07 June 08, Scenic cruising Yakutat Bay with Hubbard Glacier.

Turning away from Seward always brings the question what will the swell be outside Resurrection bay. With the weather patterns so quickly changing in the North Pacific you never know if the weather you left behind in the early morning is still going to be the same in the late evening. Last time we suddenly had larger swells running into the bay, this time we were lucky and there was just a very low but long swell from the South East and that meant the Veendam could gently ride the waves to Yakutat Bay.

By the early morning, the clouds started to lift and the sun shone brightly on the Fairweather mountain range that dominates the whole coast of the Eastern Gulf of Alaska. It turned out to be a magnificent day. From almost 20 miles away we could see the long wide line, which makes up Hubbard Glacier, glistening in the sunlight. By 1 pm. we entered the bay from the West and started to slow down for the pilot boat. As the water is quite shallow at the entrance of the bay, the swell tends to build up and the little pilot boat was climbing mountains and diving into valleys on the way to the ship. I had to change course almost a 100 degrees to get the Veendam between the swell and the boat so that we could enable a safe transfer.

Ed was there today without Ted, who was still in Juneau but he had brought his two sons with him. Ed’s official name is Bertrand and so we had Bertrand Sr. himself, a Bertrand Jr. and a Stephan coming on board. Jr. is the program leader for this native interpreter speaker program that the tribe operates and he was
onboard to see if his father was doing a proper job. Son number two was there to take video shots with the plan to have Holland America do a DVD about the native interpreter program. Holland America is the only company who operates this program in Hubbard Glacier. Other company’s do not do anything or have just their on-board travel guide say a few words.

With them the two pilots came back, who had left us two days ago. They had waited in the town of Yakutat for two nights, having a sort of free weekend provided by Holland America. The final person who boarded was a Ranger who flies in from the Tongass National Park station and holds a narration from the bridge telling about the birds and the bees, the rocks and the trees and anything else that there is to be seen. While they were doing their job, the Veendam charged up the bay and as there was no ice to been seen we could keep up speed until past Henke Island.

There we found a nice open spot for some magnificent glacier viewing. It was the first time this season that we could come so close, and it is not possible to get much closer as there are rocks and reefs in front of the glacier. The Millennium, which had left Seward late came in 45 minutes behind us, and so we had the best spot until we left. Then they could sit in front of the glacier a little while as well. I stayed 30 minutes longer than scheduled but the view was so gorgeous that it was the best option. I will now have to sail faster during the night, but we do not have such a splendid day everyday.

Panoramic compilation of upper Yakutat bay with Hubbard Glacier by 3rd officer Siemen van der Veen

The cruise down is basically following the coast until we near Cape Edgecumbe where we curve around the Cape and head into Sitka Sound. The weather looks reasonable for tomorrow, overcast with a chance of drizzle. If it drizzles away from the town than we will have a good day.