WalleyeLJ

During the middle section of the trip, before we reached Spencer Glacier, and went through two tunnels, we meandered into a rolling set of turns and down into a pretty valley. There were scenic views off both sides of the train as the tracks turned back and forth on their way down into the valley floor. Then we came upon a fairly unique sight. This section of Alaska has some of the highest avalanche rates in the world. We saw a show on T.V. before the trip about how they fire 105mm artillery shells high up onto the mountains to force the avalanches to fall in a controlled environment so that people and equipment aren’t killed and damaged. Well, as we finished our decent down into the valley floor, and a strange sight came into view. As the train rolled into a gentle left turn, there off the left side of the train, in the proverbial middle of nowhere was some construction equipment and piles of bright, fresh looking building supply debris. As it turns out, a couple months before, a winter train with no one but crew on board, was making a mid-winter supply run with building materials to Seward. An avalanche came down and slammed into the train, derailing several cars and burying the supplies under a pile of snow. Fortunately, by some miracle, none of the crew members were hurt! It had only recently melted enough to begin recovery of the flatbed cars and supplies. Shortly after that, we entered the first of two mountain tunnels, with a beautiful, gray-blue glacial silt filled river gorge we crossed along the way.

Pretty valley views – even in all the snow, spring has sprung!

The avalanche destruction zone and cleanup site

Cool colors of the glacier fed river below left before the first tunnel

View right crossing the little gorge before going into the first tunnel!

L.J.

Great pictures. It is nice to see a review from a fellow Tarheel. We are planning on going to Emerald Lake while in Skagway. We aren't doing the horseback ride but are their pull offs from the highway to view the lake? We are thinking that Emerald will be our turn around point.

 

We are sailing Southbound so Skagway will be our first port. A couple questions for you if I can.

 

1] How far from the ship docks to the Avis rental place?

 

2] Are their any places in town (grocery or Walmart type stores) to grab some snacks for the drive up?

 

I am certainly hoping we have as much luck with whales as you guys have. You have some amazing shots.

Hey 1153rsmith,

Yes, there is a nice, multi-car wide overlook on the lake side when you get to Emerald Lake. Traffic is pretty light generally speaking, so you should be able to turn around there, or just past the lake.The current Avis location is about 0.40 miles from the docks. While there wasn't a big box store like Walmart, we were able to stop by the main gas station (Corner Gas Station - 4th & Main)and get the usual assortment of drinks and snack food. I think there's a main grocery store, but we didn't stop by on our visits. Plus, you can get the ice cream and other goodies at the General Store in Carcross for the ride back.

Good luck with the whales - we have been very lucky and had some great viewing, but there are a lot of whales all along the way, so your odds are pretty good. The big question is how far or close they are when you do. Good luck!!!

L.J.

We were really looking forward to the adventure of the ride on the train. We had splurged and got the GoldStar car seats, so we had seats up on the second deck of a glass domed car, with fabulous views all around. The steps up, carrying all the stuff we had, was its own adventure. Well, it was bound to happen. I had managed to not have a single back issue the entire trip, after wondering if we’d even be able to travel a few months before the trip. Just as we got to our seats, I got a shot of pain down my leg, dropping me to one knee. Fortunately, it was just momentary, and I was able to stow the stuff and get into my seat, which always helps. We rolled out at 6pm, right on schedule, making our way towards Anchorage. The weather, which had been beautiful all day for our kayak trip had become cloudy, misty, and occasionally rainy. Most of the mountain tops were obscured to whole ride, but with all the good fortune we’d had with weather so far, we couldn’t complain. It was still very beautiful. The first cool view we saw just as we were leaving Seward, was some kids playing baseball or softball at a little ball field. Ok, maybe you all wouldn’t find it cool, but baseball is my favorite sport, and seeing the kids playing in the shadows of the snow-capped mountains was a fun moment as we zoomed by. We hadn’t had a chance to get out of our kayaking clothes, so we headed downstairs to the bathrooms and made like Clark Kent and changed into to some dry, normal clothes!

Baseball in the Land of the Midnight sun!

