Glacier Bay National Park by Boat

(This is second in a series of posts recapping my recent trip to Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska.)

Nearly all of Glacier Bay National Park is wilderness so the best way to see the sights is by water.  The National Parks Service offers a daily boat tour from it's headquarters in Bartlett Cove.  On our third day at Glacier Bay National Park, hubby and I got a spot on this day-long parks cruise.

Mountains and aqua blue water

Since the cruise takes passengers all the way to the end of Glacier Bay, an early start is required.  The boat loaded at 7 am and departed a half hour later.  The boat was a double-decker, with indoor seating at both levels, but the top deck featured a large outdoor viewing area.  The day was overcast, breezy, and misty.  No matter, I was here to get photographs and stationed myself outside on the top deck, cameras at the ready.

Icebergs in the water close to the glaciers

Not only were passengers promised spectacular scenery and glacier views, the amount of wildlife living in the water and on nearby shores was rumored to be outstanding.  For this very purpose I'd packed two cameras, one outfitted with a large zoom lens for animals and another with a landscape lens for scenery.  (I'm sure I looked like a total dork toting around two cameras but I didn't care.)

Our ride for the tour

Because of the sheer number of images taken on this cruise, I'm splitting this recap into two separate posts - one for scenery and the other for wildlife.  Since this post is concentrating on the views, you'll have to check back for the critter pics.  But suffice it to say, as the boat motored up Glacier Bay, we saw tons of different birds and mammals and my cameras were kept busy.

Puffy clouds

As we cruised up the bay the first landmark of note was South Marble Island.  This small island in the bay was home to huge herds of sea lions.  The large brown mammals were sprawled out over every available rock.  I also noticed tons of birds in the skies and floating in the water, including puffins.  Such cute birds, I was very excited to see the puffins!

South Marble Island, home of many critters

Past South Marble Island, we began to see towering mountains on both sides of the bay.  The mountains were covered in dark green trees and their summits cloaked in clouds.  I learned that there are some seriously tall mountains in Glacier Bay National Park - several are over 10,000 feet and the highest is over 15,000 feet in elevation!  (That would be Mt. Fairweather at 15,266 feet.)

The top deck was the place to be

As our boat journeyed down Glacier Bay I began to notice small windows of blue sky poking through the cloud cover.  After the first two hours, sunlight began to shine through.  It illuminated the waters of the bay a lovely shade of gray-blue.  This unique color was due to large amounts of glacial silt suspended in the water.

Blue, blue water

Not only was there color in the water, the shoreline sported some beauty of it's own.  Glancing at the nearby banks I was delighted to spot fields of pink fireweed blooms contrasting nicely with the green vegetation.

Pink fireweed blooms brighten the shore

About mid-morning the boat passed by it's first glacier.  A National Parks ranger accompanied the cruise and this nice young man told us all about the tidewater glaciers found here in Glacier Bay.  These glaciers, fed by heavy snow, extend all the way to ocean level and calve icebergs from their faces.

Cell phone pano of the top deck

The first glacier we passed by was called the Reid Glacier.  The name was easy for me to remember as there is also a Reid Glacier on Mt. Hood.

Reid Glacier

As you can see, the Reid Glacier was mighty impressive!

Iceberg

Past the Reid Glacier, the boat started getting very close to the end of Glacier Bay where two other large glaciers were found.  I began to notice icebergs in the water.  First they were small, but as we traveled farther the 'bergs began to increase in size.  I even noticed a group of harbor seals had taken up residence on one of the larger ones.

Tall peaks shrouded in clouds

Alaska's inside passage is popular with large cruise ships.  As we approached the end of Glacier Bay, one of these enormous vessels was just leaving.  Although I've never been on a cruise, I'm not the least bit interested in taking one.  I suppose it's a great way to see this gorgeous scenery in style, but I much prefer smaller boats, such as the NPS boat we were on.

A large cruise ship passed by

After passing by the floating hotel, our boat finally approached the end of Glacier Bay.  It was bookmarked by two large tidewater glaciers, named the Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers.  And as if the tour company had purposely planned it, upon our arrival at the glaciers the sun came out in all her glory, illuminating the glacial ice and surrounding blue-gray seawater.  Absolutely stunning!

Almost to the end of Glacier Bay!

