Back to the Glacier Bay week….
Last Monday dawned even more opaque with smoke. We could barely see Reid Glacier a mile away. The weather prediction was for smoke and low winds the next several days. We determined we would press ahead on our plan and see what happens.
Puffins! I got my wish – orange beaks appeared in the haze, the two birds floating on the water. These would be the only puffins we saw during the week.
We negotiated through many icebergs in Tarr Inlet on the way in to Margerie Glacier, particularly to avoid the smaller chewed up bits from the cruise ship in front of us. They reflected the sunlight in otherwise murky haze and appear like white beacons in the grey.
Cracking sounds were fairly frequent but no calving happened while we gazed at the glacier for an hour or so, although some ice did fall.
On our way out of Tarr Inlet we picked out seals lounging on icebergs, but sometimes what we thought were seals turned out to be very dirty ice. We really didn’t see any good examples of bergie ice to harvest for drinks this time.
We then headed into Johns Hopkins Inlet to see Lamplugh and Johns Hopkins Glacier. Lamplugh was easy to see with very few icebergs around it. It had a distinct blue tinge and an amphitheater of ice carved out of its’ face. As we approached Johns Hopkins though, the ice in the water became pretty dense and we decided the better call was to turn around rather than risk our propeller.
By the evening we made our way into Blue Mouse Cove, one of the recommended anchorages encompassed within a grassy and wooded cove made up of two islands and a peninsula. We anchored alone and woke up alone. Two cruise ships a day are allowed in Glacier Bay, and a total of 25 private vessels are allowed to be present on any given day, so we have not seen a lot of boat traffic.
Larry spotted a black bear disappearing into the woods in the evening, and I stayed up late listening to whales outside the cove and seeing their spouts. The greenery around us gave some contrast to the smoky hazy air around us and made us feel like it was not such an apocalyptic landscape.
MV Miss Miranda 