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| National Park Service - Glacier Bay National Park - Icy Straits, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
THE LAST "stop" on our itinerary before reaching our final port and debarkation, was Glacier Bay National Park. The park is actually over 3 million acres of rugged and essentially uninhabited mountains, glaciers, shorelines, and even rainforest. We didn't see any of that except on huge glacier making its way inexorably into the bay. Instead, we cruised into Glacer Bay, itself 65 miles long, primarily to observe The Margerie Glacier and maybe get lucky enough to see it "calving."
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| The Margerie Glacier - Glacier Bay National Park - Icy Straits, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
THE BAY is open to only 2 cruise ships a day, and limited private boating (by permit only), in addition to the excursion boats operated by, or in contract with, the Park Service. As the ship enters the bay, it is boarded by Park Service Naturalists who accompany the boat during the time in the bay, as well as presenting to the passengers. We saw, in addition to the spectacular scenery, a fair amount of wildlife, including a couple black bears that were too far off to photography.
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| Floating Ice - Glacier Bay National Park - Icy Straits, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 |
THE MARGERIE Glacier was the main event. Our ship cruised pretty close to the base of the glacier and then sat for a long time, turning once to allow all passengers a view. As we watched, we hoped for a significant calving event. Unfortunately we did not see a major "calving" event.
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| Floating Ice - Glacier Bay Natioal Park - Icy Straits, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
AS I watched over the side, I was impressed by the huge chunks of ice floating in the clearly freezing-cold water, many of them displaying interesting and sometimes vivid colors.
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| Margerie Glacier - Glacier Bay National Park - Icy Straits, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 |
THE BLUE color you see predominantly in the glaciers is caused by the dense icepack absorbing the colors of the "warm" spectrum (reds, oranges, yellows) and reflecting the cooler (blue) color spectrum.
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| The Margerie Glacier - Glacier Bay National Park - Icy Straits, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
THE BLACK, mostly horizontal lines through the glaciers are made by deposits on top of the ice of minerals, smoke, dust and rock particles, recovered by snow and reformed ice. It all makes for a pretty photogenic, if pastel, palette.
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| Pilot Boat - Icy Straits, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 |
SAILING OUT of Glacier Bay and on toward our final port of call, Whittier, we had calm seas, but very cold conditions. I couldn't help but think how brutal this environment can be and how incredibly cold it would be out there on a smaller craft. I thought the black and white rendering of this image got my primary thought - cold - across well.
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| Icy Straits Passage from Glacier Bay to Wittier, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
WHITTIER IS a tiny Alaska town whose demographic is fascinating. Serving mainly the purpose of a small, sheltered seaport, the majority of Whittier's inhabitants work in the marine industry, mostly for the cruise port there which is operated by Princess (and is the point of beginning and end for the one-way inside passage cruises by Princess and Holland America cruise ships). Historically a portage point for the Chugach native people, it later was used by Russian and U.S. explorers, as well as serving as a launch point during the Klondike Gold Rush. During World War II, the United States built a military base (Camp Sullivan) nearby. Improvements, including a spur of the Alaska Railroad to Camp Sullivan, an oil terminal and a pipeline from Whitter to Anchorage. The army maintained its presence until 1960. In 1941, a tunnel was excavated through the mountain separating Whittier from other parts of Alaska, train travel (mostly industrial) was able to move between Whittier and Anchorage and other points. There were no roads in and out of Whittier. Previously mainly a military-industrial outpost and a port on the Alaska Marine Highway, Whittier was incorporated in 1968. It was not until 2000, however that the tunnel was converted into a "bi-modal" transportation route, for both passenger vehicles and train travel.
Begich Towers . . . continues today to be the primary housing in Whittier
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| Sunrise from the aft deck of Diamond Princess in Whittier, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 |
THE OTHER fascinating tidbit about Whittier is its population and housing situation. The population is less than 300. Almost all of them live in a single, high-rised condominium. As you can see from my photo of Whittier below, there is virtually no separate single family housing. In fact, aside from the two multi-occupancy buildings to the left and right of the image, there is essentially no other housing. Unique. Only two residential building were built in Whittier, the Buckner Building in 1953, and later, the Hodge Building in 1957. Both were multi-occupancy buildings. For reasons unknown to me, the Buckner Building was eventually abandoned. The Hodge Building was renamed to Begich Towers and continues today to be the primary housing in Whittier. On its ground floor, it houses the 3-person Whittier Police force, and a drugstore and grocery/convenience store. There is a tunnel from the building to the Whittier School, allowing students to go to and from school in any weather. It has become known as "the city under one roof." Sounds kind of like one of those "utopian" domes. As I said: Fascinating.
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| The city and port of Whittier, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved ALTHOUGH WE took the Princess coach that morning back to our hotel in Anchorage, and we made a couple stops along the way, they were mostly anti-climactic and my lasting memory of the final day of that cruise will be that Whittier sunrise. It was a brand new adventure for us. Our first cruise. As I said at the beginning of this series of posts, I didn't know whether I would like it or not. It turns out we did. A lot. And even though it would be 2 more years before we cruised again, we began to look forward to the next one, and that has been the pattern ever since. Next up: The Caribbean. |
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