What a great day. We slept in to 0730 (7:30am). That sure beats getting up at 0400 like we've been doing previously.
Haul the anchor up and we are underway by 0800 to Tarr Inlet to see... you guessed it, glaciers! The head of Tarr Inlet is home to two Glaciers, Marjorie glacier and the Grand Pacific glacier. It's about a 4-hr run up to the head of the inlet so we breakfast underway. It's our simplified version of Huevos Rancheros which is my all-time favorite breakfast. Homemade refried black beans, 2 over-easy eggs, cheddar/jack cheese, and spicy tomatillo salsa. And, of course, my cup of decaf. Easy, fast, and yummy. Sorry, no pictures - I snarfed it down!
When we left Blue Mouse Cove (Blue Moose is still a better name) the water was calm and dark green and about 56 degrees. There were some small porpoise or dolphins around, but not much else that we noticed.
As we headed up channel, the water got progressively colder, paler, and greener. Once we turned into Tarr Inlet proper we started to see small icebergs (berglettes, bergy-bits?) as you can see in the picture. the closer we got to the glaciers, not surprisingly, the more berglettes we encountered.
We wanted to avoid a "Titanic Moment" and not hit any of these. It was relatively easy to dodge the bigger ones, but not the small ones. After watching the cruise ship, Crown Princess, enter the icy area and just plow right through the bergs, we were a bit emboldened. Meaning, I learned to ignore the teeny ones and just worry about the big ones. Anything smaller than a salad-plate I refer to as a "berglette" and was semi-ignored. The berglettes seem to group together in long patchy lines. We'd slow down to idle then shift into neutral as we glided through those patches.
I will say that the small bergs make quite a ruckus as they scrape along the hull and bang into the keel, stabilizers, prop, rudder, etc. And therein lies the major concern - I don't want to damage my prop. I've got a single engine boat, so only one prop. I can't go getting it all dinged-up by ice!
The Marjorie Glacier is a tidewater glacier and is the blue one in the pictures (on the left). To the right of it is the Grand Pacific glacier, but it is no longer a tidewater glacier, so what we mostly see is the terminal moraine for that one. It shows up as dark brown/black in the picture (above, left).
The water in front of these two glaciers was an interesting mix of cream-colored areas and white/green areas. As we sat at idle drifting it was interesting to see the icebergs move. There are apparently rivers of flow through this area.
This made picking our way through the ice easier; I just had to be patient. I'd wait for a path to open up, move forward, pause and wait again, then do it again. Always keeping an eye open behind for a path out of here too!
On our way up and down Tarr Inlet we saw at least another hundred sea otters. They were out in force, many with their young ones riding on mom's belly. Here's an example picture I took when we were on our way back down. That's a mom otter and her pup on her belly.
On the way back down Tarr Inlet we stopped at Lamplugh Glacier, another tidewater glacier. We will go by it a bit closer-up tomorrow on our way up Johns Hopkins Inlet to see the seal pups on the icefloes and yet another glacier.
At the end of our voyage-of-the-day, we elected to anchor in Reid Inlet at the head of the bay with a panoramic view of the Reid Glacier. I just can't get over the color of the water here. It's a milky pale green/blue (sorry Joan-E, I never learned more complex color descriptors!). Here are a few pictures; it's milkier in real life than it looks in the picture - can you tell me what color best describes it?
We splashed the tender and went out for a ride to the head of the bay. At low tide, the Reid Glacier is sitting onshore. But at high tide, it is a tidewater glacier. It is receding and will shortly just be a land glacier, probably within the next few years. This is one of the many reasons we so wanted to do this adventure now! These won't be here in a few years.
And, I touched an iceberg (berglette). That's about as big a berglette as I'd run over in the big boat. Anything bigger would likely cause real damage.
Dinner. First, I opened a bottle of cooking wine; for me, not to waste in the food! It is a 2006 Barnwood Trio from the Central Coast of CA. Wow, what a lovely huge expressive nose; I opened the bottle and the whole room smelled of cherries, and crushed violets. It is a blend of Cab Sauv, Syrah, and Merlot. I reviewed it on Vivino and rated it a 4.3 out of 5.
Second, I made a nice portabella mushroom risotto to match Karen's grilled chicken. Throw in some nice broccoli and a salad and we will call it dinner!
Should I copyright "berglette"? Just remember, you heard it here first!
The green river, which comes off of mt. St. Helen's glacier is that same color - what we always called milky green. Or at leadt is used to be. I haven't been up there in years. There seems to be something in the glaciers that creates that color. Very cool. You always know the water is very cold when it is that color and lots of dissolved solids
ReplyDeleteTeri
I've not been to the Green River, but it sounds similar. Such a beautiful color.
ReplyDeleteSo many dissolved solids that my strainers and filters get plugged up and require constant vigilance and regular changing. I put my hand in the water, and I could not see my fingers. Overheating is the #1 cause of engine failure and as I know so little about my diesel engine, I want to take good care of it. I don't want to become an overnight diesel mechanic!