Westerdam to Glacier Bay 2016

On Saturday, August 27th, we took a cab for the short ride from home to Seattle's Cruise Terminal at Pier 91 to board Holland America's Westerdam. The highlight of the trip was to see the glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. Here are a few photos from our journey (except the first one which we snapped a couple of weeks earlier).

Holland America's Westerdam
arriving Seattle early morning, August 13th
This is the ship we're taking to see the glaciers.

Lots of happy cruisers waiting to "embark" ... fancy word for
board the ship.  August 27th, 2016.

John relaxing on deck. The ship prints a little daily news
provided by the New York Times.

Approaching the glacier area.

Rangers from Glacier Bay National Park preparing to board
our ship. The Rangers go the extra mile(s) to greet their visitors!
There are no roads to or in this National Park!

A few brave soles out on deck as we arrive in Glacier Bay.
It is quite chilly and a bit windy to boot.

A National Park Ranger tells us what to expect from our visit.

The day is cloudy but the Ranger says the visibility is excellent and
we are lucky as there are some days with fog.

Starting to see the glaciers up on the mountain tops.

"Framed" view.

Retreating glacier.

We are headed to Margarie Glacier. It's just to the right of
center in this photo.

Folks gather on decks to start taking a million photos.
We are doing the same. Someone called us a
"clicker nut".

Here we are at Margarie Glacier. This is the goal. We will stay
here for about 45 minutes. Plenty of time for photos and reflection.
This is a pano put together from several shots.
Height of ice from water to top about 250 feet.

Closer look

Another close up

A screen capture from Google Earth to show you
the SCALE of things here. The cruise ship that happens
to be in the image could just as well have been ours.

Another glacier in retreat.

A different "tidewater" glacier near Margarie.

We are amazed at the solid rock wall carved by ice.

This glacier had experienced a land-slide on it's right side.

Leaving Glacier Bay.

As we leave most folks are inside enjoying a hot chocolate or
other refreshing beverage. :-)

Later in the afternoon the skies cleared a bit.
Needless to say, when the sky clears up here it is as blue as can be!

Last look back at the mountains on this day.

It looked like a great sunset in the works.

Classic "at sea" sunset!

Read more about Margarie Glacier here. Thanks for going along with us on the trip. We will cover some additional highlights in future posts.