Blue Ice (not the airplane kind)
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Hubbard Glacier Geological Area, Alaska, United States
We are cruising the Hubbard Glacier today . Our overnight
course is due east. Captain Goran Peterson, a Swede, has been with Royal
Caribbean for nearly twelve years. This ship, by the way, is the sister ship to
the Brilliance of the Seas which was my home for an Arabian Sea Christmas
cruise almost two years ago. According to his biography, he has previously
served on that ship. Our Cruise Director is an American named Paul Rutter. He
is, as are all CDs, exuberant and effusive but not offensively so.
Captain Goran, as he calls himself, maneuvers us to within a
thousand yards of the glacier face. Almost dead in the water and surrounded by
silence we hear the cracking of the ice which echoes as would thunder across
the bay. It is chilly on deck with temperatures in the low forties, mist, and
wind while we are underway but dry, dead air as we come to a stop. Icebergs of
various sizes surround us as sheets of ice calve from the glacier and slide
into the sea sending waves of water toward Radiance. We feel nothing from these
waves . The Captain sends a launch out to retrieve a piece of ice which will be
carved into some form or artwork to adorn a dining venue. We are told that this
piece of ice is about three thousand years old.
Ahead of us is the opening to Russell Fjord which is at the
base of the Hubbard Glacier. A couple of times the glacier has blocked the
mouth to this long fjord but it is wide open and navigable now. We don't go there.
After a couple of hours of watching the ice, deep blue and alive, we swing out
and head southeast for an overnight sail to Juneau. We are scheduled to berth
at 9:00am tomorrow, Sunday, September 1.
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