July 24 - Blue Mouse Cove - West side Glacier Bay

 

July 24 – Blue Mouse Cove – West side Glacier Bay

 

We woke up to a gray wet sky, very foggy. Not great for Glacier viewing but we’ll see.  

Glacier Bay National Park has over 1,000 glaciers but not all are visible by boat and only a few come down to or close to the water anymore.  Some fun facts.  The length of time it takes for a snowflake that falls in the mountains to emerge at the end, or terminus of the glacier varies depending on the down slope speed of that glacier.  But the ice at the face of the park’s glaciers is about 200 years old.

We headed up the west side viewing the Reid, Lamphugh, John Hopkins, Margerie, and Grand Pacific glaciers.  As we pulled up to the Lamphugh Glacier the Sea Life crew announced that we had just hit the 2,000 nautical mile mark for this Alaskan Adventure.  So we had to celebrate.  We stopped and tied the two boats together and had a champagne toast with the glacier behind us.    Photo op!   

   

 

We saw calving at the Lamphugh, John Hopkins, and Margerie Glaciers. 

  

We thought we noticed some differences in the glaciers since our previous two trips up here so, plan to review photos from 2008 and 2013 to compare to today.  The interesting part will be if I can find the correct photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reid

20-130 ft. above waterline, 0-10 feet below waterline, .75 miles wide, 9.5 miles long

This glacier is basically sitting on the tideline now at least at the tide level that we viewed it at this trip.  There is a wide sandy silt shoal out front of it.  Glen wanted to get close so he nosed Magic right up into the silt.  Her nose was on shore and her stern was in 17 feet of water.  Perfect!    At high tide which would be about 15-20 feet higher this glacier would be able to calve into the water.

 

 

 

 

Insert photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lamphugh

150-180 ft. above waterline, 10-40 feet below waterline, .75 miles wide, 16 miles long

 

 

 

 

 

Margerie

250 feet above waterline, 50-100 feet below waterline, 1 mile wide, 21 miles long

 

 

 

 

Grand Pacific

60-180 feet above waterline, 0-60 feet below waterline, 2 miles wide, 34.5 miles long

The Grand Pacific is the largest of the glaciers and also the dirtiest.  It basically looks like a big river of dirt with ice underneath.   Except for the 1^st few hundred feet back from the face, 99% of it is actually in Canada.  Seems odd that we are that close to Canada here.

 

 

John Hopkins

250 feet above waterline, 200 feet below waterline, 1 miles wide, 12.5 miles long

 

 

 

It was a great day, but the sun didn’t really come out.  Maybe tomorrow.   The Glaciers were of course beautiful and we did see some calving.  Also saw a baby seal on an iceberg waiting for its mom to come back from her swim, and lots of sea birds hanging out on the bergs.    

 

 

 

Favorite Photo – Margerie

 

Glacial shapes --- okay use your imagination – what is this? 

A knight riding a horse.

 

We called it a day when we got back as far as Russell Island and anchored in the bay for the night.