After the ball park, we saw the occasional signs of civilization, but basically we were back in the wilds, with lots of pretty, misty views of wetlands, lakes, streams, waterfalls, mountains and glaciers. The views from the dome cars were terrific, but I made several trips out to spend some time on the open air viewing platforms on the end of the cars. The air was cool and crisp, and it made for better photos. Plus, it was fun to listen to the hum and clack of the train in the seemingly empty wilderness.

Comin’ Round the Bend – Upper Trail Lake

First major glacier off the right side of the train heading north

Just a few of the MANY waterfalls along both sides of the train along the middle portion of the trip…

We also enjoyed a nice dinner on the bottom level of the car, about an hour into the trip. The food was pretty good –w e both elected for what they called the Engineer’s Special – pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a Caesar salad. The plastic utensils made for a bit of food fun, but it was a nice meal to finish off a long day. The dessert was also pretty good – Bev had the chocolate torte, and I had cheesecake!

L.J.

LJ - not sure whether to thank you or curse you! :)

 

We just completed our first ever cruise (Oasis West Carib in June). The plan was that, if we liked it, I'd get to fulfill my personal bucket list item with a family Alaska cruise in 2017.

 

Then I spent all day yesterday reading through this trip report. As a result, our Washington DC trip in 2016 is now going to happen in 2017 so we can accelerate Alaska into 2016!

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and amazing pictures with us.

LOL - dstein, if that's the worst thing that's said about me this week I'll take it!!! If you liked this review, I'm also working on finishing up our 2009 trip recap as well - we did some different things on that one that may be of interest. I hope you all have a wonderful time on your maiden voyage to the greatness that is Alaska!

L.J.

I spent another couple minutes trying to get my legs ready for the return, and they did better the second time around. Our pace was brisk on the way back, and when we returned to the drop off point, our trusty water taxi was already there waiting on us. The kayaking was quick because the paddling and lunch/exploration portion was an hour shorter than the normal trip so we could make our train to Anchorage. So, by the time was got the kayaks packed and everything and everyone back on the taxi that was going back to Seward – it was 3:30pm. Train DEPARTS at 6pm. 2 hour boat ride back…and the kayak beach was NOT where the train left from – several miles back into Seward…

…could

…be

… a problem…

Our Captain said the trip back should be a bit shorter as the tides, waves and wind would be in our favor. The only time during the whole trip I can say we were both happy that despite the terrific weather and views, we were glad there we no major wildlife sightings to slow us down on the way back. 90 minutes later, our taxi grinds ashore and we hustle off. Pam was waiting for us and brought us back to the office. She told us she couldn’t get any taxicabs on the phone (!?!??!?!), but quickly followed up THAT piece of news with the fact that she was going to take us herself in their car. Our transportation back to Seward was on us, and not in any way the responsibility of the wonderful folks at Liquid Adventures, but Pam went out of her way to make sure we didn’t end up with a HUGE glitch in our trip. We left the LA offices at 5:25pm, and arrived at the train depot at 5:40pm, check out bags, and dragged our numerous carry-ons and camera bags up and onto the train – whew!

Some views of Squad Island near the terminus of Aialik Bay and the jagged mountain of the fjord above

Getting the kayaks ready to load back up onto the water taxi

L.J.

Just stopped by to see of there were any updates - hope everything is OK, and you're just busy.

 

Looking forward to reading more.

Hey Shazzah,

Yes, crazy busy and stressed at work, plus several folks visiting from out of town recently. I will try and do better:D!

L.J.

Still getting my legs under me from the tense, near leg cramp experience, I spent a couple minutes stretching out my legs and – what else – taking photos! The air was still, moderate clouds all around broken up by brilliant patches of blue sky and sunshine – absolutely wonderful. Plus, we were able to see that there were many harbor seals scattered about on the ice floes here at the end of the bay – too numerous to count, but they were hauled out in groups large and small all around.

One of the MANY Harbor seals scattered all over the ice at the end of Aialik Bay…

Mark had unpacked lunch from his kayak and headed up the beach and a bit inland from where we left the kayaks, up on a rocky knoll of glacial till. I was, of course, the last one to the picnic spot. I grabbed a spot and soon the pleasant chatter of our small group was replaced by more silence as we all hungrily devoured the lunch LA had proved. We had turkey wraps, chips (Pringles), fresh pineapple and some delicious homemade cookies.

