CRUISE WEST TRAVELOGUE NO. 5 - GLACIER BAY

CRUISE WEST TRAVELOGUE NO. 5

SPIRIT OF YORKTOWN

GOLD RUSH INSIDE PASSAGE – JUNEAU TO SEATTLE

August 15, 2010 to August 25, 2010

GLACIER BAY

The next morning we awoke to heavy fog and rain. We pulled into Bartlett Cove to the ranger station to bring on board our forest ranger and Tlingit Indian at 5:45 a.m. and then began our way into Glacier Bay – an excursion that would take us 60 miles back into see Marjorie Glacier and the Grand Pacific Glacier. One of the interesting places we passed on our journey into Glacier Bay National Park was the Marble Islands. This is an area that is designated to protecting nesting birds. As we crept closer, we could see the boulders covered with stellar sea lions near the waters’ edge. Then, as the fog lifted a little, we could see black cormorants and white kittiwakes – nesting birds – all perched on the higher rocks of the islands. We could hear the sea lions barking and could see some of them jumping into the frigid glacier waters below. Further on, we came upon our first sighting of puffins. These plump little birds were floating in the icy water proudly. They have a black neck and back with white sides of their head and breast. Their most noticeable feature is their bright orange bill. The puffins we saw were tufted puffins because of the yellow tufts of feathers that curl back from each side of their head.

There were a few sea otters in the distance, but we never got close enough to get decent pictures of them. At one point, one of the crew members pointed out several of them swimming together almost forming what appeared to be a log. These furry mammals were almost hunted to extinction by the Russian fur traders in the 1860’s. They were given full protection in 1911 under the Fur Seal Treaty that was signed by the United States, Great Britain, Russia and Japan. We also saw a humpback whale in the distance.

There was a misty rain falling for most of the morning. The Captain took us into a cove at one point on our journey back into the park. The fog was almost lining the curves of the mountains as they gently met the ocean waters. The aquamarine color of the water was incredible as well as how calm and still the water was. There was not a ripple on it. It was so peaceful and serene and I could not help just stand there in awe of the entire majestic wilderness before me. This beautiful place will forever remain just as it is today thanks for the preservation efforts of people like John Muir.

Later in the morning, our Tlingit (pronounced Klingit) native Alice Haldane spoke to us about her heritage. She is the grandchild of the Wolf clan, the original people of Glacier Bay. Tlingit means “the people”. The Tlingit natives were run out of Glacier Bay because the Grand Pacific Glacier was moving forward. It destroyed all of their homes and artwork. Glacier Bay was the Tlingit homeland and now means “the bay in place of the glacier”, according to Alice. The Tlingit tribe moved to Hooneah or Icy Strait Point on Chichagof Island to wait for the ice to release in Glacier Bay. Unfortunately, that did not happen soon enough and after the turn of the century and the formation of the National Park in 1925, much of the Tlingit homeland was incorporated in the park land and thus prohibited activities of the Tlingit there. Hoonah means “village by the cliff” in the Tlingit language and Hooneah became Hoonah in 1901. The Tlingit tribe did not return to Glacier Bay for many years. The National Park Service maintained relations with the Tlingit and recently has encouraged them to return to the park where they can carry out some of their traditions. They have also been encouraged to return on boat trips for the children and the tribe natives to come back and learn about how this all figures in to their spirituality. Alice seemed genuinely appreciative that she was “allowed” to return into the park on our Cruise West boat and to share her heritage with us. She ended her talk by saying “Gunalchéesh” (Thank you) and “Tsoo Ye Lek’waa sa Teen” (Until we meet again). Alice was very interesting to listen to, and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing her speak about her people.

Around 1:00 in the afternoon, The Spirit of Yorktown arrived at the face of Marjorie Glacier and Grand Pacific Glacier. Because of the fog and rain, it was difficult to see the massive ice mass before us. The green glacier waters below had a few icebergs floating in the glassy waters here and there. Because of the weather conditions, it was difficult to see the glacier face all at the same time. We were encouraged when the fog would lift for a moment and we would get a glimpse of the towers of ice – but we never got to see the truly incredible river of ice as we have seen before on earlier cruises. We were further disappointed when the Captain left Marjorie Glacier after only being there for about half an hour because The Spirit of Yorktown only moved at 12 knots, and we had to be out of the park by a certain time. On our way out of Glacier Bay, the Captain did slow down at one point to show us a faraway glimpse of Lampugh Glacier; but those were our only glacier sightings for the day. We stopped at Bartlett Cove to drop off our ranger and Alice before we headed west between Baranof and Chichagof Island through Peril Strait to Sitka which would be our next port-of-call.

That evening after dinner, David talked about Sitka and its’ Russian heritage. When we returned to our cabin after his talk, we were surprised to have received a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries from the crew of The Yorktown in celebration of our Tenth anniversary. We shared the champagne the next evening at dinner.