9 July 2010

Friday
clouds/drizzle

A friend was willing to take me over to La Conte Glacier in her boat. I was pretty excited because I had never seen a glacier. Another friend showed up and we were on our way.

Getting the boat ready for the trip

As we left the harbor we made our way into Frederick Sound on our way to La Conte Glacier we ended up seeing a pod of Killer Whales. We zoomed over to where they were playing in the water and one surfaced about 25 feet off the side of the boat. I had never seen Killer Whales and was very excited to see them. Unfortunately we had to beat the tide to get to the glacier so we couldn't stay long to watch the whales. One of them did breach as we pulled away. It was pretty amazing to see. I didn't manage to get a picture, they all moved so fast.

We made our way to La Conte bay and saw all the ice blocking the entrance to the bay. They weren't big icebergs but they were very thick and I could hear the two of them up front discussing if it would be safe to try to make it through the ice in the small boat we were in. They decided to take the chance but every few minutes as we were slowly moving through the ice flow they would discuss again whether we should continue or turn back. I'll admit I was a little nervous as they continued to discuss the risks of continuing on to the glacier. As the boat slowly meandered through the ice flows I decided to start taking pictures. It took us almost 45 minutes to get to the glacier. We did find that the sides of the bay are clearer and it only took us about 20 minutes to get out.

The La Conte Glacier is the southernmost tidal glacier in North America.

The blue color is not from the camera, the icebergs are actually blue. I was shocked to see that and had to go online to find out why. It actually has to do with how the light is scattered by the ice.

The water off the glacier is the most amazing green and as soon as you started seeing the green water the outside temperature would drop very quickly.

La Conte Glacier
Click on the images to enlarge
The seals really show how big the iceberg is	I was surprised that this one hadn't flipped over yet	Old Man in the iceberg?	Rocks stripped by the constant icebergs
First seal I saw	Bunch of seals	Sealions	The big one in the middle was barking at us
Mama seal and her baby	Seals	The water off the glacier is an amazing green color	La Conte Glacier

It was a very successful trip and I am glad I went! We finished the day by going to a friends house for dinner. Her house had an amazing view of the water. I climbed down to the beach and took some pictures.

View from friends house
Click the images to enlarge
The house on the cliff	View from the house	Rocks on the beach
Chain coloring the rocks	Driftwood with new growth	On the beach