Alaska Glacier Cruises
If there is one thing that
you’ll remember about almost any Alaska cruise, it will most certainly be the
endless glaciers Alaska has to offer. In
Southeast Alaska, maritime climate and coastal mountains work together to
create favorable conditions for glaciation. The icefields straddle the Coast
Mountain Range on the United States-Canadian border, directly in the path of
the Pacific Ocean's prevailing winds. Moist air flows toward the mountains,
rises, cools, and releases snow and rain. Annual snowfall on the Juneau
Icefield exceeds 100 feet, and mild Southeast summers assure that winter snow
accumulation exceeds summer snowmelt at higher elevations.
Southeast Alaska has many active glaciers
that calve daily when giant pieces of ice crack off the head of the glacier
and fall into the sea. Tidewater glaciers that end in deep water can also
calve from under the water, shooting huge pieces of ice like missiles
up through the surface to fall back with mighty splashes. The image of slow,
imperceptible glacial movement is now replaced by the sounds of the thundering
ice bergs cracking and falling into the sea. The freshly-calved bergs are
often a sparkling deep blue and assume fantastic shapes as they slowly drift
with the currents or beach themselves on outgoing tides. All this makes
tidewater glacier watching a popular tourist attraction by sea or air.
In Alaska Day Cruises
Leading Day cruises are available in
Southcentral Alaska from Whittier, Seward and Valdez. Check out
Stan Stephans
Glacier Tours, Phillips 26 glacier cruise,
Kenai Fjords tours, or
Grey Line
of Alaska. Each of these providers offer a first class experience.
Explore Alaska's coastal towns and experience the refreshing,
untouched, glacial valleys and mountain ranges only Alaska can offer. See
whales, sea lion, otters, puffin, bear, sheep, mountain goat, along with
countless species of other sea birds.
All your travel needs in one place. |
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