Today was ice navigation with a capital I. We arrived timely at Ocean Cape and received the Rangers on board. The Indian Interpreters where there as well, Ted had not forgotten his ID this time (see Yakutat blog of 10 days ago) so all was well in the world. As the weather forecast had foreseen it was indeed rainy and it remained the so when we moved up the bay where we even had fog banks.

Half up the lower bay we had the first ice. The South Easterly wind that was also predicted was nowhere to be seen and instead it was blowing from the North North East. Not very hard, but just enough to start pushing the ice cubes out of the upper bay. That has the advantage that the ice is less thickly concentrated in the upper bay, it has however the disadvantage that we have go slow much earlier than normal. Thus we encountered the first band of ice far further to the south than has been the regular pattern of the past cruises.

Normally we stay close to the East side of the bay, near point Latouche, where the natural current keeps most of the time an fairly open path, this time it worked out better to move to the Westside and sail past Bancas point to get to the glacier face. In the meantime it started to get hazier and hazier. Still sufficient visibility to safely navigate through the ice, but not enough to oversee the whole bay and plan long in advance of how to route the ship further in. so we proceeded cautiously and managed to get to the face. Here we found a spot of open water and although it was overcast, hazy and grey, the ice wall rose majestically up in front of us.

With enough open water around the ship, I was able to do the Balcony Maneuver. This meant doing a full swing of 360o so that everybody on the ship, fore, aft portside and starboard side (including the balconies) could have a similar good view of the glacier. We saw some good calvings, one big enough to let the ship very gently move on the pressure wave created and although it was foggy we could still see Turner Glacier. At the moment it seems that Hubbard is at a standstill again. Last time I observed that it was moving forward and the entrance to Russell Fjord in the East was slowly being cut off, now the distance looked the same compared to last cruise.

Sailing out was the same slow affair again, now made even more difficult with the fact that the flood tide was coming up the bay and that tide was pushing all the ice back in again. The mist was becoming denser and so we had to pick our way very carefully out of the upper bay. In the end I was quite a bit behind schedule when we disembarked the Rangers, the Indian Interpreters and the pilot. Not much I could do about that, Hubbard Glacier is one of the highlights of the cruise, and I will get my ship to the glacier for the guests if it is safely possible to do so. Even if it is only for a quick glimpse.

Thus I had to go a bit faster during the night to make up the lost time again. Extra time; which I normally can keep up my sleeve and use in case it is wobbly weather. By making a lower average speed I can provide the guests with a more comfortable ride. No wobbly weather had been predicted but it did show up. A low pressure system that was supposed to move directly to the East had decided to come more to the North and bring 6 to 8 feet waves into the Gulf of Alaska and that made the ship move during the night. So the ride was less comfortable than could have been but the guests did see Hubbard and that should be worth something.

Tomorrow is the end of the trip and we will start all over again. No doubt Hubbard Glacier will have completely changed the (ice) scene when we get back the day after tomorrow. That makes visiting Yakutat Bay so interesting and like today also so very challenging.