Our amazing picnic spot!

The best part of lunch, though, by far, was sitting in front of massive Aialik Glacier, watching the shadows and sunlight dancing across its face, while getting to watch and hear several calves. In some ways it was a better experience than Hubbard – we were nearly alone, and unlike the totally understandable chatter all around you on a cruise ship watching something like that, we all just sat in awe and watched and listened to the show. While we saw some pretty decent sized calves, Mark told us that they were nothing like some that he had seen. Some were so big that they created waves big enough to affect the area where we had beached – high tide wasn’t the only reason to pull the kayaks far up from the water, because he had seen the surge from a really big calve actually grab some beached kayaks and float them out into the bay – and were we still about a half mile away from the glacier itself! While we ate and watched, I noticed the other kayak group that had been on our taxi was way off in the distance at what looked like the lower left base of the glacier from where we were sitting. I pointed them out to Mark and asked how close they were, and he said that despite how it looked from our perspective, they were still about a ¼ mile away from the glacier. They may have been a bit closer, but with the more centrally located high point we were on, we probably had a better overall view.

Check out the tiny little ant-like people in the lower left corner.

The beautiful blue hues really popped whenever the sunlight feel directly on the front of Aialik

Bev & I just before we piled back in the kayaks – check out our stylish sprayskirts!

A look at nearly the full breadth of the face of the glacier (Aialik measures just a few ticks over 1 mile wide)

Lunch complete, we packed every last bit up we had brought with us (no trash and no food left behind – we were in bear country too) and headed back down to the kayaks for our return trip.

L.J.

Finally had a chance to catch up - as always, loving your photos and detail.

 

I did finally finish a photo journal / blog of our month long trip to Alaska last year. I haven't posted it in the public forum, since I'm not sure it's appropriate, but thought you might like to see what your first report inspired. It covers 3 weeks on a small ship and a week land trip.

 

Ultra Alaska - 3 weeks Un-Cruising + Land Touring

Shazzah,

I just opened it up and started looking at it - your trip looks amazing so far and I'm just on Day 1! I definitely think you should post it, here on the Alaska board and/or the cruise review board because the smaller ship experience is a lot less common than the big ships, so I'm sure some folks would really find it interesting.

L.J.

Yay...looking forward to your kayak photos! Isn't Kenai Fjords just the most beautiful place on the planet?!

 

Right now the post with my review is right under yours on this Alaska board. I am almost to the point where I will be posting my photos of our day in Kenai Fjords...and visiting Aialik Glacier!

AryMay,

Here you go!!!

So we finally arrived at our put in point – appropriately enough, on a point of land sticking out into the bay, which created a nice calm area for the boat to line up and ground itself along the rocky shoreline. The Captain dropped the landing craft’s front ramp, and we brought our stuff ashore and then unloaded the kayaks. We put on our spray skirts and life vests (PFDs – personal floatation device) and Mark had the ladies get into the front seats of the tandem kayaks and then went through our instructions. One of the interesting things about this excursion was that we weren’t wearing dry suits or even wetsuits – just our regular clothes. Mark went though all the procedures for what to do if we managed to roll and fall into the icy water. That said, he said they’ve never had anyone exit a kayak, so he wanted us to keep the streak alive – and ourselves! The adrenaline was beginning to flow, both from the excitement of the pending adventure, and the fact that Bev & I had only been kayaking one other time – and it was VERY stressful! So, our instructions complete, we got the kayaks ¾ into the water, and then Mark helped the guys get in, and then got us started out into the icy waters – here we go!

