Day 65 Ends @ Columbia Glacier

Had we stuck with our original booking for the Columbia Glacier Cruise, we might have had better weather. But we wanted to go out on a day when there were fewer people booked on the 149-passenger Glacier Spirit. We got our wish. There were only 50 people booked today. But we got caught out by rain and fog instead. And the waters of Prince William Sound were fairly rough at times ... especially on the return leg. C’est La Vie!

Born in the Chugach Mountains, Columbia Glacier was first surveyed in 1794. At the time, it was at the mouth of the bay we traversed today. The glacier’s terminus remained there until the 1980s when it began a fast-retreat. To see Columbia Glacier this afternoon, we had to traverse 15 miles or so into the bay. The retreat will slow down when the terminus reaches bedrock. Whether it will then begin to advance is something no one knows.

One of the things Columbia Glacier is known for is the amount of ice it discharges on a regular basis. The glacier did not calve for us today, but we did have to navigate through a lot of brash ice ... with the occasional iceberg that we stayed well clear of. Luckily, the captain was able to get pretty close to the west branch of the glacier, thus increasing visibility and improving our visit greatly.

Our wildlife encounters were plentiful ... sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals, a couple of humpback whales, a pod of playful Dall porpoises, bald eagles sitting atop tree tops, orcas feeding not far from the boat. Alas, it was raining most of the time, so I refrained from taking out the camera, recording the encounters in my brain instead.

Was the cruise perfect? No. But we made the most of the “weather hand” we were dealt and left the boat smiling after our trip.Read more