The Margerie Glacier was a breathtaking wall of ice.  Some of the ice was blue, some white, and some streaked with dirty brown sediments.  A huge rocky mountain rose straight up from this glacier.

Margerie Glacier

The Grand Pacific Glacier was not as striking.  It's ice was entirely covered by rock and dirt. I wouldn't have known it was a glacier if our NPS ranger hadn't pointed it out.  Apparently the debris on top of this glacier flowed down from landslides on the adjacent mountains.  Someone on the boat remarked that Canada was just beyond the glacier's dirty ice wall.  Later, when I got a copy of the park map I realized he was right - the US-Canada border is right at the edge of the Grand Pacific Glacier's inlet.  Fun fact!

Grand Pacific Glacier, buried under debris

Now having reached it's destination, our boat stopped and cut the engines.  It bobbed in place for nearly a half hour, giving all us passengers ample time to look at the glaciers and surrounding scenery.

Margerie Glacier close-up

I was having fun taking photos of the Margerie Glacier's face.  The ice was just fascinating to look at, especially through my camera's zoom lens.  It helped that it was a sunny day.  The sunlight illuminated the ice, showing all the hues, from blue to white.

The glacier ice was so interesting!

The adjacent mountains were also impressive.

The very end of Glacier Bay

Of course, everyone on the boat wanted to see the glacier calve.  This is when large chunks of ice break off of a glacier's face.  Tidewater glaciers are known to produce frequent icefalls from their front edges.  Our boat lingered in the water for several minutes in the hopes of witnessing a calving event.

After waiting about 20 minutes, we got to see the glacier calve

In the end, a small piece of ice did finally break off and sluff into the water.  Focused on a nearby iceberg, I almost missed the entire thing.  Luckily my eagle-eyed hubby spotted some movement, alerted me, and I was able to swing my camera in place and capture a couple of quick images.

Still good scenery heading back

Of course, no one wanted our time at the glaciers to end, but the boat was due back by 3:30, so it finally fired up it's motors and slowly turned around.

Ultra-blue Lamplugh Glacier

A short distance from the Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers the boat passed by another glacier named the Lamplugh.  It's ice was a bright shade of blue, much bluer than the other glaciers we'd seen so far that day.  I'm not sure why it was so colorful, but the Lamplugh Glacier was fun to photograph.

Our final view before returning to port

After a quick stop at the Lamplugh Glacier, our boat shifted into high gear and headed back down the bay.  Our captain announced that we could pick up a sack lunch in the downstairs snack bar.  I lingered on top taking photographs too long, so by the time I finally made it to the lunch counter there wasn't much left to choose from.  I ate the driest roast beef sandwich I'd ever had and an equally dry oatmeal raisin cookie.  

Clouds beginning to descend

The boat didn't make any stops on the return trip.  By now, everyone was tired from the morning's sightseeing and full of lunch.  Nearly all the passengers drifted off to sleep.  Not wanting to miss anything, I was one of the few who stayed awake the entire time.  But there wasn't much to see.  Not long after the boat turned around, the sky clouded up again.  By the time we were halfway back, thick fog shrouded the shoreline and a light mist was falling.  Hard to believe we'd experienced sunshine just a couple short hours ago!

On our return trip the weather turned cloudy and cold

Nearing the entrance to Bartlett Cove, our captain spotted a few Humpback whales spouting.  But I'd had much better sightings on yesterday's whale watching trip so didn't bother taking any more photos.  The only other item of interest, one of the large cruise ships followed us out of Glacier Bay.  Our NPS guide pointed out a small boat speeding towards the ship.  He said that boat was picking up another park ranger that had accompanied the ship while it traveled through Glacier Bay.  Apparently the NPS provides rangers for every cruise ship that enters the bay.  The boat drops them off in the morning and picks them up in the afternoon.  Providing narration on a luxury liner sounded like a great job.  (I wonder if the rangers draw straws for that assignment?)

Me and the hubby

What an amazing day!  The NPS boat tour through Glacier Bay National Park was a close second favorite activity while visiting Gustavus, Alaska.  (The previous day's whale watching tour was my hands-down favorite.)  My hubby and I enjoyed this park's jaw-dropping scenery and plethora of wildlife.

And speaking of wildlife......make sure you don't miss my next post, where I'll share images of all the birds and animals I photographed on this trip.