Glacier Bay National Park

One of my favorite parts of our vacation was our cruise through Glacier Bay.  It was by far the most beautiful place I have ever seen.   Glacier Bay is a national park in the southern part of Alaska, and is home to some pretty impressive glaciers.  I don’t think it is possible to grasp just how large these glaciers are, and when you consider that you are only seeing about ½ of the ice above ground, their size becomes mind blowing.  Lee and I were so excited to go out on deck and check out the scenery.  We got ready for the day and walked up to the top deck at about 7:00 am.  Neither of us prepared for the cold weather!  It was FREEZING.  (Well almost, 38 degrees with 30 mph winds).  We tried to tough it out and take pictures but my hands starting going numb, so we had to go back into the ship to grab some gloves that my mom packed (Thanks, Mom!) and dress in some warmer clothes.  We were back out in a hurry to watch as we cruised farther into Glacier Bay.  Shortly after breakfast, we arrived at Margerie Glacier, which is 21 miles long.  It was incredible to see.  

 

While we were stopped in front of the glacier, we suddenly heard a loud crack that sounded like muffled thunder.  And right in front of us, a huge chunk of ice broke off the glacier. 

Action shot of the glacier ice breaking away from the body

The remaining ice was such a pretty blue.

 What we saw is called "glacier calving", and it happens at random.  Glaciers change continuously, and we were able to see an awesome example of that.  The ice remaining of the glacier after the piece broke off was the most beautiful blue color.  We spent the majority of the day outside in the cold just taking in the beauty of the area. 

 Our ship cruised through Glacier Bay for about 8 hours, so we had the opportunity to see a lot of amazing sights.  On the way out of Glacier Bay, we got our first glimpses humpback whales.  We saw the spouts of water shooting up from their blow holes in the distance.  Finally, a baby came up right beside the ship and gave us a little show. 

Baby humpback blow hole

Baby Whale's Tail

We also saw several otters and seals, but the whales were my favorite by far!
Once again, there aren’t any words that can really describe the beauty of everything we saw.  So I will just leave you all with some pictures to enjoy.  God’s work is pretty amazing, and I feel so blessed to have been able to experience this place.

 Enjoy your weekend :) and GO COCKS!

-Gina