Capturing the Moment

    This is the Alaska that I see in my mind when I close my eyes and daydream about being back there. Water, so calm that it reflects the mountains and sky. Ice filled glaciers that can be the purest form of blue I know. And rugged landscapes, totally devoid of the touch of humans. No boardwalks, no cars, no ticket booths, just wilderness. It was a picture perfect day at Northwestern Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. Like most of Alaska, there was not another person around for miles. It was just our little expedition cruise ship and our thirty passengers. The water was calm, almost like a mirror, reflecting the jaw-dropping scenery of the fjord. There was much less ice floating in the water than last time, but I still had high hopes that the guests would be able to see a calving, where chunks of ice as big as buildings fall off the glacier face and crash into the water. My plan was to get everyone on either kayaks or small boats, to give them a more intimate look at the ...

  One of my favorite pictures from the trip. Our kayak team sits in a sea of ice, watching and feeling giant pieces of ice calving off the face of Northwestern Glacier. Kenai Fjords National Park is located on the Kenai peninsula, just south of Anchorage, Alaska. It is where we finished our ten day expedition, at a place called Northwestern Glacier. The huge Harding Ice Field sits in the high coastal mountains here, and multiple glaciers tumble out of the ice field, winding their way down to the ocean below. Northwestern is where one of these glaciers meets the ocean. We had never been there before as a company, so this was a true expeditionary moment. We traveled for miles down the fjord without seeing the glacier. The water was calm and the wind was non existent. These are perfect recipes for adventuring by kayak and small boats. There is a bend in the fjord which provides an unveiling moment where you finally see the glacier. We had planned to just check it out with the big boat...