Alaska Summer Solstice Cruise - Cruising Hubbard Glacier

Cruise Day 5

Thursday, June 13, 2024

Once again, we woke up to mostly sunny skies, a very good sign for us as this area has a reputation for foggy weather.  The scenery was spectacular with very tall snowcapped mountains rising up from the shoreline, with dense forests and rocky slopes below the snowline.  We sailed into the large Yakutat Bay, and we could see the Hubbard Glacier off in the distance 35 miles away.

The red marker is Hubbard Glacier.

We sailed into Yakutat Bay.  The white area at the end is the Hubbard Glacier. The smaller bay near the Hubbard Glacier is called Disenchantment Bay named because of the disappointment felt when in 1792, a Spanish ship looking for the legendary Northwest Passage was disappointed to find another dead end.

Here is a description of the Hubbard Glacier from Google: “The Hubbard Glacier is North America's largest tidewater glacier. It is 76 miles long, 7 miles wide and 600 feet tall at its terminal face (350 feet exposed above the waterline and 250 feet below the waterline)”.

Even though this is a cruising only day and the ship won’t be docking, there will be a boat meeting the ship and about 100 of us who were lucky enough to book this excursion will get off the ship and onto this boat that will take us very close to the Hubbard Glacier. Since neither the small boat or the ship will be at a dock, it's called a "mid-sea transfer". The ship is limited as to how close it can get to the glacier, but the smaller boat can get within a half mile.

We again had a leisurely morning as the boat wouldn’t be picking us up until eleven.  It was very cold out on our balcony, so we dressed very warmly wearing several layers of clothing and coats.  As we got nearer to the Glacier, we could see there was a Celebrity cruise ship there, but they were on their way out.

The coastline is spectacular with the snow capped mountain seeming to rise right out of the ocean.

Our first view of the Hubbard Glacier.  We are probably around 30 miles away right now; that gives you an idea of just how massive this glacier is.

As we got nearer we could see there was another cruise ship ahead of us.

They were on their way out and we passed them as we drew closer.

When the time came, it was very easy to board the boat as there was a gangway that went from the ship right onto the boat.  It was a pretty big boat with three decks with plenty of seating inside as well as outside deck viewing areas.  As usual, Val and I headed out to the outside decks where we spent almost the whole time.

Boarding the boat that would take us closer to the Hubbard Glacier.

We're on our way.

 

This is how far away the Glacier was as we left the ship, but we'll be getting much closer.

It wasn’t as cold as expected, except when the boat was going at a faster rate to make time, but other than that, we were quite comfortable the entire time.  The scenery in this area was just incredible, as I said before, there were snowcapped mountains coming down to the water’s edge and now we were getting very near the glacier that was spectacular by itself.

Looking back we left the ship far behind.

As we drew near Hubbard Glacier we could see a large group of sea lions on the rocks around the shore.  Unlike what we are used to at home, these sea lions were very active and very noisy.  As I said, the glacier itself was quite spectacular and the boat cruised along the face, turning at times to give us different points of view.  Looking back, you could see our ship in the distance as it made its way back out.  

 

Because of its immense size, it felt like we were very close, but we were actually a half mile away because it was unsafe to be closer due to the danger of the glacier calving (large chunks of ice breaking off and falling into the ocean).  We were surprised that we actually saw (and heard) quite a bit of the calving going on, it was amazing.   We would hear a very loud crack and everyone would be scanning the face of the glacier to see where the calving was.  It was very difficult trying to get pictures of it as there was just no way of knowing when or where it would happen.  Val caught a couple of them but we won’t know how well they turned out until we look at the pictures when we get back. 

It turns out Val got a great sequence of a glacier calving.  The darker area in the middle of a picture is a huge hunk of ice already starting to fall.  Keep in mind that the glacier is over 200 feet high above the waterline so the chunk that broke away is probably over 50 feet high.  Follow the sequence below as the pieces hit the water causing a huge splash almost halfway up the face of the glacier.

This tour is only two hours long and too soon it was time to get back to the ship.  The ship was on its way out, but we caught up and the boat’s captain did a great job of maneuvering into position and matching the ship’s speed until it could tie off and attach the gangplank.  It was quite a maneuver, but she had probably done this many times, but we were impressed.  We loved this tour, and it will probably end up being one of our favorites of the trip.  Being able to get so close to a glacier is something you can’t do on a big ship, so this was great.

Time to be on our way back leaving the Hubbard Glacier behind.

 

The ship is out there somewhere around the bend.

The captain uses the deck controls to maneuver the boat next to the ship.

With every one off, our tour boat heads to the small village of Yakutat, their base for the tourist season.  They said they have a house there where the whole crew stays.

We got back on board and immediately went to lunch and then I spent the afternoon downloading our pictures and writing up the blog for the last two days.  After that, we relaxed until dinner.  We had a good dinner and spent our time in the casino before calling it a night.  Our next port is Valdez, but we won't be arriving until noon so we will have another leisurely morning.