Sailing to Alaska, Day 7 – Hubbard Glacier
Glacier cruising days are often a major highlight of an Alaska cruise, whether you’re sailing Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier, Collee Fiord or Tracy Arm. But occasionally, heavy ice or other conditions can turn a potential highlight into a large disappointment, so I’m always somewhat anxious about this day. My last visit to Hubbard Glacier, on the Coral Princess in 2010, was my most disappointing ever.
Sailing through Yakutat Bay, watching the glacier on TV while we got dressed for the chilly weather.
There was a light rain falling and it wasn’t clear to me what the day might bring – forecasts have been very inaccurate, always to our benefit 🙂
Looking good!
Looking bad! This much ice will stop many ships, but our captain kept slowly pushing through.
The helicopter pad on the bow is always the most popular spot, but getting a spot on the rail can be tough, so up top is usually a better choice.
The Turner Glacier to the left of Hubbard.
The peaks along the north shore of Disenchantment Bay.
Calving is what most of us want to see, and we got what we were looking for, many times!
Hubbard appears to be close to damming Russell Fiord again this year.
Easier viewing from the upper decks – the Celebrity Millennium is one of the best ships I’ve been on in terms of open viewing areas (as well as many other things).
More calving. To the left is a cave formed by meltwater from the middle of the glacier.
More calving into the little space left between the glacier and Gilbert Point.
Formal nights and the glacier days are the money periods for the ship photographers but not many people seemed to want their services, so they practised on each other 🙂
Crash!
Looking straight down from the upper deck as we sailed away from the glacier just after 9:30.
We went to naturalist Dirk Younkerman’s final presentation at noon. Having him on board is a great benefit, and it was nice to see that his talks were fairly well attended.
The seas got a bit rough as we sailed toward Seward, but the ship was very stable.
Following our track on the TV – approaching Kayak Island.
Our view of Kayak Island.
Reading “Yukon, North of Ordinary” magazine while crossing the Gulf of Alaska.
The view at 10:32 pm.
At 10:44, we saw a colourful sundog to the left of the setting sun for a few minutes.
Our cruise ends early tomorrow morning in Seward, but the adventure isn’t over yet. We start the next stage with a ride on the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage.
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