The Hubbard Glacier

I awaken after not enough sleep at 06.30. It's a beautiful day and we are sailing through some very dramatic scenery

I go back up to deck 12 and see the dramatic ice cliffs of the Hubbard glacier approaching in the distance. A surprising number of people are up and awake to witness this. I head back to our cabin to get more clothing and to tell Vera that she needs to get her pretty ass out of bed to take in the scenery

I think she appreciates this advice

We move very slowly through the floating sea-ice in Disenchantment Bay which musically tinkles as the lumps of ice jostle against each other

Valerie glacier, also coming into the bay. It used to be a tributary of Hubbard

There are hundreds of seals resting on the floating ice

The glacial ice groans and cracks as it slowly grinds its way towards the sea. The colours are also quite vivid, white of course but also various shades of blue and brown and black strata lines where the glacier has picked up rock and debris on its 75 mile journey to the sea

The ice cliffs are over 200m high and many miles in length. Ice crashes down into the sea sending up huge spumes of water accompanied by a loud roar

The ship spends several hours holding position maybe 800m or so from the ice wall. It is fascinating to watch

We eventually, and slowly, make our way back through the floating ice and towards the open sea

Seals slip off their small icebergs if they sense we are heading too close to them

It's a lovely sunny day as we sail northwards along the Alaskan coast

Back to the outdoor grill tonight for steak cooked over hot rocks. Vera cooks a fillet of Mahi-Mahi, a meaty fish resembling tuna or swordfish

So our voyage is coming to an end. I have found being wined and dined a most pleasant experience, who would have guessed? Some of the places, notably Skagway, have been overwhelmed and transformed into pastiche copies of themselves by the sheer weight of cruise passenger numbers but on the whole places have maintained a local character. And the landscape everywhere has been magnificent; it is difficult to think of a better way to observe the Hubbard glacier for example

It's been good to witness something of the annual salmon run and the whole ecosystem underpinned by that, brown bears, seals, sealions, sea otters, etc

We pay a last visit to the cocktail bar, where the bartender creates me a Hubbard inspired cocktail 

Previous 

Next