All this ice is not going to be easy to get through, but we've gotta get closer to the glacier, so here we go!
Stuck in the ice, and loving it, at Chenega Glacier.
Chenega Glacier is located in Nassau Fjord, towards the southwest corner of Prince William Sound in Alaska. The closest port is Whittier, but we arrived from Seward after driving through the night. Because of its remote location, we don't usually see any other boats while we are here. Today was the same, as we had the whole fjord to ourselves. We also had perfect kayaking conditions, with not a drop of wind. We even had sun shining down, which made up for the otherwise frigid temperature outside.
Today I led a guided kayak, from the back deck of the Safari Explorer towards the glacier face. Along the way we stopped for beautiful harlequin ducks, waterfalls, and mountains goats. But the real draw was a massive tidewater glacier. Chenega Glacier is one of the most active glaciers we go to here in Prince William Sound. And today we got to see a lot of chunks of ice falling off the glacier and crashing into the ocean below. A few times, very big chunks of ice fell off, creating a large rolling wave that passed harmlessly under our kayaks.
The entire experience was so unique, and beautiful. It was hard work getting through the ice, as it was really packed together tightly. But even a little hard work just added to the fun of the adventure.
Paddling through impossibly blue glacial ice, in front of Chenega Glacier.
It was hard work paddling through the thick ice. There were some pieces that would stop you right in your tracks.
We had to celebrate after making it back out of the ice.
If you follow the kayak in front, then they will make a path through the ice and do all the hard work for you.
It looked like Chenega Glacier had been pretty active recently. There was so much ice in the water, all having calved off the glacier's three hundred foot tall face. We saw lots of little calvings, and several big ones while we paddled.
Here I am, enjoying every minute of the adventure.
I paddled back into this slot cave to get this photo. It got pretty narrow, and I had to make sure a big calving from the glacier didn't send a small tsunami my way while I was tucked back in the cave.
I wanted a shot of our ship, the Safari Explorer, with ice bergs and the glacier in the background.
The crew of the Safari Explorer, launching the kayaks. I took seventeen guests on one of most unique paddles of their life.
I couldn't have asked for better weather for our first kayak of the season. We had no wind, flat calm water, and tons of fun ice to pick our way through.
The surrounding scenery was not too bad either.
We explored the cliffs and the shoreline on the way to the glacier. We saw a couple of mountain goats high up on the cliffs, and some beautiful waterfalls tumbling down to the water below.
On our way back out of the ice, we ran across our small boat, taking out several guests for a skiff tour. They couldn't get as deep into the ice as we could with our kayaks.
Seeing the blue ice of these ice bergs gets me all excited.
Max and Alice getting close to the waterfall.
Not a bad place to kayak.
Lots of amazing place to travel to in our world. And it is all at our fingertips. Keep traveling and keep posting!
-Dai Mar