Saturday, September 17, 2016

Westerdam to Glacier Bay 2016

On Saturday, August 27th, we took a cab for the short ride from home to Seattle's Cruise Terminal at Pier 91 to board Holland America's Westerdam. The highlight of the trip was to see the glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. Here are a few photos from our journey (except the first one which we snapped a couple of weeks earlier).

Holland America's Westerdam
arriving Seattle early morning, August 13th
This is the ship we're taking to see the glaciers.

Lots of happy cruisers waiting to "embark" ... fancy word for
board the ship.  August 27th, 2016.

John relaxing on deck. The ship prints a little daily news
provided by the New York Times.

Approaching the glacier area.

Rangers from Glacier Bay National Park preparing to board
our ship. The Rangers go the extra mile(s) to greet their visitors!
There are no roads to or in this National Park!

A few brave soles out on deck as we arrive in Glacier Bay.
It is quite chilly and a bit windy to boot.

A National Park Ranger tells us what to expect from our visit.

The day is cloudy but the Ranger says the visibility is excellent and
we are lucky as there are some days with fog.

Starting to see the glaciers up on the mountain tops.

"Framed" view.

Retreating glacier.

We are headed to Margarie Glacier. It's just to the right of
center in this photo.

Folks gather on decks to start taking a million photos.
We are doing the same. Someone called us a
"clicker nut".

Here we are at Margarie Glacier. This is the goal. We will stay
here for about 45 minutes. Plenty of time for photos and reflection.
This is a pano put together from several shots.
Height of ice from water to top about 250 feet.

Closer look

Another close up
A screen capture from Google Earth to show you
the SCALE of things here. The cruise ship that happens
to be in the image could just as well have been ours.


Another glacier in retreat.

A different "tidewater" glacier near Margarie.

We are amazed at the solid rock wall carved by ice.

This glacier had experienced a land-slide on it's right side.

Leaving Glacier Bay.

As we leave most folks are inside enjoying a hot chocolate or
other refreshing beverage. :-)

Later in the afternoon the skies cleared a bit.
Needless to say, when the sky clears up here it is as blue as can be!

Last look back at the mountains on this day.

It looked like a great sunset in the works.

Classic "at sea" sunset!
Read more about Margarie Glacier here. Thanks for going along with us on the trip. We will cover some additional highlights in future posts.

17 comments:

  1. they are vanishing marvels. what a nice trip to take!

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  2. ohhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhh

    I'm so glad you took us along. So many flavors on Mother's Earth.

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  3. Awesome scenery John. I enjoyed seeing not only the scenery but the ship you were on and the indoor setting for the "talks".

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  4. What a great cruise. Great sunsets.

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  5. WOW! That would be an amazing experience.If I ever get to go on a cruise,it would have to be to Alaska.

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  6. Hello John, your photos are wonderful. I love seeing the glaciers. This post brings back many memories of our cruise to Alaska and Glacier Bay. My hubby stayed on top deck the whole time we were in Glacier Bay. The last sunset shot is beautiful. Happy Sunday, enjoy your new week ahead!

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  7. Oh I wish I was on this trip looks like something quite amazing to see😂

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  8. What a wonderful trip, John. And I'm so happy you took all those pictures so you could share it with me! Simply magnificent. :-)

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  9. The reflection of the ship you took while arriving was a sight to behold. It looks majestic.

    You surely had fun. And great pictures!

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  10. wow what a lovely trip ,i can feel the peace and beauty of that glacier area ,pics are mesmerizing reflection of ship lights is so beautiful .glacier is outstanding

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  11. Impressive pictures from you trip. Wow those glaciers are awesome.

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  12. Thank you so much John, for all the nice pics. L ove to see YOU, relaxing. And the sun and the ice. Very special. Thanks for sharing.

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  13. Hey, John. YOu're a no-reply commentor, so replying to you here. I haven't carried my camera around with me on a neighborhood walk since my pack went from three senior dogs to include a rambunctious little girl. She made it hard to take a picture on leash. (Though there is a park nearby I used to take them to run around off-leash...but then Sissy always finds water to muck in, or something to roll in...so don't much do that anymore, either. So my photography is mostly on my once a week hike. Distance depends on the where. Five miles of fun terrain makes a good hike. I've limped through a 12 mile loop. My urban jaunts...often on my mountain bike, can go twenty miles. Have to stay young some how *big smile*

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  14. The boat photos remind me of the Titanic movie. Well, the fun parts at the beginning! :)

    Love the sky shots.

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  15. Love that first photo of the ship with the lights reflecting in the water. Neat to see the glaciers and retreating glaciers in the mountains. You did an awesome job on that panorama of the Margarie Glacier. It looks pretty neat!! I couldn't resist clicking the photo to see the larger view. I also like the appearance of the tidewater glacier. And relaxing with a cup of hot chocolate to watch that sunset sounds like a great experience. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

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