Sailing to alaska...want to see Hubbard Glacier and Fishing

[Hawaiidan]

Probably the best sight on a cruise is to see the massive Hubbard glacier and have the ship get within 1300 yards of it , where you can hear the creaking and groaning, See massive 400 ft tall chunks calf off with a thunder you cant believe. There is one little problem ICE flows can jamm up the whole bay !!!.

 

If you want to get as close as possible ,dont take a cruise before September or last week in August. Why??

Because in May June and even July sometimes the winter ice will jam the bay up so that you can not get within miles of the face of the glacier. Too its friggen still cold and the ice will not be calving 1/2 as much as in september. because the warmer weather triggers massive calving unlike any you can imagine

 

I have taken 2 cruises with O to the hubbard one with ORV, in september which was spectacular and the other in the end of May/june This early we could ot get within 2 miles of the hubbard...you needed binos to even see its texture, there was a great view of 19,000 ft Mt st Elias and Logan however too cold for clouds. Also wild flowers are blooming end of August and early september for a 3 week period

 

If you want to see and get close to glaciers for $25.00 then fly into seattle, drive the 90 miles to Mount Rainier National Park Head to Paradise and its a 1.5 mile walk to the Muir glacier/icefield I used to be a NPS Ranger Naturalist there. Mr Rainier has 26 active glaciers and some of the finest forests and landscape in the USA .

Its wild flowers end of August were described by John Muir as the finest display he had ever seen...ever ( but he was impressed by Yosemite so take that into consideration)

 

So. sports fans....glacier lovers and oceania explorers them is the berries.... its your dime and time you can always get more dimes... but not time.....Dan..

Edited January 22, 2018 by Hawaiidan
grammer

[ORV]

As Dan said it was absolutely amazing. Descriptive adjectives fail when trying to describe seeing it while it was calving.

 

It ranks up there with seeing the lava flow from the Big Island volcano into the water at night, from the water up close.

 

Both I felt were one in a lifetime type experiences and I felt lucky to be there at the right time.

 

Good to see you posting again Dan.

[Kamloops50]

Personally I found Glacier Bay NP is better. Your almost garanteed to get close to two not one glacier. The problem I have found with Hubbard it's only a four hours in the whole bay.

[Hawaiidan]

only fly in that ointment.....O is not permitted to enter Glacier Bay at all.:rolleyes:

 

And having seen both Glacier Bay and The Hubbard ( both in Glacier bay NP but miles apart) there is no comparison ANd I used to live and work on a glacier on Mt Rainier!!!:cool: your choice,It is all perception in the eyes of the beholder... I however would take sept at the Hubbard or anything in Glacier bay proper...