Ice, Ice Baby: Cruising Alaska’s Glacier Bay

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Without a doubt my favorite part of our jaunt to Alaska was the scenic cruising through Glacier Bay. My mom insisted on the particular route we took just for this day of iceberg-gazing (um, did anyone by chance see that little-viewed movie about the cruiseliner and the ice, and yeah that was exactly what was going through my head as I marveled at the majestic of the quickly melting ice caps).
Cruising Alaska's Glacier Bay
Cruising Alaska's Glacier Bay
Cruising Alaska's Glacier Bay

It really was an amazing sight to see, particularly as the world’s ice is disappearing at alarming rates. (Did you read that later this summer the North Pole will likely be devoid of ALL ice??? Also, the penguins are becoming sick and endangered, which saddens me to no end. And damn, am I just a bucket of cheer today. Global warming, you can stop now, please and thanks.) We did witness a massive chunk of the glacier break off and fall into the ocean far below. It was quite surreal to see in person, but apparently my catlike camera reflexes weren’t so catlike in Alaska, as I failed to capture it on film.

Cruising Alaska's Glacier Bay
Cruising Alaska's Glacier Bay
Cruising Alaska's Glacier Bay

What was possibly the coolest thing of all was all the whale-watching we got to do. One of the many excursions you could book at each port of call was a whale-watching day, but my mom had been told you saw so much wildlife from the boat that there was no need to do this. And she was right. I’ve never had much luck when it comes to spotting whales (with my overall propensity for things to go wrong, you’re shocked, I’m sure): There was the time in Iceland when I went on a trip with a company with a 99 percent success, and as fortune would have it, my day fell within the one percent margin of error. Then, when SVV and I were in Hawaii last year, during whale mating season, everyone but me caught glimpses of humpbacks breaching every time they looked out at the ocean. I maybe saw a splash or two (but I’d ooh and ahh with the rest of them, just so they didn’t think I was all Helen Keller). Luckily, July 2008 was my time at last. The day we cruised Glacier Bay, we saw no less than 50 humpbacks and gray whales. The final day, after we re-entered the Pacific, we were greeted by three pods of orcas in high numbers. Those entire days, our whole group just sat on the Lido deck and gazed out intently from the floor-to-ceiling windows; it was quite the crowd pleaser. Not five minutes would pass without a sea otter or seal swimming by. My mom and Justin even saw four puffins float by on a piece of ice; as I’m a HUGE puffin aficionado, I’m still bummed I missed this warm-and-fuzzy spotting.

So, if you do go to Alaska, don’t pass up on Glacier Bay. The cities themselves weren’t much to marvel at (more on that to come), but the ice formations were truly spectacular, for lack of a more descriptive adjective. It actually wasn’t even that cold: After working out, I went on the deck in a tank and shorts and was fine for a good half hour (granted, we were there right after the solstice, so it was the warmest–and lightest–time of year). But it was funny to see all these wusses fully cloaked in wool hats, mittens and blankets when it probably wasn’t any cooler than mid-50’s out (they’ve clearly never visited San Fran in “summer”). And with that, more pictures:

Cruising Alaska's Glacier Bay
Cruising Alaska's Glacier Bay
Cruising Alaska's Glacier Bay
COMMENTS
  • July 7, 2008
    Teej

    1. I’m so sorry about all of the terrible news. I hope your fam is all A-OK.

    2. What a cool trip. Not your typical cruise! The ship looks big enough — and the water calm enough — that such a trip would not be a barf-fest, even for me.

    3. Happy birthday, SVV!

  • July 7, 2008
    May Vanderbilt

    Oh, goodness. I’m SO sorry about your family troubles. And I hear you on the plane tickets. It costs $700 (at least) to fly home to PCB too. GRrrr. Shakes fist at Delta.

    They didn’t even give me a GRIEVANCE FARE when my grandma died.

    You’re in our thoughts!

    (Alaska is incredible!)

  • July 7, 2008
    Jemima

    Wow, bad news happens in…tens? That sucks! Let’s go for a run and you can whine about it all you want. Well, if you can tear yourself away from the 58,000 words you need to write. Jeesh!

    But the trip sounds amazing, and SV had better have taken photos of the puffins!

  • July 7, 2008
    SLynnRo

    Purple is a great color for you.

    And you totally reminded me to pay my Discover bill- due today- so thanks for that.

    And wow. So much bad news!

  • July 7, 2008
    transienttravels

    Sorry to hear that you got so much bad news at once.

    Your trip looks amazing – when I was little whales were my favorite animal (who am I kidding, I still love them for some reason) – I am so jealous!

  • July 7, 2008
    Mary

    I’m sorry about all of your bad news. Ahhh!! I hate coming back to stuff like that… it brings you back to reality with a thud. I hope you are able to get home to see the family.

    The pictures are gorgeous. *hug*

  • May 1, 2017
    Sandy

    I would be the wuss in jacket and hat :D. Mid-50s is cold to me since the coldest it ever gets where I live is maybe 76 in Jan/Feb. Family and I had hopes of doing an Alaskan cruise this year in the Summer but alas it doesn’t look like it’s in the budget.

    • May 1, 2017

      Ha! Where do you live, Sandy? I would LOVE a low of 70s in the winter. Sounds dreamy! And I’ll cross my fingers you find a really good deal on Alaskan cruises to snag 😉

      • May 3, 2017
        Sandy

        I’m from Grand Cayman, you’ve been here before so you know what the weather is like :D.

        • May 3, 2017

          Yes, I have, and I LOVED it. Lucky you! I could take that weather 365 days of the year.

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