Capturing the Moment

  Our first look at Tiger Glacier. In the far southwest reaches of Prince William Sound, there is a protected fjord known as Icy Bay. I love to visit here because we always have it all to ourselves, and the scenery is second to none. The wall of the fjord crater up to thousands of feet, waterfalls tumbled down the sheer sides, mountains goats scamper in impossible spots along the cliffs, and a massive glacier, filled with blue ice, slow motions tumbles into the sea at the end. Last week we were blocked from access to the face of the glacier because the surface of the ocean was frozen solid for about a mile. I even got out and walked on it, just to test it. The fact that I didn't fall through, made me think that this ice was here to stay for awhile. So imagine my surprise when we showed up this morning, and got closer, and closer, and closer, until finally, we were at the face of the glacier. The guests awed at the deep blue ice in the glacier, and then, suddenly, a huge chunk calve...

Ice Garden at LeConte Glacier Bay  LeConte Glacier is the southernmost tidewater glacier in the United States. It empties about 12 miles southeast of the fishing town of Petersburg. The fish packing plant at Petersburg gained prominence early on for using the abundant ice breaking off from the nearby glacier to pack the fresh fish and ship it to far off places like San Francisco.   LeConte glacier has receded about 9 miles from its terminal moraine. Now, a very shallow mud bar is all that remains to show how far the glacier once advanced to. This bar is a worry to boats trying to navigate through these waters, but it creates a pretty incredible sight just inside of it. All of these huge icebergs created by the actively calving glacier get grounded on the shallow bar and remain stuck inside the bay until they finally break apart or melt away. It was my goal to anchor safely outside the bar, then use small zodiacs to zip in and among the icebergs. I call this area the LeC...