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Northern exposure

by Caroline Gladstone | 27 Dec 2012

I didn’t expect a glacier to be blue; I’m not sure what I’d imagined about these massive rivers of ice, but certainly not the azure hue that glistens from the base of the mighty Sawyer Glacier.

Alaska’s wild beauty is mesmerising and its glaciers are the showstoppers. I come face to face with several during a cruise from Vancouver to the south-east section of the state known as the Panhandle.

After steering a course through Georgia and Queen Charlotte straits, and the waterways between the numerous islands strung along the Canadian coast, we arrive at the entrance to Tracy Arm, an inlet that meanders 48km into the Coastal Range Mountains.

Glaciers

Disembarking, I board a catamaran with 65 others for a pilgrimage through the steel grey waters, past sheer granite cliffs, to confront North Sawyer Glacier and its twin sibling, the South Sawyer.

Like most of Alaska’s tidewater glaciers, North Sawyer is retreating, having shrunk two kilometres in the past 10 years, a guide explains. What I see from the catamaran is its face measuring 60m high and its mouth stretching 400m from end to end.

Keeping a safe distance, the captain manoeuvres the boat so we all get a perfect view to watch the monster in silent anticipation. Then, with a rumble that reverberates in the stillness, North Sawyer cracks and huge chucks of blue-tinged ice tumble into the sea.

Waiting for a glacier to ‘calve’ is one of the great spectator sports of cruise ship passengers and, a few days later, we get to see it again in magnificent Glacier Bay National Park. 

The wild side

Leaving Tracy Arm, we glimpse the South Sawyer in the distance through its impenetrable traffic jam of icebergs big and small, as the captain heads north to the capital Juneau 50km away.

Cruising into the Glacier Bay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the largest protected areas on earth, is an undisputed highlight. We enter via Icy Strait and, within minutes, the park ranger shouts “bears”, the cue for me to train my binoculars on a distant bank.

I miss the whales that others see, but from the comfort of a lounge chair I watch harbour seals float past on mini icebergs.

The pièce de résistance is Margerie Glacier, one of 16 glaciers in Glacier Bay as she cracks and calves.

Onshore adventures

While I take the classic seven-night round trip from Vancouver, another seven-day itinerary travels one-way across the Gulf of Alaska from Whittier (near Anchorage) to Vancouver.

Both cruises start and end with relaxing days at sea, spend two days cruising through glacier-filled bays and fjords and visit frontier towns populated by hardy folk.

Optional shore excursions offer exciting ways to see Alaska from many angles; I choose a float plane trip that soars over the immense Juneau Icefield to see where the Mendenhall Glacier begins its journey down to the sea.

Others take helicopter rides to dog-mushing camps high on the Taku Glacier, or whale-watching cruises, or skim over towering pines as they ride the cable car to Mount Roberts to view our cruise ship moored in Juneau Harbor.

In Skagway I take the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad, following the mountainous trail taken by thousands of hopeful prospectors heading for the Klondike Goldfield in 1898.

In Ketchikan, the ‘Salmon Capital of the World’ where the fish literally leap out of the water, I walk along Creek Street visiting quaint timber buildings that once housed famous madams, bootleggers and other frontier entrepreneurs.

Alongside the splendour of Canada’s and Alaska’s icy beauty, being aboard a ship means travellers can enjoy good food served in classic dining rooms and intimate specialty restaurants, piano sing-alongs, production shows and trivia nights, and stylish bars and lounges.

Travel Guide

’Tis the season

The best time to cruise Canada and Alaska is the northern late spring, summer and early autumn, from May to September.

Fares are generally lower at the beginning and end of the season – May and September – while June and July offer the longest days, with up to 20 hours of daylight a day in some areas, and higher temeratures, meaning more active, calving glaciers.

Do I look cold in this?

Average temperatures in Vancouver are approximately 10-15 degrees Celsius in May and September and approximately 15-20 degrees Celsius from June-August. While cruising, temperatures can fluctuate.

Getting there

Vancouver is approximately a 14 hour flight from Australia’s east coast and 18 hours from the west, with regular flights from both.

Onshore

Check out the strength, speed and training of mushing dogs as you sled over the snow, wander historic buildings and towns and catch a salmon “this big!” – you won't need to exaggerate when you talk about it later.