The other couple with us didn’t have tons of experience kayaking either, which took a little pressure off us. We got ourselves settled, tested the rockability of the kayak while we were close to shore, and got ourselves a bit more comfortable. So – freezing cold water – not so good. Perfectly CALM icy water – much easier to kayak in! Mark got launched and maneuvered in front of us and led the way down the bay towards Aialik Glacier. We got in a pretty decent groove for the most part, paddling away, the little bergy bits ticking off the hull of the kayak. Every once and a while we encountered some larger icebergs, which were easy enough to bounce off, but it was funny (sort of) when one of us was paddling and whacked our paddle blades into one of these bigger hunks of ice. I had foot pegs to steer the rear rudder to help us navigate the many obstacles, which was all good for the most part – except for the time about three quarters of the way to the glacier when one of my legs felt like it was about to seize up with a cramp. If you haven’t kayaked in a closed kayak before – there really isn’t room to deal with something like that without getting out of the kayak – not exactly an option here! Mark came right over and steadied our kayak so I could hoist myself up and try and stretch the leg out, and he stayed closer to us the rest of the way, and in the end, it all worked out. Several times along the way we found that we had some eyes watching us, silently appearing from below the surface to gaze upon us, as though trying to assess who and what we were and what our intentions were, and then in a blink disappearing again without a trace – ninja harbor seals! The entire time, the size and presence of Aialik grew steadily as we inched closer. It was one of the most singularly amazing experiences of our lives!!! After 90 minutes or so of paddling, we pulled up on shore, dragged the kayas up high enough so the rising tide wouldn’t get them, and headed towards the glacier to have one of the most memorable picnic lunches ever!

A world class view – Aialik Glacier and Kenai Fjords awaits!

A neat shot of what our landing craft style water taxi looked like with the ramp deployed

Mark giving us the how to paddle (and stay alive) instructional speech!

Bev ready to roll (just on top of the water - not into the water!)

The rest of our intrepid little group (FYI taking photos with a camera in a kayak, when you aren’t use to it, can be a LITTLE stressful – I just kept imagining dropping it into an icy grave…I’m much more comfortable doing it now!)

My paddle buddy Bevy makes for an awesome outdoor sport adventure model!

If a couple of these particular photos might seem familiar to some folks that have done some Alaska research on Seward the last couple of years, 4 of my photos form this trip, including a couple of these 6, have been used in the Seward Chamber of Commerce tourism guide, which was really cool to find out when we were doing our 2012 trip planning and there in the guide were my photos staring back at me!

L.J.

Thanks for the great review and pictures! It brought back many happy memories of our cruise!

 

Happy cruising!

Thanks Jim - I see your next two cruises are on our to do/bucket list!

L.J.

You didn't get sick on the kenai Fjords cruise!! I have heard its rough and many times they need to turn around!! Help for someone prone to seasickness - yes or no??

 

 

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We had no problem with sea sickness, but we had nearly perfect weather and neither Bev or I get sea sick either, so we aren't good test subjects. On our 2012 trip, our cruise into Kenai Fjords was cancelled the day before the trip because of a front that was creating 25 foot plus swells - so you never know what you'll get. Not always fun, but always part of the adventure. Bonine has worked well for some folks we know, as well as the ginger options and acupressure wristbands. Like many treatments, some will swear by them and others will say they don't work. If you have a chance to take a cruise or boat trip of some sort close to home, you can give some remidies a try and see which one works best for you. Hope that helps - it's a wonderful trip if you can make it!

L.J.

The playful Dall’s kept us company for probably 10 minutes or so. Unlike the whale watching, they were racing right along with our boat, so the Captain didn’t have to slow down a bit for us to enjoy their company. They rode up on the bow waves, off to the sides, and even charged at the boat before breaking away and racing off.

A decently close shot that really shows off the rooster tail breathing tunnel the Dall’s create…

A pair of Dall’s racing along our starboard side as everyone leans in for a better look!

As we continued north in Aialik Bay, we were treated to fantastic views of the snowcapped mountains and the first two glaciers on the west side of the bay – Holgate & Pederson. The nearly flat water in the bay made for both a fast AND smooth ride – we were flying along, taking in the sights and enjoying the wind in our face. I couldn’t believe how much luck we were having with the weather! We even spooted a couple more sea otters floating along as we churned along. As we approached Pederson Glacier on our left, a tiny tinkling sound started and began to build. It took a few seconds to tear ourselves away from the great vista before and look over the side and realize that the water was suddenly full on little icy chunks the size of regular ice cubes or a little bit bigger. The metallic tinkling continued along, getting louder as we went until it reached a sort of steady thrum against the hull. Then, some slightly bigger pieces showed up in the mix, and the trend continued until some got to the size of small area rugs. In the distance the end of the bay came into focus, and we got our first glimpse of our destination for the day – mighty Aialik Glacier! It may not look like much at the moment, but that perspective changed A LOT by lunch time…!

