Our second day at sea. The ship headed to the Hubbard Glacier National Park, situated 30 nautical miles in the Northern part of Yakutat Bay.

From our Daily Program Newsletter: “From its source on Mount Logan in the Yukon Territory, Hubbard Glacier stretches 76 miles to the sea at Yakutat and Disenchantment Bays. It is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska, with an open calving face over six miles wide. Before it reaches the sea, Hubbard is joined by the Valerie Glacier to the west, which, through forward surges of its own ice, has contributed to the advance of the ice flow that experts believe will eventually dam the Russell Fiord from Disenchantment Bay waters. Hubbard is one of a type of glacier found in the United States only in Alaska - a tidewater glacier. These glaciers calve when giant pieces of ice crack off the head of the glacier and fall into the sea. Hubbard’s calving has produced a slurry of ice as well as the growing mass of icebergs collecting behind the constriction at the head of Russell Fiord/Lake.”

We had a very relaxing morning sticking our heads out over the balcony and watching chunks of ice floating across the water, seeing some of the bluest blue streaks among the glacier pieces passing by. We listened to thunderous roars as the glaciers calve and then the splash of the pieces hitting the water. Towards the end of our turn around the national park, Paul decided he wanted to participate in the Polar Bear Swim at Hubbard Glacier! This involved going to the open pool on board ship, stripping down to swim trunks and jumping into the pool. He swears the the experience was not at all bad and that the water felt warm. The whole adventure earned him 3 Dam Dollars to be spent on the ship towards “Dam” merchandise, i.e., ship gear since the Holland America line of ships are something-dam, such as Oosterdam or Zuiderdam.

Hubbard Glacier photos can be found on Fotki.