Glacier Bay

This morning, we sailed in to Glacier Bay, a 65-mile long fjord which was a single glacier just 250 years ago. Since then it has receded and now several glaciers feed in to it. We were heading for the uppermost areas at the Johns Hopkins Inlet and the Tarr Inlet. The weather was dull, grey, and overcast, with occasional drizzly rain.


Heading into the Johns Hopkins Inlet we first saw the Lamplugh glacier, which was quite striking with its blue ice. Further in at the head of the Inlet was the Johns Hopkins Glacier itself. We then moved in to the Tarr Inlet where we saw the Margerie Glacier, again with much blue ice. This glacier extends 21 miles back from the waterline, and is a mile wide at the shore, with a face height of about 350 feet.
Next to Margerie is the Grand Pacific Glacier, which is very different. Due to all the rocks and soil that the glacier has dragged along, it is quite black at the face, so not what you would think ice looks like at all.
While we were next to Margerie, a piece calved off and fell into the water, an impressive sight and sound.
It was so quiet in the Bay, nature at its most stunning, and photos can’t really do it justice in any way. The Glacier Bay National Park only allows 2 cruise ships a day into to the bay, so it’s not as busy as you might expect. We did see the other (bigger) cruise ship and a couple of smaller ships too, as well as a small dinghy with just a handful of people on board, which helps give a sense of scale.


We saw some more wildlife too, including some sea otters drifting past, and a brown bear on the shoreline.


Typically, the weather brightened considerably as were sailing back out of the Bay in the afternoon, with blue skies and clear views.