Beautiful weather, calm waters = terrific views! That’s Holgate Glacier in the distant middle

Coming ‘round a bend on the right side of the bay…

Next up – Pederson Glacier. That spit of land helps keep a lot of its calving ice from drifting out into the bay too quickly…

A panoramic view of Aialik Glacier on the left edge of the end of the bay and all the ice floating along the way

Next up – let’s go kayaking!

L.J.

I have been following this review and just wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying all of your photos!

 

We just finished a northbound cruise and then spent a couple of days in Seward. While there we did one of the all day Kenai Fjords National Park cruises and saw kayakers right next to the Aialik glacier. I'm sure it must have been very impressive looking up at it from your vantage point!

 

I am slowly getting a review written and will include my photos of the Aialik glacier. The Kenai Fjords cruise was my favorite day of our whole trip!

AryMay,

Looking forward to your review and photos! Still have the all day sightseeing trip into Kenai Fjords on the to do list since we got weathered out last time. We're hoping to make it before the bears next summer!

L.J.

We continued south out of Resurrection Bay, passing beautiful Bear Glacier on our right as we headed out to the North Pacific (on our left) to make the turn into Aialik Bay and Kenai Fjords National Park. We came in between the mainland and No Name Island. This great little spot was a hub of activity! One of the bigger Fjords tour boats was already in the area and were obviously watching something interesting. The Captain maneuvered us over near them, and then we saw what was drawing all the attention of the folks on the other boat – a big humpback was breaching! It was a bit of a ways off, but still a sight to see – especially since the playful whale breached several more times while we watched. Then, as though bored with (or tired from) all the acrobatics, our playful pal decided to just play along on the surface, rolling around and slapping the water repeatedly with its massive pectoral fins. We watched the whale for probably 15 minutes or so until it got tired and another small pod (3) of humpbacks showed up along the shoreline. Then the Captain pointed out the Sea Lions that were basking on the rocky outcroppings on No Name Island. After a couple more minutes watching them, he turned the boat around and headed into Aialik Bay itself. Not a few minutes after that, a series of splashes and rooster tails appeared off the port/left side. They came closer to the boat and began to race alongside us – Dall’s porpoises! They are considered among the fastest of all small cetaceans – up to 30 knots! The rooster tail is caused by the thick body of the Dall’s, which creates a hollow breathing space without the porpoise having to come so far out of the water.

Beautiful Bear Glacier rolling out of the Harding Ice Field above Seward…

Our 2nd breaching humpback of the trip!

Playing on the surface, having a grand old time!

Sea Lions catching some rays Alaska style…

Bev catching some rays as we enter Kenai Fjords and Aialik Bay

Hark, what creatures on yonder horizon breaks??? The Dall’s are coming, the Dall’s are coming!

L.J.

Hello! I read all about your amazing trip last year, but did not have the time to read through it again now. We are planning our second Alaska cruise now, and I was wondering who you used for the Bear tour? Our only goal this trip is to see bears!! Thank you so much!!

No problem! We used Kay Air out of Homer for our Katmai bear viewing trip and Talon Air out of Soldotna for our Wolverine Creek bear viewing trip.

L.J.

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Awesome review. We are heading out on this cruise in 2015. Your review is going to be a great help when planning.

Thanks for taking the time to check out our adventure yknot13. Have a great trip - next year will be here before we know it!

L.J.

So – seemingly a few minutes after we feel asleep the alarms went off and we were up and at ‘em for what was really the longest but one of the best days of the trip! My back had held up so far, but it was going to be put to the test today. We ran to the Windjammer to fuel up before heading back to the room the pack up the few loose things left and then start slogging all our stuff off the ship. It wasn’t easy, but we got everything off and tried to see if we could leave our luggage some place for the day so we didn’t have to trek it to the kayaking outfitter and back. A bit of hope to leave it with folks at the Alaska Railroad stand didn’t pan out, so we flagged down a taxi and headed south a bit out of town to Lowell Point to start our day long odyssey with Liquid Adventures!

