miles in 250 years.
The glaciers were very impressive and we were told by many passengers who had been here 6 times, that they had never had such beautiful sunshine as we had today. The guide mentioned that on average 4 days out of the month of April are sunny so we are very thankful that together with Seward and today, we have been blessed with sunshine.
We hope that when we arrive in Ketchikan, we will have beautiful clear blue skies.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
SEWARD, ALASKA
We arrived in Resurrection Bay to low low clouds and fog. We couldn't even see the tops of the mountains. We had a tour booked on a large boat for the entire day to see the surrounding bays and wildlife. We thought to ourselves as we boarded the boat, well this will be a disappointing day. But we were so very very lucky because the fog started to lift and the sun started to peak out of the sky and our guide told us how very very lucky we were to have such a lovely, sunny day which only happens one day out of the month.
As we travelled through Kenai Fjords National Park, we were able to see so much wildlife, including sea otters playing, sea lions basking in the sunshine, bald eagles flying overhead,Tufted puffins floating up and down on the boat's wake, three North Pacific humpback whales breaching, several mountain goats resting on craggy rocks, and some playful porpoises playing along side our boat.
The 120 mile cruise took us through the Chiswell Islands section of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. We also cruised our way to Holgate Glacier and Aialik Glacier, two of the largest tidewater glaciers in the 670,000 acre park.
We had a glorious day and saw so much beauty and wildlife. When we arrived back in Seward, we were amazed at the tall mountains surrounding our ship. Seward is situated in a beautiful bay. We have to come back here again.
As we travelled through Kenai Fjords National Park, we were able to see so much wildlife, including sea otters playing, sea lions basking in the sunshine, bald eagles flying overhead,Tufted puffins floating up and down on the boat's wake, three North Pacific humpback whales breaching, several mountain goats resting on craggy rocks, and some playful porpoises playing along side our boat.
The 120 mile cruise took us through the Chiswell Islands section of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. We also cruised our way to Holgate Glacier and Aialik Glacier, two of the largest tidewater glaciers in the 670,000 acre park.
We had a glorious day and saw so much beauty and wildlife. When we arrived back in Seward, we were amazed at the tall mountains surrounding our ship. Seward is situated in a beautiful bay. We have to come back here again.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
KODIAK, ALASKA
Doug and I took a one quick tour of the town and the surrounding area. Our tour bus was the local school bus. We had a difficult time scrunching into our seats.
Kodiak Island has had its' share of bad luck. In 1912, an 18 in thick layer of white volcanic ash blanketed the island and city, following the eruption of Mount Katmai. Some 52 years later an earthquake (1964 Good Friday Earthquake) hit the town which was followed by a deadly tsunami that measured 35 ft above the water mark. The residents watched from the hills as their fishing boats were tossed around like toys. But the locals decided to stick it out and stay and now there are approximately 7,000 people in Kodiak. The sun shines down on this island only 30 days out of the year. The remainder of the days are wet and foggy and overcast. Because of the town's great fishing port, there is little unemployment and the residents are happy going out in one of 700 fishing vessels catching salmon, king crab, halibut, trout and steelheads. We drove past 4 large fishing canneries which froze and cleaned the daily catch and sent it off to markets around the world. We also saw hundreds of crab pots sitting by the fishing boats. There are usually one to two fishing boats that capsize a year in vicious storms with deadly results.
We also drove past a beautiful bay. The surrounding trees are only the Sitka fir tree which is the only tree that will grow in this area. The average temperature is from 30 F to 60 F and doesn't fluctuate above that. The local school had to keep the children indoors because the Kodiak bears were coming out of hibernation and roaming around the school. The Kodiak bear, also known as the Alaskan brown bear, are the largest bears in the world, larger than our grizzly.
In the town, up on a hill, were two blue onion domes of the Russian Orthodox Church. We decided to enter the church and came upon two priests who were just cleaning up after the day's mass. One of the priests explained everything inside the church and was so friendly. The town of Kodiak has a seminary for the men who are becoming Russian Orthodox priests. This particular church has 200 parishioners but 2,000 baptized parishioners. Two of the priests looked like they were descendents of the Eskimo.
We also visited a very new but excellent Wildlife Centre. It was beautifully displayed and had excellent guides who answered all our questions.
Walking back to the pier to catch our tender, we came upon 3 Lion seals playing around the pier. They were having a great time and we also saw a bald eagle on top of the mast of a fishing boat. Apparently, you can see up to 400 of these birds circling around the harbour trying to catch any fish they can. As we were walking around the town, Doug and I had to bundle up against the cold winds that blow off the sea all year round. This was a reminder of what we left behind in Edmonton.
Kodiak Island has had its' share of bad luck. In 1912, an 18 in thick layer of white volcanic ash blanketed the island and city, following the eruption of Mount Katmai. Some 52 years later an earthquake (1964 Good Friday Earthquake) hit the town which was followed by a deadly tsunami that measured 35 ft above the water mark. The residents watched from the hills as their fishing boats were tossed around like toys. But the locals decided to stick it out and stay and now there are approximately 7,000 people in Kodiak. The sun shines down on this island only 30 days out of the year. The remainder of the days are wet and foggy and overcast. Because of the town's great fishing port, there is little unemployment and the residents are happy going out in one of 700 fishing vessels catching salmon, king crab, halibut, trout and steelheads. We drove past 4 large fishing canneries which froze and cleaned the daily catch and sent it off to markets around the world. We also saw hundreds of crab pots sitting by the fishing boats. There are usually one to two fishing boats that capsize a year in vicious storms with deadly results.
We also drove past a beautiful bay. The surrounding trees are only the Sitka fir tree which is the only tree that will grow in this area. The average temperature is from 30 F to 60 F and doesn't fluctuate above that. The local school had to keep the children indoors because the Kodiak bears were coming out of hibernation and roaming around the school. The Kodiak bear, also known as the Alaskan brown bear, are the largest bears in the world, larger than our grizzly.
In the town, up on a hill, were two blue onion domes of the Russian Orthodox Church. We decided to enter the church and came upon two priests who were just cleaning up after the day's mass. One of the priests explained everything inside the church and was so friendly. The town of Kodiak has a seminary for the men who are becoming Russian Orthodox priests. This particular church has 200 parishioners but 2,000 baptized parishioners. Two of the priests looked like they were descendents of the Eskimo.
We also visited a very new but excellent Wildlife Centre. It was beautifully displayed and had excellent guides who answered all our questions.
Walking back to the pier to catch our tender, we came upon 3 Lion seals playing around the pier. They were having a great time and we also saw a bald eagle on top of the mast of a fishing boat. Apparently, you can see up to 400 of these birds circling around the harbour trying to catch any fish they can. As we were walking around the town, Doug and I had to bundle up against the cold winds that blow off the sea all year round. This was a reminder of what we left behind in Edmonton.
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