Wednesday September 23, 2026

Hello from beautiful Alaska! We had been expecting and were all prepared for a very wet and rainy cruise. But (knock on wood), so far we have had lovely weather. Feeling very fortunate!

Yesterday was listed as “Scenic Cruising” and it did not disappoint.

Hubbard Glacier is a remarkable natural wonder with several notable characteristics:

~ It begins in Canada’s Yukon and runs 76 miles to the sea in Alaska.

~ It is the largest tidewater glacier in North America. The face rises roughly 350 feet above the water (roughly as tall as a 30 story building) with another 250 feet below water.

~ The ice you see here where it meets the sea is centuries old. Some of it fell as snow 400-500 years ago. Further inland, the glacier is over 2,000 feet thick in places.

~ This is one of the few glaciers that is still growing instead of shrinking.

It was very windy up on deck, so we took advantage of watching from our cabin balcony for much of the day.

But as we got closer, we wanted to get up on deck and take in the magnificent sights.

As snow is compressed into glacier ice, air bubbles are squeezed out, making it denser. Density helps make the blue more visible

With fewer bubbles to scatter light back as white, light travels farther through the ice. The ice absorbs more red light along the way, leaving more blue for us to see.

Before too long we were ready to get warmed back up and returned inside. Jan and Mark provided the wine and Tim prepared hor d’oeuvres with smoked salmon, crackers, lemon, capers, two kinds of cheese and melon.

GRATITUDE MOMENT: Today I am grateful that we got to enjoy our scenic cruising with sunshine!