Hubbard Glacier Day

 Today we are in Hubbard Glacier all day. 

This tidewater glacier may be a bit of sleeping giant. Off the coast of Yakutat—200 miles NW of Juneau—Hubbard is certainly gigantic: it's more than six miles wide where it meets the ocean.

  

It’s also been very active in the past, having had two major surges in the past 30 years. Those surges were big enough to cross the bay, turning the fjord into a lake and threatening to flood the coastal town of Yakutat.

   

For now, the glacier isn’t surging, but you could say that it’s a pretty light sleeper— it does calve a lot. The face is up to 400 feet tall, and icebergs 3 to 4 stories in height aren’t uncommon.

Granted, most of that ice is below water, but the ice can be so thick that cruise ships can’t get too close. In the right conditions, however, your ship might be able to get within 1/2 mile of the face.

 

We start the day with "Bathrobes & Ice" - Meeting time 9:30 a.m. 

We don our bathrobes that Seabourne puts in our room and head to the front of the ship where we are greeted with champagne, Peach Schnapps, appetizers, and more warm drinks that smelled awesome, that I didn't try. 

 

Sitka Alaska

 Sitka, dubbed "The Paris of the Pacific" is a coastal gem nestled between mountains and Sitka Sound on Baranof Island, Alaska. With a population of 8,500 it's Alaska's fifth-largest city and a cultural hub in the Southeast. Its history intertwines with Russian fur trade, blending Russian heritage with coastal charm reminiscent of Engish towns. 

It’s another tender port, and there are no lines as we hop on the water shuttle. The town is small and totally walkable, with plenty of signs pointing you in the right direction and even telling you how long it’ll take to get there. While glancing at the map, a Russian cemetery caught my eye. Just a few blocks up from the main street, it turned out to be a hidden gem—amazingly beautiful, lush, and green, with Russian gravestone markers. It felt like stepping onto a movie set, and we were the only ones there. It was so peaceful, with just the sound of birds squawking overhead, though I have no clue what kind they were.

On to Sitka National Historical Park. It's about a 20 minute easy coastal walk with plenty of  signs for directions.

 Alaska’s oldest National Park isn’t a big one—only 113 acres—but it’s rich with history and there’s plenty to do: hiking trails, ranger-led interpretive walks, carving demonstrations, ethnographic displays, and more. The park’s main attractions are the roughly 20 totem poles and the beautiful coastal rainforest, which you can explore on your own or with park rangers.  

The park was created in 1910 to commemorate the Battle of 1804 between the Tlingits and Russians. Nothing remains of the Tlingit fort other than a commemorative plaque in an open field, but there’s a ranger-led walk that focuses on the battle. The National Park Service offers two other guided walks, one focusing on the park’s totem poles and the other on the area’s natural history. 

We just walked through the park on our own. 

Constructed between 1844 and 1848, the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel is the principal representative of Russian cultural influence in the 19th century in North America. From 1840 to 1872, Sitka was the Seat of the Russian Orthodox Diocese which governed all of North America, and thereafter it continued as the Seat of the Diocese of Alaska. This outstanding example of Russian church architecture was by far the largest and most imposing religious edifice in Alaska until well into the 20th century. The present cathedral is a reconstruction of the original building which burned to the ground in January 1966.