This morning when the sun rose (that was a 3am) I could hear the foghorn. Sigh. Once it was truly light I could see the rain and visibility was about 30 feet. Another sigh. But we were cruising towards the Hubbard Glacier and hope springs eternal.
By 11 the fog cleared and the rain stopped. We stood on the bow as we entered Disenchantment Bay, cameras in hand. There was blue ice in the water and the immense cliffs of Hubbard Glacier ahead. So often everyone stood in silence, and we heard “white thunder” – the noise of the glacier moving and calving (breaking off pieces). I cannot tell you how much the sight and sound filled the world when we were MILES from the glacier. The ice shelf is 500 feet tall and I have no idea how wide. The captain took us to within about a mile of the ice wall and after a bit actually spun the ship so that everyone on every deck would have a wonderful view. We saw ice crumble into the bay, took hundreds of pictures but mostly just reveled in the natural splendor we were seeing. The ship-board naturalist gave us information as we stood and insisted on ship-wide silence for a moment so that everyone could take in the wonder. It was amazing.
Tomorrow we are in Valdez. Til then.
journeys 