This morning the ship was still underway as we entered the lounge for our morning coffee. There was some excitement in the air, for as we continued our sail down the fjord, icebergs were getting more numerous and larger. This was not our first glacier, however, this fiord was narrower and there was so much more ice. Some of the icebergs were carrying a cargo of gulls, and sometimes seals. The towering walls of rock gave us the feeling of entering some secret place, a special place.
When we finally did launch our inflatable crafts, we were still surrounded by walls of stone and big pieces of ice. Then, our tiny boats made their way further than the National Geographic Sea Lion could bring us. The amount of ice had increased enough that even the small rubber boats had to slowly make their way through the congestion of ice. We headed for a waterfall but a mountain goat and her young yew feeding along the water’s edge halted our progress. We watched for a while as they moved along the rocks and then it was time to move on. I neglected to mention that as we headed for the goats, a dramatic view came into sight, the face of South Sawyer Glacier in all of its glory. There was the source of all of the ice we had been passing along the fiord.
As we approached, it was as though the frozen giant seemed asleep. There was an occasional grumble, and maybe a crack or two as the ice-frozen river moved down to the sea. Ten, as if stirring from its nap, a few small caving events got our attention. First from one side, then the other, and then the middle of the glacier let loose of small avalanches of ice, causing every head to turn in the direction of the last icefall. Each of us on the boat gave our best guesses of where the next bigger calving would take place. Heavy money seemed to be on the right side of the glacier where the ice met the rock. There seemed to be a good deal of activity as falling ice was almost constant. The ice would often pick up small pieces of rock that join the ice on its way to the water below. The source of this activity was a large section of glacier that seemed to have a big crevice opening up at top of the section. You could feel the apprehension of a larger more dramatic calving every time some ice or rocks rolled down the hillside. Then, just as all hope was quickly diminishing, the huge section of ice let go. As it hit the surrounding rock it seemed to disintegrate and what was moments before a building size piece of ice, was now an avalanche of cascading ice and rock crashing into the sea. Its entrance into the water was no less than spectacular and the spray that was generated by the ice and rock entering the sea shot into the air like a burst of fireworks on the Fourth of July. Our hope had been fulfilled and we got to see, hear, and even feel the ice release a part of itself, making the cycle complete, and beginning again, the process of water turning into snow, snow turning into ice, and ice returning once again to the sea.
