LE CONTE BAY AND PETERSBURG, SOUTHEAST ALASKA
Many of us this morning were awoken to the intermittent sound of the ship’s foghorn heralding our way towards the entrance to Le Conte Bay. Blue ice was in abundance around us, indicating our proximity to a tidewater glacier: Le Conte Glacier, which is the Northern Hemisphere’s southernmost tidewater glacier. As we passed over the shallowly submerged terminal moraine and entered the fjord, the fog lifted a bit and allowed views of the Stikine River delta and the fjord ahead, which was choked with ice. We anchored amongst several large icebergs and, after breakfast, embarked on shore hikes and zodiac crises to examine grounded and floating icebergs, some of which looked like they had been carved by artists. We all admired the otherworldly deep blue colors, the entrained rock debris, the taste of 200-year old water, and other features of the ice. As the tide came back in, a large iceberg floating close to the ship caused some tricky maneuvering before we exited the fjord toward Petersburg.
After docking in Petersburg, a small working fishing community of about 3200 residents, many of us explored town during the afternoon while others hiked to a nearby bog or indulged in flighseeing trips over the Stikine Ice Field (the source of Le Conte Glacier). That evening, Becky Knight, a resident of Petersburg, came aboard for evening recap and answered many questions about life in Petersburg. The evening’s meal of fresh Dungeness crab and ribs was a sumptuous treat. As we departed Petersburg and traveled north, we came upon a group of three humpback whales displaying cooperative feeding behavior. This was the second day in a row of superb whale watching as the long Alaska twilight descended upon us.
Many of us this morning were awoken to the intermittent sound of the ship’s foghorn heralding our way towards the entrance to Le Conte Bay. Blue ice was in abundance around us, indicating our proximity to a tidewater glacier: Le Conte Glacier, which is the Northern Hemisphere’s southernmost tidewater glacier. As we passed over the shallowly submerged terminal moraine and entered the fjord, the fog lifted a bit and allowed views of the Stikine River delta and the fjord ahead, which was choked with ice. We anchored amongst several large icebergs and, after breakfast, embarked on shore hikes and zodiac crises to examine grounded and floating icebergs, some of which looked like they had been carved by artists. We all admired the otherworldly deep blue colors, the entrained rock debris, the taste of 200-year old water, and other features of the ice. As the tide came back in, a large iceberg floating close to the ship caused some tricky maneuvering before we exited the fjord toward Petersburg.
After docking in Petersburg, a small working fishing community of about 3200 residents, many of us explored town during the afternoon while others hiked to a nearby bog or indulged in flighseeing trips over the Stikine Ice Field (the source of Le Conte Glacier). That evening, Becky Knight, a resident of Petersburg, came aboard for evening recap and answered many questions about life in Petersburg. The evening’s meal of fresh Dungeness crab and ribs was a sumptuous treat. As we departed Petersburg and traveled north, we came upon a group of three humpback whales displaying cooperative feeding behavior. This was the second day in a row of superb whale watching as the long Alaska twilight descended upon us.
