03 July 2008, Yakutat Bay.

With good visibility and the predicted rain nowhere to be seen we picked up the Rangers, Ed & Ted the Indian interpreters and sailed up the bay. There was no wind at all and the tide was flooding, meaning going inland, and that normally means that the ice is kept packed together in the upper bay. Not good news for a cruise ship captain with a schedule to make. This even more so for the Millennium who has a very tight schedule as she docks two hours earlier in Seward than the Veendam. This time the ice was thick and pressed close together in the centre of the bay and we really could not sail around it. The only way forward was through the ice. That is not a problem, nor is it dangerous as long as we go slow, very slow. The only problem with going slow is that it takes time. Thus we swung the bow to port and plowed through the ice with a ships speed of 3 to 4 knots depending on the size of the growlers that we were meeting. You only talk about ice bergs if they are higher than 14 feet and most of the ice in Hubbard is fairly flat but very dense. Dense dark blue ice, the sort of ice that you do not want to hit with the ship. By going with very slow speed the pressure wave created by the bulbous bow has the time to either push it away before it hits the ship, or cushion the impact and the ice touches the ship with only a light “bump”.

It took us nearly an hour to cover a distance of three miles but once we broke clear of the ice we could zip through the channel East of Henke Island and move to the face of the glacier. There was a very strong current coming out of Russell Fjord, almost 2 knots of flow and that had flushed all the ice away from the Glacier face. Only the ice produced by the calving going on was slowly floating by. Good for us. I first parked at the East side closest to the glacier to view the calving and when the Millennium moved out, I went over to the middle of the glacier so the guests could see Turner Glacier to the left, the 6 mile Hubbard Glacier face in front and peek into Russell Fjord at the right. There was so much room for the ship, that I could even do a complete spin with the ship, so that those guests on the balconies got a 360o panoramic view of the upper bay. It is seldom that I can do that, so this was a very good day.

Once you are in, you also have to get out again and the ice field had decided to compress it’s self a bit more, so it took even longer to get back to open waters. However once we were past Point Latouche the ice was more spread out and I could put the pedal to the metal. We disembarked the Rangers and the Indian Interpreters an hour later than expected but an hour I can make up, as long as it is good weather in the Gulf of Alaska. I can then maintain regular speed and that should bring us exactly on time, but without any spare, to the Pilot station of Seward to tomorrow morning. Also our Pilot disembarked and he will stay for two nights in Yakutat town and then rejoin the ship when we return for the Southbound call. He could have stayed on board but maybe he knew something about the nightlife in the Yakutat that I don’t.

The Millennium was also an hour late getting out of the bay and for him it is going to be questionable if he will make Seward on time. They have a very tight schedule to maintain and all based on full speed. Here on the Veendam the American crew members are getting all excited. We have decided to participate in the 4th. of July parade in Seward and I have organized a Flat bed truck. After trying to rent one, a local contractor offered one free of charge which was much appreciated. The plan is to put a band on board, have a ships funnel as the centre piece and spruce the rest up with flags and flowers.

It is supposed to be overcast, hazy and drizzly tomorrow but that is the regular weather so it should not stop anybody from enjoying themselves.