It was 6am when we arrived in College Fjord, located in the north-western part of Alaska's
Prince William Sound. The Fjord cuts 40km into the heart of the rugged Chugach Mountains
and contains five tidewater glaciers which terminate in the ocean. Five large valley
glaciers and dozens of smaller glaciers can also be seen.
Members of the Harriman Expedition, which explored the region in 1899, named the glaciers
in the Fjord after some of the country's oldest eastern universities. The two largest
are called Harvard and the Isle.
Whilst visiting the Fjord, we were lucky enough to see a couple of sea otters. They're
the largest member of the Weasel family. It's also the second smallest marine mammal.
Sea otters have been hunted almost to extinction by the early 1900s. Considered conservation
efforts since that time, however, have seen their numbers rebound.
Sailing through Glacier Bay today, we enter an area that was completely covered by ice
just over 200 years ago. By 1916, the Grand Pacific Glacier credited with carving the
bay and melted back nearly 100km to the head of what is now tar inlet.
Glacier ice is very dense due to the immense amounts of pressure that occurred during its
formation. This is what causes it to have a bluish tinge.
The retreat of the bay's tidewater glaciers continues today through a process called carving,
where pieces, some small, some large, break off and form many icebergs.
bay is restricted by the National Park Service. We were lucky that ours was
allowed up close to see these wonders of nature.
The John Hopkins Glacier is the only major tidewater glacier that is advancing further
into the water. This is a relatively fast moving glacier. The ice moves at about 3000
feet a year.
There's something just truly relaxing about cruising. Here we are, sitting in our stateroom,
watching this magnificent scenery drift by.
