Mountains along Glacier Bay. (549k)
I had booked a 10-day cruise with the Seawolf, a small passenger ship with only 6 cabins. The cruise started in Gustavus and ended in Juneau 10 days later.
I was a great trip, the small size of the ship made for a great, close experience. The crew of 6 was fantastic, the made great efforts to accommodate everyone. I had back problems so I could not go on the longer hikes with the other passengers. Several times, the crew delegated one of them to accompany me on individual walks. The kayak excursions were great, we got fairly close to some glaciers (not too close, in case a glacier calves, which will send quite a wave down the inlet).
The chef on the ship was fantastic, the food was out of this world. We had fresh bread every day, and lots of fruit. The food was delicious and plenty. The chef accommodated any special requests anyone had.
The cabins were fairly small (what you would expect), but comfortable with shower and toilet. The Seawolf always anchored for the night.
Altogether it was a great experience, despite the rain and the cold.
I flew into Gustavus and stayed there one night. The next morning we were brought to the port to board the Seawolf. A short while later the Seawolf got under way and headed north into Glacier Bay. Our first stop was Tidal Inlet, where we had a kayak excursion. From there we continued to Russel Island. We stayed off Russel Island for the first night.
The next day we went to the Reid Glacier for a walking tour to the glacier. From there we sailed past the Lamplugh Glacier to the Johns Hopkins Glacier, which we visited by kayak. I was a great excursion to the glacier. From there we sailed back to Russel Island for the next overnight stay.
The next day we went to the Lamplugh Glacier, where we had a hiking excursion. We saw small icebergs on the beach, stranded by low tide. Some of them had quite bizarre shapes.
We then headed back to Gustavus. One of the passengers had tested positive for COVID so he had to leave the ship for 5 days. He later joined us again.
In Gustavus we did a walk around the local woods. I have never seen so many mushrooms in one area, it was a great walk. Back on board, the Seawolf moved off the dock and anchored nearby for the next night.
The next day we sailed to Point Adolphus on Chichagof Island. I did a nice hike along the shore on Point Adolphus, just me and one of the crew. My guide was very knowledgeable about plants and animals, so I took a lot of pictures of plants that I would never have seen alone. It was a great experience.
From Point Adolphus we sailed to Hoonah, where we anchored for the next night.
The next morning we continued south to the strait between Admiralty Island and Chichagof Island. There we watched a most amazing event: Bubble-net feeding North Pacific Humpback Whales. It was spectacular seeing 10-12 whales feeding together (see Humpback Whales). A bit further south, we sailed up Freshwater Bay, where we stayed overnight.
The next day we continued south to the Tenakee inlet and docked at Tenakee Springs. We walked around this picturesque little town and visited the local small museum. From there we sailed into Crab Bay, opposite Tenakee Springs, where we saw an ABC Islands Brown Bear. We anchored off Tenakee Springs for the night.
The next day we sailed into Basket Bay, where we had a nice kayak excursion. From there we sailed further south to Baranof Island. Our first stop there was Takatz Bay, where we had a nice kayak excursion. We stayed in Takatz Bay for the night.
From Takatz Bay there we sailed south to Warm Springs Bay. We had a nice hike there, and after that a soak in a bathtub with water from the hot spring. An unexpected side effect of the bath was that the sulfur in the hot spring water turned my silver bracelet black. We continued further south to the southern tip of Admiralty Island where we had an interesting kayak excursion. At first the water was fairly calm. We went into a small bay with calm water. We kayaked through a natural doorway in the cliffs. When we came to the other side of the small island, the seas got rough. They got so rough that our guides decided to ask the captain to relocate the Seawolf into calmer water so we could more easily get back on board from the kayaks. We continued east along the south shore of Admiralty Island via Point Gardner to Pybus Bay, where we anchored for the night.
From Pybus Bay we headed east into Stephens Passage between Admiralty Island and the mainland. On one of the islands in the passage is a colony of Eastern Steller Sea Lions, a threatened species. From there we continued north to the Endicott Arm. Here we saw an Alaskan Moose. We stayed there for the night.
The next morning we sailed into the arm and turned into Ford's Terror, a very scenic bay. It is called Ford's Terror because during incoming and outgoing tides there is a very vicious current where a small peninsula almost closes off the bay and leaves only a small channel, through which the tide rushes. I decided not to go on the kayak excursion into the bay, instead the captain drove three of us into the bay on the skiff.
From Ford's Terror we headed north to Juneau, the end of the cruise.
I stayed two nights in Juneau, I had planned to go on a sightseeing flight from Juneau. Unfortunately the weather was bad, I didn't get to see the area from the air.
Below are pictures of the landscapes and glaciers. The pictures of plants and animals are in USA Birds and USA Nature.
All pictures are © Dr. Günther Eichhorn, unless otherwise noted.
Johns Hopkins Glacier is the largest glacier that we visited. What surprised me was the fact that glaciers are loud. The Johns Hopkins Glacier constantly crackles and pops and small pieces break off. If a large piece should break off it could be dangerous in the kayaks. We were warned to turn towards the glacier if that happens to meet the resulting wave head on.
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