Glacier Bay National Park

Today we arrived in Glacier Bay National Park at about 6:15am, and picked up one of the Park Rangers, and a Tlingit cultural representative who stayed on board with us until about 3:30pm, answering questions, providing insight, and more. It was awesome!

As we worked our way up into the park and the bay, we saw a lot! We got to see Reid Glacier, Lamplugh Glacier, Johns Hopkins Glacier, part of Grand Pacific Glacier, and the biggest and best of them all, Margerie Glacier. The captain parked us very close to, and in front of Margerie Glacier, which is up in the Tarr Inlet for an hour. Starting with the port side, and then rotating the ship to the starboard side, everyone was amazed at the sheer size and majesty of that glacier. We reveled as we got to see several small calvings and one really big one! (I took about 400 pictures of the glaciers alone, but am only sharing these select few now...more will be shared later after getting home to wifi that isn't so expensive).

As we woke this morning it was raining, and everyone was a bit disappointed at the prospect of not being able to see a lot, but as we got closer in, the sky stopped and the misty fog lifted. Southeast Alaska is a rainforest, so having rain on any given adventure is to be expected. The glaciers were surreal. The beautiful colors and the sounds of the cracking were amazing.

After the captain set sail once more and as we pulled far enough away from being able to see Margerie Glacier it was lunchtime. Followed by a great presentation in the main theatre by the Park Ranger. She shared some great stories and wonderful information about GBNP and the assorted critters that call it home. And then after her presentation, the Tlingit lady - Alice is her English name, but sorry, I couldn't even begin to know how her Tlingit name is spelled - gave a presentation on the Tlingit peoples that have called this area home for centuries.

What an amazing day filled with such beauty, and just a teeny tiny bit of this great state.