Happening at Hubbard Glacier

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We took our time to arise on this second scenic cruising day of our first Alaskan Adventure together, finishing yesterday’s blog but having internet issues trying to get it posted. Sharon made her way to the 8am mass ahead of John, but neglected to tell him that the venue had changed (not that it seemed to matter). Sharon arrived at the Wajang Theatre room to find one other person waiting for mass, and decided to check the daily schedule at the front desk, and found that mass was again being held in the deco styled Queens Lounge. Meanwhile, John made his way to the Upper Promenade deck seeking the theatre which he could not seem to find (it’s on the Promenade deck), but heard the priest’s voice (who was in strong form this morning) carry though half of the Promenade deck passageways. The turnout was down from over forty on Sunday, and there were less than fifteen today. I guess many thought it was a good day to sleep in.

After the service, we went down to breakfast, and John had the oatmeal he’d vowed to have on the cruise, with sliced bananas and a couple of hashed brown cakes. Sharon had her scrambled eggs and bacon and white toast with apple juice, her typical “sea-day fare”.

After breakfast we popped up to the library for the daily Sudoku challenge. Sharon had won the day before when John messed up his solution (did I forget to mention that yesterday?). But today Sharon took a little bit longer to finish. These darn sheets are just too small to get all of her numbers in those tiny squares.

We then had our first decision of the day to make… Trivia or Bingo? Why would they schedule both of these popular activities at 11:30AM… hmmm? In the end we chose bingo and made our way to the Queens Lounge. A very interesting question and answer session was in progress with one of the ship’s officers. One of the questions was, whether he had a family, and how hard was it to juggle that with a career at sea. This officer had gone to college for four years, studied in the British Maritime Academy for an additional three years, which alternates classroom time with sea time, and then served with HA about eleven years. He did have a family and because of his tenure with HA qualified for a 3 months on, 3 months off work schedule. And he acknowledged that being away from home for 3 months at a time is difficult, but due to his tenure, that was better than some other officers on board. The questions ended, and it was time for John to buy the bingo cards for today’s event, promoted by an $85,000 bonus for the final blackout card (solved in 46 calls or less). Sharon charged John with picking her winning card, which he agonized over as both had a 13 and 53 combination (and both had a 3 and 17 combination). The games were the normal bingo (plus four corners), the “I have B-O” game, the crazy-T and of course blackout. It looked like John may have messed up the card selection for Sharon when he was the first to stand in game one (but Sharon didn’t boo like everyone else… she just sat there and scowled). Pretty soon half of the room was standing, before Sharon’s lucky number B-13 was called, and two people shouted bingo. John was one of them, winning half of the $115 prize. Sharon came very close on the blackout, out to an early advantage, but in the end still needed two numbers when bingo was called.

We went to lunch in the La Fontaine dining room, and there wasn’t a thing on the menu that Sharon wanted, so she ordered the Bacon Cheese Burger, plain, no bacon, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and she and John both told the waiter “No Mayonnaise”. It came with mayonnaise, again. The waiter wanted just to change the bun, but Sharon got a new burger as well. John ordered the spinach and artichoke dip with bread stick, Peña Colada soup(thanks to Sharon), Chicken ginger soup with rice noodles, and baked ziti with mozzarella and Italian sausage. The chilled pineapple and coconut soup was delicious. For dessert there were no chocolate offerings, and Sharon was feeling famished, hoping that dessert would salvage this meal. She couldn’t even look forward to the split pea soup they would serve on deck later during the glacier viewing. She settled for a Lido bowl of vanilla ice cream, and then discovered there was no chocolate syrup there either. John had a cone with cinnamon ice cream.

We stopped in the casino, and Sharon found her machine, and John had to eventually settle for third base at the blackjack table. Sharon made another deposit before going back to the stateroom, while John was up $25 when he eventually followed to the room.

Our viewing started on the port side of the Lower Promenade then we made our way to the bow. Hubbard Glacier was still in the distance, and the Park Ranger had just boarded the ship. The massive Hubbard Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier in the world, running seven miles along the waterline, rising 500 feet from the ocean at its highest point, and extending 76 miles up and through the valley winding behind it, extending to the source on Mount Logan. What lay before us was a true wilderness area, one can go 200 miles into the interior before finding any road. While most glaciers in the world are receding, Hubbard Glacier is growing. More ice and snow is being added to the glacier each year, than is melting and falling into the ocean. In 1986, the glacier advanced 50 feet in a single day sealing shut the entrance to Russell Fjord. This created an ice dam that caused the enclosed waters to rise 90 feet before the ice dam broke in the spring. That was the first year Sharon saw the glacier but she doesn’t remember if the dam had broke or not when she was there. She does remember hearing about it.

As we approached the face of the Hubbard Glacier, the park ranger over the PA system noted Hankie Island coming up on the starboard side, which was still in the distance, informing us that it lay two miles in front of the glacier. As we approached the island, sea lions could be spotted (with the binoculars I had gone back to the stateroom to get). The weather was pretty near perfect, no rain or fog, blue skies with light scattered clouds. As we passed the island, a second “dirty glacier” was noted on the left, also extending down to the sea. It was nowhere near as massive as Hubbard Glacier, but still, extended 4 miles along the sea. On the right side the entrance to Russell Fjord could be seen, with a wall of ice extending from Hubbard Glacier, and it appeared likely the fjord could be closed again in the next few years. Besides 1986, the fjord also closed in 2002. The approaching ice is called Gilbert Point. As we watched, a one hundred and fifty foot wall of ice at the end of Gilbert Point fell into the sea, sending up a splash and spray that remained visible for nearly twenty seconds. The sounds of the glacier groaning, the cracking of ice continued through our stay at Hubbard Glacier. Disenchantment Bay extends from the terminus of Hubbard Glacier. The bay got its name from the dismay of early explorers that sailed these waters seeking the fabled Northwest Passage.

The sounds of the glacier calving continued, and many smaller bergie bits were formed before our eyes. Sharon spotted a large crack forming, and it enlarged before our eyes, as smaller ice chunks fell from a nearby face. But as our vessel turned and the slab of ice we watched in anticipation disappeared to the rear, never calving for us.

We were seated with a couple from Portland who sat at the same table each night and we can understand why they enjoyed the waiter Henri who was the best we’ve seen on this cruise. John started with the salmon cake and mystery soup (can’t remember what it was but do remember it was very good). For his entrée he had the Grilled fish (can’t remember the name but no one at the table had ever heard of it). Sharon couldn’t find anything she wanted so went with the perfectly prepared chicken breast. While we were eating the captain came on with his daily report and also said that there was a seriously ill passenger that needed to be disembarked. They had decided to do that in Yakutat using the ships tender to get her to the land where a plane from Anchorage was being dispatched to pick her up. They said we’d be stopped where we were for about an hour while this procedure took place to make sure the tender returned to the ship. So we had the view of the bay including a distant view of the glacier while eating. For dessert Sharon had the baked Alaska again. John had rum baba and his daily cordial was called Minty Lips consisting of grenadine, white crème de cacao and Kruyper’s banana liquor.

We went to the casino for a few minutes before the show. Sharon played some slots, but John just watched as the table was pretty full. He watched as the dealer busted seven times in a row. It’s nice to know the dealer does know how to bust.
The show featured the comedy and magic of Chris Blackmore, who was hilarious. He used several audience assistants, and there was a lot of fun for everyone at the show.

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