June 8th, 2024 Part 2 of 3 - Lu-Lu Belle Tour of Prince William Sound - Glaciers

 GLACIERS AND ICEBERGS

On our way to the Columbia Glacier - we are 14 miles away at this point.

There is a lot of information on the Glacier here:

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/ColumbiaGlacier

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149445/alaskan-ice-in-retreat-35-years-at-columbia-glacier#:~:text=But%20in%201980%2C%20the%20glacier,your%20eyes%20would%20see%20it.

This is the second largest tidewater glacier in North America and it flows directly into the sea.

Large areas of floating ice:

River otters taking a break:

Mountain Goats on the hillside:

The Colombia Glacier:

Since 1980, the glacier has retreated 15 miles:

Seals taking a break:

Other glaciers and branches of the Colombia Glacier:

We are the blue dot on the glacier:

We did not get up close and personal because of the floating ice (called the ice “mélange), so we boated to three other glaciers:

This one we did see some "calving" - it sounds like a shotgun when it breaks.

The resulting mini-tsunami after falling into the water:

One last look as we left the glaciers behind:

On our way back we saw more sea otters (I call them the rabbits of the water).:

And some sea life followed us for a while.

We did not see any big whales but that is okay.  It was a WONDERFUL trip and I highly recommend.

I do have a Part 3 to this blogs - Sea Life up close!