Category: Glaciers

Cruising College Fjord and flying home

My 21-day adventure on the Coral Princess is over. I’ve now been home for 27 hours and the ship is already so far gone from my mind that it could have been months ago that I was on her. At some point I’ll write up a full review and...
Read More

Rain in Skagway, sunshine in Glacier Bay

I said on my talk from the bridge last night that I’d be on deck looking for whales at 04:00 this morning, and there were people there to talk to me – I love enthusiastic passengers! The first hour (around Hoonah) was slow, but there were several humpbacks at...
Read More

Whales, glaciers & alpine flowers in Juneau

Even though I didn’t get to bed until well after midnight on Monday night, I was up at 04:30 this morning. My subconscious mind must have received a message about how beautiful the morning was. This photo was shot in Stephens Passage just north of the mouth of Tracy...
Read More

Cruising Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay

We docked at Skagway just after 05:00 this morning, and I’m killing time now until 10:00 when Cathy is going to meet me. She’s taken the day off work and is bringing the dogs down to see me. The past 2 days have been our glacier viewing days. Hubbard...
Read More

Cruising Glacier Bay on the Coral Princess

Today is the final full day of this voyage – tomorrow we dock at Whittier. It’s now 03:15, 1 hour and 8 minutes before sunrise, but it’s fairly bright outside. We’re just north of Yakutat, sailing on calm seas for Prince William Sound and College Fjord. We had an...
Read More

Arriving home (almost) by cruise ship and train

It’s a few minutes after 04:00 am, and we’re about 2½ hours away from picking up the NPS rangers at the mouth of Glacier Bay. It’s looking like a decent day, with a cloud ceiling at about 3,000 feet but no rain. I had a ball yesterday. I think...
Read More

Cruising Hubbard Glacier

It’s 05:00 and we’re sailing into Sitka harbor in a cold moderate rain. It was foggy a half-hour ago but that’s now clearing so we may yet get a decent day for our tour with Captain Davey. Regardless of weather, we have high hopes for sea otters and grey...
Read More

A magic dawn at the Bear Glacier

I had intended to post a fairly lengthy report about my trip home from Calgary, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I do want to show you a very special moment that happened during the trip, though. I left Stewart at 6:00 am (an hour before...
Read More

Being a tourist in your own area

You’ve all surely seen articles about being a tourist in your own town. I’m constantly amazed by the number of people who really have no idea what their town or area has that attracts visitors. In the Yukon, Whitehorse particularly, the percentage of such folks seems to have increased...
Read More

Glacier calving – how big are those splashes?

When you’re standing in front of a glacier, it’s usually all but impossible to get a sense of scale – there’s just nothing close to it that you can compare it to. If you get lucky and see the glacier calving, just how big is that splash?? On my...
Read More