Glacier Bay 2005
By far the great majority of Alaska visitors see Glacier Bay from the decks of cruise ships. Here, the Holland America vessel, the Ryndam, chugs south in Glacier Bay after a few hours of glacier-watching.
Below: On a rainy day, the light is ever-changing and ever-fascinating. Here, mists curl around a glacially sculpted knob of rock near Margerie Glacier.
Near the glaciers, the beauty is other-worldly. Above left: the terminue of Margerie Glacier. Above right: black-legged kittiwakes alight from an iceberg. Left: spidery waterfalls plunge from a cliff near Margerie Glacier. Right: A nearly silent ghostly giant, the Princess Cruises vessel Dawn Princess glides through fog near Margerie Glacier. Below right: a harbor seal gazes from its iceberg perch.
Left: picking our way through icebergs in Johns Hopkins Inlet. Right: Scooping up whole mountainsides as they crash to the sea, glaciers are dirty things, as evidenced by the grit in this iceberg. Below: Always moving, tidewater glaciers such as this one (Lamplugh Glacier) periodically dump chunks of ice into the ocean.
