Hubbard Glacier

June 25, 2012
This was a sea day, but we were going to be sailing up to the Hubbard Glacier. Honestly, after South Sawyer and Mendenhall glaciers I thought I was done with glaciers. They looked almost identical and I thought "Ok, that's what glaciers look like, I'm good." I figured I would just watch the scenery from a comfy spot inside, instead of out on the bow like I did with South Sawyer (Tracy Arm).

We went to a presentation on the glacier early in the afternoon by a park Ranger and he actually managed to get me excited about seeing it. The size and scope of it were unlike the other two I had seen. I still didn't want to be outside for hours though, so after the presentation, we just happened to walk by one of the bars with a great view and an empty table right near the windows. We plopped down there and had a great time viewing everything.

My plan was to stay there until we got as far in as we were going to get, then get my video camera from the cabin and go out on the aft deck to get some footage of the glacier as well as something called the Polar Bear Plunge. The ship's crew had drained the aft swimming pool when we were in Kodiak, and had refilled it with ice-cold water. I don't know if it was salt water from the bay we were travelling through or just cold fresh water. Regardless, anyone who wanted to, could dive in when we were near the glacier and get a certificate that they were in the Polar Bear Club. I thought it would be fun to watch.

Several people came and shared our table with us during the afternoon. The last couple was very pleasant--Bill and Kathleen. I mentioned my plan to take photos of the Polar Bear Plunge and Kathleen had the best line. She said while gesturing out the window, "This is Beauty! Why photograph Crazy?" :)

When we got as close to the glacier as we were going to get, I did run back to my cabin to grab my camera and ran into one of the people that did the plunge. He looked to be about 16 and he was shivering like mad, but you could tell he was proud of himself. Good for him :)

Outside on the bow, I was able to hear the thunder of the glacier calving, and see some of them spraying ice before breaking off the wall. So cool :)