Alaska cruise, Post 5: Glacier Bay

On Sunday, May 6th, we spent the day "scenic cruising" in Glacier Bay National Park. Along with our day in Juneau, this turned out to be one of the two main highlights of our trip.

Glacier Bay National Park preserves nearly 600 000 acres of marine ecosystems. No roads lead to the National Park, yet over 400 000 people visit each year - the vast majority of them by cruise ship. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve contains nine tidewater glaciers, four of which actively calve icebergs into the Bay.

As we entered the National Park, a few park rangers came aboard via a tender, and throughout the day they made loudspeaker announcements and held slideshow presentations so that we could learn more about Glacier Bay. We went to a presentation by Park Ranger Randy.

In the morning, we passed a couple of glaciers, but they didn't look particularly spectacular to us. They were at a distance and covered in a layer of snow, so they really just looked like hills between the mountains, sloping down to the shoreline. There were pieces of ice floating in the water though, and it was very cold outside on the decks!

In the early afternoon we were relaxing in our room when I looked out of our window and screeched to Ben that we'd better get outside right now! We had arrived at Margerie Glacier, and this one was worth getting cold for.

For the next hour or two, the Volendam sat a mile or so in front of the face of Margerie Glacier, slowly rotating so that the passengers could see the glacier from all sides of the ship. It was a spectacular sight - one of the most impressive things I have seen in my life. From our perspective in the Bay, Margerie looked like a giant wall of ice... a jagged, blue-tinged cliff a mile long and 250 feet high.

As we stood out on the deck, rugged up and talking to our fellow passengers, I saw the glacier calve nine times. Calving is the sudden release and breaking away of a mass of ice from a glacier, iceberg, etc. The previous day I had sent a postcard of a glacier calving, thinking as I did so that there's no way we would see something like that! Anyway, I was absolutely chuffed to see it happen nine times. (After getting back home, I saw some YouTube videos of HUGE chunks calving off, so I'm glad I hadn't seen those before the trip or I might not have been quite as impressed by the comparatively small chunks we witnessed!)

A glacier - which is essentially a river of ice - moves due to the weight of the ice and the effects of gravity causing it to "flow" slowly downhill. (Click here to learn more about glaciers retreating and advancing.) Most of the world's glaciers are retreating these days, but Margerie is stable. I think we heard that Margerie is advancing at a rate of 7 feet per day... so as far as I can figure, that must mean she is calving 7 feet per day in order to be considered stable. No wonder we saw lots of calving!

Each time the glacier calved, there would be a sound like distant thunder or a jet passing overhead. If we turned towards the direction of the noise in time, we would see a chunk of ice falling away and splashing into the ocean, creating a frothy white wave. Ben only saw it calve a few times as he was taking lots of photos and usually missed it. However, he did catch one small calving on camera... see below!

So what do you think of Glacier Bay... worth getting cold for? We thought so!

To be continued...

Alaska cruise, Post 3: Juneau

Our cruise route

The first port of call on our Alaska cruise was Juneau (pronounced "June-oh") on Friday, May 4th. Juneau has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, although it is only Alaska's third largest city by population (~31 000 people).

A settlement we cruised past before arriving in Juneau

Approaching Juneau

Panorama of Juneau's dock, as seen from the ship

We docked in Juneau from 1:30pm to about 10pm. After disembarking the ship around 2pm (a process that can take a while when a thousand people want to leave the ship at the same time, via the same gangway, and all need to have their ID cards scanned first!), we started walking into town, passing all the tour touts and souvenir shops en route to our pre-arranged appointment.

As it was preps time at the local convention grounds, we had arranged to meet one of the sister workers in front of the library. However, just as we caught sight of the library, who should pull up beside us in a van but Gretchen! (Her parents Donna and Terry, and sister Janae, have been mentioned in this blog fairly regularly.) We had known Gretchen would be there, although she wasn't the one we had arranged to meet... but apparently she had insisted on being the tour guide when she found out it was us arriving! She had brought Kari with her, and soon the four of us were en route to the Juneau grounds.

At the grounds, we met the owners (Howie and Ruth) and a few of the brother workers. Then we were given a tour of the grounds, which were probably the most scenic we've ever seen! The view of pine trees, island, mountains and ocean was spectacular. We had been told it was a beautiful location and we certainly agree! We really appreciated having the opportunity to see the grounds in the process of preparing for convention a few weeks later.

Panorama of the view and Howie and Ruth's house

A short but steep walk led to this beautiful
log cabin, where the brother workers stay

Inside the cabin - second storey

Inside the cabin - first storey

Panorama of the view from the cabin!

We spotted two bald eagles from the cabin - look carefully
at the top of the tree in the centre of this photo

Gretchen and I heading back downhill

Another one of the sleeping quarters

After farewelling the nice folk at the grounds, Gretchen and Kari took us to see the Mendenhall Glacier, one of Juneau's main tourist attractions. A glacier is basically a river of ice between mountains, and this one is 12 miles long. We didn't go into the visitor centre, but we admired the glacier from a distance, saw a beaver dam in the river nearby, and walked a short trail that was a round trip from the parking lot.

Mendenhall Glacier

Panorama of Mendenhall Glacier

Beaver dam

Ben, me, Gretchen, Kari

Then it was time for our dinner engagement! Gretchen and Kari took us to the home of Don and Virginia, where we passed a wonderful few hours getting to know this delightful and energetic couple, who are in their early 80s.

Part of the reason for visiting Don and Virginia was that they had lived in Alaska for long enough to remember Ben's great uncle Lawrence, who had ministered in Alaska decades ago. Ben had never met Lawrence, and although we occasionally get asked whether we are related to him, we had not known much about him. However, while emailing to arrange our visit to the Juneau grounds, we had discovered that Lawrence's final days were spent in a nursing home in Juneau, and he was buried in a cemetery nearby! We wanted to visit his grave and learn more about him, so this had kindly been arranged for us.

Our day in Juneau - and visiting Don and Virginia in particular - turned out to be one of the two main highlights of our trip. They were one of the most amazing and inspiring couples we have ever met. Their home is a charming log house - even the gutters are wooden - and they have lived in it for 50 years. They raised 10 children (!) in their three-bedroom, one-bathroom home, and since retiring they have taken to visiting third world countries. (They haven't been to Australia yet because they are saving first world countries for when they get old!) A few years ago they did a 16-day hike around Everest Base Camp with a local guide they hired. You may be starting to see why we thought they were the epitome of awesomeness!

We had a delicious dinner of fish, rice, veggies and strawberry shortcake at Don and Virginia's. They cooked the meal in pots over the wood fire, and worked together in the kitchen the whole time without letting us help. After dinner the six of us piled into two vehicles and drove the few minutes to the cemetery, where they showed us Lawrence's grave. Then, we still had some time before we needed to be back on the ship, so we went back to their house and talked for a couple more hours. It was a very special visit!

Dinner on the way

Staircase to the upstairs rooms

Don and Virginia

Around 9pm, Gretchen and Kari drove us back to the ship and we said goodbye after our wonderful day of sightseeing and visiting. What a different day we had to the hundreds of other cruise ship passengers who disembarked in Juneau that day! We are so grateful for the hospitality and kindness everyone showed us... this was our favourite day of the trip!

To be continued...