Our taxi driver was a resident of Seward, and like many folks worked a lot of jobs to make ends meet. He regaled us with a few stories on the way out, including his success poaching salmon from the local salmon hatchery stream. Not something I would brag about to tourists if I were him, but he was otherwise a nice enough guy. We saw a few sea otters floating out in Resurrection Bay, which was very cool. There were also tons of steroid fueled rabbits everywhere!!! We ask the driver about it and he said they were wild, free ranging rabbits at this point, and that they could be found bounding around town in all different colors. We saw some more of them when we returned to Seward in 2012! We got dropped off at Liquid Adventures and Pam was ready and waiting for us with a smile. She showed us where we could stow our bags until we got back, and then got us the waiver paperwork and our gear for the trip. We were doing an all day trip into Kenai Fjords National Park to go kayaking up to Aialik Glacier. The trip was normally 9.5-10 hours, but if we ran the whole time, we wouldn’t make our 6pm Alaska Railroad run into Anchorage. I had contacted Pam in the offseason and was able to explain our dream of kayaking amid the icebergs of Aialik Bay and she was able to make special arrangements for us to make the trip happen, but return by 5pm. There was one other couple joining us, and they arrived a few minutes after we did. As soon as everyone got into their kayaking boots, we headed down with our guide Mark to wait on the water taxi while Pam drove the rest of the gear down in her car.

While we waited a few minutes for the water taxi, we all spent some time chatting (well, ok, Bev did most of the socializing – I was taking photos). We were all kept company by some Sea Otters floating offshore, along with a lone Harbor Seal. Shortly, our water taxi, rolled up to the beach and dropped its landing gate down on the rocky shoreline. Mark and the Captain loaded the kayaks up on the roof of the taxi, and we all climbed aboard and grabbed some seats. There were a total of 18 of us heading out – the 4 of us, 6 with another company, and the rest of the group were heading out to the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge to work as guides for the summer. The ride was a full 2 hours out (including a few stops for any cool wildlife encounters along the way), so Bev settled our gear inside the cabin as we headed out to start to run into Kenai Fjords National Park. Not too far into our run south out of Resurrection Bay, the Captain wheeled the boat to starboard and started heading for the steep cliffs along the west side of the bay. As we pulled up closer to the steep cliffs towering above, we finally saw why the captain had pulled over. High above the water line, at least a 100 feet, were some Mountain goats, including a couple of kids! I have NO idea how those critters managed to get into the tiny shelf they we resting on, but the Captain said the mother’s did that to keep the kids safe from predators. A great day already!!!

A gorgeous sunny morning at the tip of Lowell Point looking out on beautiful Resurrection Bay

A cropped in view of one of the adorable Sea Otters having a snack as we pulled away from shore…

The steep cliffs along the shoreline where we were to find the goats!

Our first family pair of Mountain Goats (but we couldn’t really see the baby)!

There was one more pair nearby, and this time we were lucky enough to see the little one this time!

Who knows what we’ll see next!

L.J.

Just found your post. We're going on the radiance on July 25th and now I'm really excited! Thank you for the detailed information and all the beautiful pictures! I can't wait to go now!

:)

Thanks twiu :D - I hope you have a great time! I actually did a review from our July 2012 trip on Radiance as well that may find more helpful since it was after the last renovation: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1679447

L.J.

As we slowly motored out of Disenchantment Bay back out into Yakutut Bay, we made our way back to the Windjammer to grab some breakfast calories, and then, since we were bundled up, decided to head back outside and eat outside in my favorite morning coffee area. I took a bunch more photos while we ate, but they didn’t really turn out all that special – too vast a panorama to translate like I wanted into the photos. That was until the HAL Ryndam showed up for the 10am-2pm tour slot! She made her way along our starboard side between us and the shoreline. I was able to get some neat shots of Ryndam sliding through the ice, but the best shots of all was the ones I grabbed as Ryndam approached and worked along the face of Hubbard…

Ryndam passing beside Radiance

One of my favorite shots from the trip – best sense of scale of just HOW BIG Hubbard is…

