April 30, 2026

Glacier Bay National Park is the gateway to the largest tidewater glacier in North America, Hubbard Glacier which measures 76 miles long and plunges 1,200 feet into the depths of the bay. Its immense beauty and phenomenal blue hues are enchanting, even from afar. But it’s when our cruise ship draws closer that its towering surface really impresses, dwarfing even the uppermost deck on our ship at a whopping 40 stories high. There, with the snowcapped mountains serving as a glorious backdrop, we’ll have a prime viewing spot witnessing the glacier calving, as it expels icebergs the size of 10-story buildings!

I woke up early this morning and got a fresh cup of coffee to witness the route which would hopefully produce the results I described in the paragraph above. I guess I wasn’t the only one who had the same idea.

It wasn’t too long before those amazing views began to come into focus.

Glacier Bay is a special place to cruise. Majestic mountains with snow-covered caps, dense evergreen forests, dozens of rocky islands and if you’re lucky, everchanging views like the ones captured below with an active waterfall and massive glacier facing.

Sometimes from a long-range distance the reflection made it appear as if the glacier was melting into itself.

And the size feels overwhelming. This photo was taken from the 11th deck of our ship and still it was hard to capture it in one frame.

One hopes to see a glacier calving, (glacier calving is the process where large chunks of ice break off from the edge of a glacier and fall away to form icebergs.) As I shared some of these icebergs can be the size of 10-story buildings! I was not lucky enough to capture a photo of an actual calving, but I got close!

We did have one remarkable experience.

I shared with you from my blog of March 2nd that two members of a welcoming committee greeted us in Sydney, Australia. “As I finished my morning devotional this cute couple landed on our balcony. Of all the cabins on our ship they landed on our balcony. More amazing, they stayed around long enough to have their photo taken.“

“Mere coincidence?“

“I don’t believe so.”

Here’s the photo from that blog:

Today we had another visitor.

There are quite a few balcony cabins on the Coral Princess. I checked with the front desk to find out how many-527 to be exact! So, this is a pretty random event to say the least.

Mid-day Chongae and I were in our cabin, warming up a bit, when another feathered friend joined us. Chongae went to grab her camera and amazingly our friend waited and then turned to face us directly. After a brief time, he flew away as if to say: “safe travels ahead.” Here’s the sequence of photos:

Not to be too dramatic, but I couldn’t help but think of Albert Einsteins quote: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

One of the unfortunate things that we noticed is that the glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park are thinning as evidenced by the photos below.

I realize that climate change can be a divisive topic, but here are the facts as I understand them.

Scientists who observe earth’s climate have documented warming temperatures globally. Decades of data show that Alaska has warmed more than twice as fast as the rest of the earth, causing dramatic changes across the entire state. Of the more than 100,000 glaciers in the state, 95% are currently thinning, stagnating or retreating. Most importantly, the rate of thinning is increasing. Glacier Bay National Park’s glaciers follow this trend.

The theme of this blog has always been “Seeing God’s hand at work around the World.”

As I finish writing this blog I can’t help but contemplate that maybe today, I should add “while I still can.”

Thanks for traveling with us.