Hubbard Glacier

One of our stops in Alaska was the Hubbard Glacier. My first experience was with one captain who held us at quite the distance from the Glacier ~ generally we held at 7 nautical miles from the glacier. This might have been good for the binocular sales, but was disappointing for others that we weren't getting a closer look.

With the change of captains, also came a change in approach to visiting the glacier. Our first time in, we came withing 1.5 nautical miles and then our closest approach was .75 nautical miles. You realize the immenseness of the ice mass. We were close enough to be able to hear the ice calve or break off into the ocean. Despite the fact that the ice was breaking off into the sea at a relatively consistant rate, we have been told by the naturalist that Glacier is actually growing.

I'm not sure that you can appreciate how large the glacier is until you actually get close to it. Even in the pictures, while you can tell it is big, you see in some of the last photos, that it really is quite a massive entity. I wish I would have paid more attention to the naturalists talks, as he gave statistical data which would have given more empahsis to the size ~ such as the average chunk of ice that calves is about the size of an automobile.

From a distance:




Closer to the ice:

The ice flow just in front of the Glaciers


And a wee iceburg

As we pulled away...

I am always amazed by the blue hue of the glaciers ~ definitely one of my favourite colours.