Patrolling Hubbard

Once we left Hubbard in our wake, we had the rest of the day to both relax and get packed for departure the next morning. Having been up so early, spent all that time in the cold, and then had a huge breakfast, we went back to the room and crashed in an effort to recharge our batteries a bit. When we got up we took on last trip to the Thermal Suite, and grabbed lunch at the SeaView Café. It was located up on Deck 12 aft on the starboard side above the Windjammer (it’s now the Samba Grill since the renovation). Stomachs full for a second time, we went back to the cabin to take on the task of getting packed up to leave the next morning. We had an early independent kayaking excursion the next morning, so not only did we get to pack, but then we couldn’t put it out in the hall for pick up because we had to carry/roll/drag all our stuff off ourselves and then catch a taxi to our next adventure. We headed up to dinner, but didn’t stay long as we had more to pack, and we wanted to catch Shannon & Patrick one last time before we parted ways. Meeting them was one of the highlights of the trip and would love to cross paths on another adventure in the future! We tied up loose ends – photos and gifts shop items, cashed in our winnings from the week at the casino (LAST cruise we’ve finished up on the house), got some snacks and water since we wouldn’t have time in the morning, and finally went back to the room and crashed one last time…clock set for a 5:45am wake up – viva Alaska!!!

Our last night at sea left us with a wonderful sunset to remember. Here are a couple mementos we took…

L.J.

We spent a good amount of time at the face of the glacier – I’m not sure how long, but that’s the beauty of a great vacation experience – timelessness! The captain rotated the ship 360 degrees so that everyone on the ship could get some views from their balconies. We had slowly moved away from Hubbard and were finally in some more open water. A couple of people were pointing at the water below instead of the glacier. We looked down and saw a little yellow fast moving speedboat motoring away from Radiance and out towards the glacier. After a short run, the boat stopped and the crew, decked out in their cold water survival suits, began fishing around in the water. We watched as they hauled in a large bergy bit of glacier ice, and made their way back to the ship. A little time passed, and then suddenly the crew appeared, working their way up the steps to the heli-pad, the baby berg trussed up like a turkey in a rope net. They brought it right up on the middle of the pad and Bev & I were the very first people that got to get their photo taken with chuck of hundreds of years old ice by one of the ship photographers! We found out that they were going to take the ice and make it into an ice carving for dinner!

The Radiance Crew Fishing in Front of Mighty Hubbard

Trying to get a hold of a good specimen

YOU try lassoing an iceberg with a piece of rope in 32.5 degree water…

Ha! – Got that little “calve”…

All aboard – success!!!

Here comes a piece of history!

We slowly began to head away from Hubbard, with our next stop being Seward…

L.J.

We were fortunate that while the weather was spitting at us on the way into Disenchantment Bay, it dried up once we got close to the face of Hubbard. While we were parked next to one of the biggest ice cubes in the world, the fact that there was now no wind and we were barely moving, it really wasn’t too bad in terms of temperature. The clouds hung around the whole time, but it felt like classic Alaska, and made the whole Hubbard experience feel even more otherworldly and mysterious. People understandably were squeezed into every nook and cranny they could to try and see the show going on in front of us.

Bev, supervideographer, locked in trying to capture the grandeur of it all…

Passengers, Meet Hubbard, Hubbard, DON’T Squash the Passengers!!!

A kind passenger took a shot of Bev & I all bundled up and smiling!

Cameras, cameras, everywhere…

Perhaps my favorite shot ever of my beautiful wife/adventure partner – Alaska windswept Bev – look at those eyes, glacier blue!!!

Next up – Radiance Crew Overboard!!!

L.J.

I’m sure there have been better days of calving at Hubbard, but for us what we saw was AWESOME! Small, medium and large, we saw plenty of fantastic crashes and splashes. The coolest part by far though was the popping, creaking and thunderous roar of the ice moving and breaking and tumbling. From single pops and booms that sounded like gunshots or canon fire, to rolling rumbles and crashing finishes, it was every bit the National Geographic moments we saw on TV before heading north. In some of the photos below, the calve was so big (200+ feet), that the impact created big enough waves to surf and to even rock Radiance!

A neat look at the different layers/years of ice. According to the National Park Service, the ice coming off the face of Hubbard averages around 450 years of age – some of this ice could be snow from the year 1559!!!

Two shots of one of the calving sequences…

Three shots of “the Big One” that truly did rock the boat!!!

L.J.

