Monday, August 16- Glacier Kayaking

 

I slept longer than I had in any of the past 3 nights- almost 9 hours.  Good thing- as promised, I got the kayak paddle, which was my first choice, at 8:45 AM.  First, though, the wicked pastry cook had tempted me with yet another breakfast item with frosting, a cinnamon muffin with cream-cheese frosting.

 

A spray skirt.  Not a flattering look but it fits over the open cockpit in the kayak and keeps you from getting wet.

The view behind us was almost as beautiful as the view in front of us. The Fairweather Mountains are seen only in....fair weather.  We were fortunate!

Things do tend to work out for the best.  I would not have wanted to miss that kayak paddle.  We came very close to the face of Lamplough Glacier, which has receded enough that it was no longer a tidal glacier (i.e., not touched by ocean currents) and this less likely to produce major calving.  Calving in a large tidal glacier can be dramatic- an iceberg breaking off causes an ominous cracking sound and then the piece crashes into the water, setting up waves that can endanger ships.

I couldn't get a good shot of the entire glacier at once.  The lower picture shows the edge, where you can clearly see all the debris the glacier has dragged along with it.

The brown streaks on the bottom and at the sides show the rocks and soil scrubbed up and carried away as the glacier advances. Life and vegetation must start anew with lichens and the plants that follow after the glacier recedes.  The vivid blue color on the left side is due to the way the light is refracted through the crystalline structure.

I finally remembered to bring my Garmin Edge, which is set up for bicycle rides, and recorded this trip.

We were definitely little fish in a big bay.

After lunch, I took another nap.  I was thinking how nice it would have been if the headboard of the bed faced the window… and realized all I needed to do was move a couple of pillows to the wall at the foot of the bed.. and I had a bed with a view.

I woke up just before they announced we’d be cruising near Gloomy Point, where mountain goats were often sighted.  (The far less-gloomy Tlingit name for the place translated as “the place of the mountain goats”.)  Sure enough, we sighted several.  I’d given up on carrying cameras with multiple cumbersome lenses years ago but was beginning to wish I had a telephoto lens.  We also saw puffins in the water.  I love puffins but had never seen them in the wild despite two previous trips to Alaska, two to Iceland and one to the Orkneys so I was happy.

That is a puffin at lower right.  Trust me.  :-)

Dinner included king crab legs at the buffet- not something I indulged in at home but maybe something I should pick up at Costco.