Glacier Bay Continued
We passed small boats also cruising the Bay.
And more glaciers.
And another glacier.
Then it was time for a rest in the late afternoon and to watch another movie. Later in the afternoon, we were back out on the balcony watching the passing shore of Alaska.
The brochure that we picked up from the US National Park Service showed how the Bay had bee back in 1650, then by 1750 the whole of the Bay had been filled with ice in the Little Ice Age which had retreated by 1880 and now all the glaciers have retreated even further than their position back in 1680. The forbears of the Tlingit’s that we had met at Icy Straight Point had had to abandon their villages and move in the Little Ice Age to escape the ice.
Our evening
This evening was the second and final formal evening of the cruise. We started the evening at the Captain’s Circle cocktail party where we listened to speeches about cruises and the Captain gave a talk about cricket and baseball.
His talk was interspersed with references as to how aluminium should be pronounced and the sound of a cricket ball on the willow bat. I’m not sure the majority of the audience appreciated his sense of humour. Linda won the last draw out of the raffle and for this we gained a bottle of fizz.
In the Bordeaux we ate with our Canadian friend once again. There we enjoyed a couple of glasses of the prize fizz each. The meal was Beef Wellington and I started with tomato soup and then a Caesar salad. I gave in and ordered the special desert of the Chocolate Journey. This was probably the most calories that I had had at a meal all of the cruise.
We then went to the second show from the resident company in the theatre. This was called Encore and featured a guest soprano. The show and soprano were just as we remembered from the Coral Princess’ similar show.
From the Captain’s Log
At 05:42 Island Princess entered Glacier Bay National Park and embarked our National Park Rangers at 06:00. As we slowly navigated through the spectacular scenery, the Rangers provided information and a running commentary about the area, its history and its wildlife. We arrived off Margerie Glacier at 09:28 and stayed for just over one hour.
Noon Position: 58°54.9? N – l36°57.5′ W Glacier Bay
Temperature: l2°C (53.6T)
Wind: West Southwesterly Light breeze
Barometer: 1017 mb
Sky: Overcast skiesAt 15:05 the Park Rangers disembarked and Island Princess made her way out of Glacier Bay. At 16:42 we disembarked our two South East Alaska Pilots in North Inian Pass and turned our bow to the starboard passing south of Cape Spencer before setting a north westerly course across the Gulf of Alaska towards Prince William Sound.
British Columbia and Alaska: Day 10 Glaciers in College Fjord