While Hubbard dominates your view, there is glacier frontage in about 160 degree arc when you get close enough, with the glacier facing wrapping around towards your left/9 o’clock position as you approach Hubbard straight on. The glaciers to the left side are two relatively “small” glacier arms known as Hunter Glacier and Haenke Glacier. These two glaciers differ from the face of Hubbard in that they have A LOT of moraine content imbedded in their faces from scrubbing down the two narrow valleys from which they fall towards the ocean. As a result, they have a lot less blue or white from exposed ice, but rather a ton of blacks, browns and grays, which made for a different look. Rotating your view in the bay from right to left, you come to the edge of Hubbard. Above left, you’ll see Valerie Glacier is an alpine glacier that runs into Hubbard itself along the left edge. That creates a lot of moraine content on the left edge of Hubbard, but that quickly fades away moving towards center, where the towering face of Hubbard greets you with an endless variety of whites, grays and blues. It being our first up close glacier encounter, it was a breathtaking experience…

The moraine filled glaciers along the left wide of Disenchantment Bay…

Moving left towards center and onto the face of Hubbard

Forging our way to the face of Hubbard. Check out the brighter white spot on the right side of the face of Hubbard. A huge section had just calved into the bay, leaving the crushed ice debris on the sloping face which effectively blocked the brilliant shades of blue found across so much of the glacier face…

Inching us in even closer to the monstrous wall of ice – up to 350 feet high!!!

A close up look of the face of the glacier, including a cool looking ice cave. That opening is roughly 40+ feet high, and 50 feet wide.

L.J.

Gorgeous photos. It's fun following your Radiance cruise. Our cruise on her was in 2012 but southbound. We loved Hoonah/Icy Straight Point (did our whale watch there with Misty Bay Lodge).

 

I'm looking forward to your Hubbard pictures. Hope your wonderful weather continued.

Cruise_More_Often,

When did you sail in 2012? We were on the July 6th southbound on Radiance in 2012. That was actually the first review I did here on CC which led to going back to recount this adventure.

L.J.

The excitement for Alaska hadn’t waned a bit on Day 9, which found me waking up at 4am without any effort. I was exhausted, yet unable to sleep – I wanted to make sure we had a good spot for the show this morning. So, I quietly got dressed, gathered up my camera gear, and made my way to Deck 5, and headed for the heli-deck on the bow. As I climbed up the steps and onto the heli-deck, the wind whipped into me, making walking forward a bit of a challenge. The great thing was that I was the FIRST person of the day up there, so I made my way to the very tip of the bow and settled in for the approach. The early morning light was a deep bluish gray, and Radiance was cranking what seemed to be full steam ahead at 20+ knots. It was right around 32 degrees as the intermittent precipitation alternated between a cold rain and sleet, which made a crackling sound as it bounced off my waterproof rain shell. Fortunately, I had several layers on, including my wind block fleece and my water & windproof rain jacket, rain pants, and wind block gloves. Still – my face was exposed, and that wind-chill was WAY less than 32 degrees – so my early morning cup of coffee went quickly before it went from hot to frozen! Eventually a few more brave souls joined me up on deck, among them Kim & Dennis from our CC group. It was about time for me to go and get Bev, so I asked them to watch my spot and my camera gear so I could move a bit faster, and not bring the now nearly frozen gear back into the warm ship. She was pretty sleepy when I keyed back into the room, but a few encouraging words, and she was dressed and we made our way back on deck. We were in Yakutat Bay now, so the excitement built as we continued motoring along until little bergy bits and small icebergs began to appear and we made our way into Disenchantment Bay – and within sight of Hubbard Glacier itself…

Three of the cooler looking icebergs we passed in Disenchantment Bay

The middle section of Hubbard on the horizon!

The right edge of Hubbard and the mainland, the side the captain brought the side in along as we closed in on the face of Hubbard… Check out all the ice in the water! This didn’t stop our approach, so I can’t imagine how much ice is in the water when ships can’t get close or in at all…

A shot straight down from the bow at the massive collection ice that Radiance was now slowly plowing through. It was both cool and creepy to hear and even feel the clanging of the bigger pieces ringing the hull of the ship and Radiance motored ahead…I trust that the Captain knew how much of a pounding the 12 in steel hull could take, but I couldn’t help wondering exactly how cold that water was going to feel if one of those ice cubes ended up being just a BIT too big…

L.J.