Glacier Calving with College Fjord Cruise - Whittier, Alaska
Nestled within Alaska's mountainous fjords near Whittier, we travel by cruise ship and a 26-Glacier Cruise tour to College Fjord and Blackwater Bay where we get up close to giant tidewater glaciers, and witness dramatic ice calving dropping hundreds of feet into the water at Harvard Glacier.
Embark on a captivating journey with Haswell Travelled's College Fjord YouTube video, where we also find friendly otters, sea lions, thousands of birds, waterfalls and more glaciers.
Harvard Glacier in College Fjord, Alaska
In 1899, just as the Klondike Gold Rush was winding down, Edward Harriman, an American business tycoon, embarked on a two-month voyage with numerous scientists of various disciplines, along with writers, artists, photographers, and a couple college professors. They were the first explorers to enter College Fjord, and they named its glaciers after elite colleges.
Our cruise ship glides smoothly through the fjord, offering us stunning views of these majestic glaciers. The overcast sky, with low-hanging clouds, creates a mystical ambiance as we marvel at the glacial giants lying in the mountain valleys. From a distance, it's difficult to truly appreciate the immense scale of the glaciers. Using my zoom lens, I capture a closer view of their massive, rugged ice formations, created by centuries of compression and fracturing as they slowly move down mountain sides.
Harvard Glacier is very picturesque with its mountain backdrop and 8 tributary glaciers flowing down and converging before reaching the water. Each source glacier carries rock debris from the sides of the mountains, creating the dark flow lines. Harvard Glacier is the largest in the Fjord, being 1.5 miles wide and up to 300 feet thick at the waterline. With a flow rate of 6 to 13 feet per day, it is very active with large chunks of ice breaking off into the water called calving.
After our ship docks in Whittier, we hop on a “26 Glacier Cruise” excursion by Phillips Cruises, and we also enjoy wildlife along the way. As we approach Harvard Glacier, we come upon large waves as it had just dropped a large iceberg off its face. That is when the calving action began and I provide exciting close-ups in my video.
We watch ice calving on the face of Harvard Glacier
Binoculars are useful for wildlife, and I use my zoom lens to capture playful otters, noisy sea lions, and thousands of sea birds. Otter pups are typically born between March and May, and mothers keep them on her chest for several months, gradually teaching them to swim and search for food. We are here in July, so pups may be 3-4 months old and starting to become independent.
After cruising through Esther Passage, we slow down at Egg Rocks with a large number of Stellar Sea Lions. They like to gather in large groups, and they use this spot to rest, breed, and raise their pups. Pups are born between May and June. The sea lions can be found here year-round.
Blackstone Bay is a fjord named after Charles Blackstone, a gold prospector from Seattle who died near here in a winter storm in 1897. We see a number of glaciers as we head to beautiful Beloit Glacier at the end of Blackstone Bay. This tidewater glacier is only 2 miles long, with a face about 700 feet wide and 200 feet high. Our boat pauses for a while as we observe its fabulous blue icy face up close - hoping to see more calving, but the glacier was quiet. Next to it is a beautiful stream of cascading waterfalls.
Just across the bay from Whittier we come to a beautiful spot, where we find numerous waterfalls and thousands of screeching sea birds. These are Black-legged Kittiwakes, a member of the gull family which are found along northern coastlines. They lay eggs from late-May to early-June, with chicks hatching a month later. Both parents feed and protect their chicks for about 4-5 weeks until they leave the next.
We wrap with a quick look at the port of Whittier, gateway to beautiful Prince William Sound. Anchorage is another 60 miles away, accessed by a narrow single-lane tunnel at the end of this road, with alternating one-way traffic for vehicles and railway. Whittier was built as a military port in WWII, and the army also built the tunnel to transfer supplies & personnel to bases in Anchorage. Cruise ships begin and end their journeys here, while the port also accommodates cargo vessels and supports the local fishing industry.
Immerse yourself in the captivating episode of Alaska’s College Fjord on the Haswell Travelled YouTube channel. The video is also easily accessible via the website’s USA web page, allowing viewers to explore this enchanting content alongside other fabulous destinations.
