Alaska Cruise-Tour, 28 May to 8 June 2011

[reservoir88]

Glacier Bay - 2

#101
John Hopkins Glacier

#102

#103

#104
Approaching Margerie Galcier

#105

 

[chempaka]

:thumbsup: wonderful series so far mr Y.

 

[reservoir88]

#106
Moored opposite Margerie Glacier

#107
Margerie Glacier

#108
Closer look

#109

#110

 

[reservoir88]

:thumbsup: wonderful series so far mr Y.

Thanks chempaka. Glad you like it.

 

[reservoir88]

The highlight of the Glacier Bay cruise was the chance to view the calving of the glacier. Calving describes the breaking apart of pieces of ice from the face of the glacier. This happens regularly and more frequently now that there is global warming. If calving takes place faster than the buildup then the glacier would be retreating. We were very fortunate to be able to watch this process at quite close range. Before the ice pieces break away you can hear a loud sounds like the distant firing of a gun or firecrackers. Small pieces usually at the bottom first break away, fall into the water, making splashes. Once the bottom is weaken a big piece from the top would fall causing a big splash. The disturbing of the water caused by the faling of the big pieces of ice from glacier can be dangerous to small vessels stationed too close to the disturbance.

In the beginning small pieces fell from different places on the glaciers face. The show was over by the time you look at that direction. Then 2 instances of calving (with reasonably big pieces falling off) took place at the spot right in front of where we were watching.


#111
Small pieces falling off at the bottom

#112
Bigger piece starting to fall

#113
Another big piece starting to fall

#114
Same big piece falling lower

#115
Alas, the Captain decided that we had enough after we watch the 2nd big piece calve and sailed away

Click below to see a slideshow of the series of pictures taken (in burst mode) of one of the ice pieces calving
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64206086@N04/sets/72157627080005808/show/

Below is the link to a slide show of the impact of falling ice pieces into the water
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64206086@N04/sets/72157626992371199/show/

Did not take any videos but bought the video taken by the ship which documented the 2 instances of calving. Unfortunately cannot post the video as it is copyright. If you do a search of glacier calving you will come across many videos posted by others on Youtube.

 

[reservoir88]

The next day we sailed into College Fiord which contains a few tidewater glaciers (glaciers that terminate at the sea) named after famous USA colleges e.g Harvard, Wellesley, Yale etc. The glaciers are within close vacinity of one another such that you can see a few of them all from one location. However, our luck with the weather ran out. It was raining and foggy. Visibity was very poor.


#116
It was so foggy that most things turned out in grayscale

#117
Low dark clouds

#118
The bluish parts are where the different glaciers meet the sea

#119
What it would be like if it had rained for the other days

#120
Sheltering from the rain under a structure at the top deck of the ship. I was sheltering under a similar structure on the other side.

 

[flight01]

Beautiful shots! Awesome!

 

[reservoir88]

Beautiful shots! Awesome!

Thank you, Flight01. As I mentioned earlier, we were blessed with sunny days most of the time. The great light enabled reasonable shots even from moving train and bus. Between my wife (some of the shots posted here were taken by my wife) and myself, we took about 5,000+ shots, so some of them got to come out OK.

The next leg of our journey will be inland to Denali and the base of Mt Mackinley. Post more this evening.

 

[limwhow]

Wah. I learned a new word today - calving!
Waiting for tonight's new posts from you...

 

[reservoir88]

On the 8th day we arrived at Whittier Cruise Terminal for the start of our inland tour to Denali National Park and Princess Cruise's Mt Mckinley Lodge. We would be taking the Princess Tours' (associated with the cruise ship company) Ultradome Railcars up to Denali National Park. The are 2 levels in the rail cars. The top level is where passengers sit. The roof is transparent glass so that you could see the view as you go along like an open top vehicle. A picture of it was posted by K S KONG earlier in this thread. The bottom is the dining area. As we were travelling along relatively low elevations the view was better at the top deck as you could see over the top of the trees that often lined the sides of the railway. The disadvantage is that you had to take photos throught the glass. There was an open sided deck at the bottom but oftentimes the view was blocked by trees.

We would stay 2 nights at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and one night at Princess' Mt Mckinley Lodge

#121
At Whittier Port

#122
Denali Express Train (blue and yellow) waiting for us at the port

#123
Last look at Diamond Princess. As you can see the weather didn't look promising.

#124
Threatening weather at the beginning of our journey

#125
But eventually turned out OK

 

[reservoir88]

Wah. I learned a new word today - calving!
Waiting for tonight's new posts from you...

Haha the word was new to me too. Its sounded more like giving birth to a young cow!

 

[reservoir88]

Replaced #125

 

[Alpc]

Hey bro... How did you get the direct link to the photos? I tried to grab it from flickr but I cannot find the codes... They link it to a FAQ and say there that due to some policy, cannot do direct link to the photos, etc.

 

[kuantoh]

#65

Simply love this shot for the way the railway tracks sort of lead to the mountains. Lovely!

#67
Last stop before lunch - Emerald Lake

Wondering if there is another shot of the emerald lake from a lower angle perspective with the mountains in the background? That would emphasize the ever so beautiful lake even more with the mountains complementing the beauty.

#105

Man made versus Nature at its best. Love the shot for the sheer massiveness of the glaciers.

 

[reservoir88]

Hey bro... How did you get the direct link to the photos? I tried to grab it from flickr but I cannot find the codes... They link it to a FAQ and say there that due to some policy, cannot do direct link to the photos, etc.

;

Hi Alpc, this is what I do (I am sure there are other ways) :-

1. click on your picture in flickr
2. the black screen will come on and flickr will start to load a slideshow size picture
3. at the top right there is a link to "View all sizes", click on it
4. at the next screen at the top there is a link "Download the Large size of this photo", right click and copy this short cut
5. in clubsnap click on the insert picture button and insert the copied shortcut.

 

[reservoir88]

Simply love this shot for the way the railway tracks sort of lead to the mountains. Lovely!



Wondering if there is another shot of the emerald lake from a lower angle perspective with the mountains in the background? That would emphasize the ever so beautiful lake even more with the mountains complementing the beauty.



Man made versus Nature at its best. Love the shot for the sheer massiveness of the glaciers.

Hi Kuantoh, thanks for dropping by.

Railway
The railway shot was a lucky shot taken from the bus. Shows how good the light was.

Emerald Lake
The direct front view was spoilt by trees and cables. We were not in able to go lower down. Agree with you that it would have been beautiful if we could go lower down. Here's a shot as it was taken
#126

#127
We could crop to remove the front but lose a lot of info on the scene

Boat at Glacier
#128
Here's another perspective on the massiveness of the glacier. Can you see the boat? Its there. You may have to enlarge the browser to 150% to see it.

 

[reservoir88]

On the Rail to Denali

#129
Dead Trees - Result of influx of salt water into the water table after a major earthquake in 1964

#130
Collision Course

#131
Mayor of City of Sherman waving to us

#132
Work of Beavers

#133
Hurricane Gulch - Creek is about 100m below

 

[Edwan]

#126 #127 is ...stunning beautiful.. You have seen the other side of earth.

 

[MGohzxc]

So beautiful..........I wish I was there too.....
Thanks for sharing...

 

[reservoir88]

#134
On the way to Denali National Park

#135
Overdose of mountains, rivers, lakes, trees and blue skies.

#136

#137

#138
We arrive at Denali Train Depot