We awoke to a wonderland of color! The first few tentative peeks out the windows revealed a green sea studded with icebergs in every shade of azure: deep blue, powered blue, aquamarine, and every so often crystal clear bergs that look like floating sculptures. We felt like kids peering at clouds as we discovered dragons, clipper ships, and swans. Looking above the ocean surface white waterfalls cascaded down from snowcapped peaks into a forest of green. It was a magical morning.
We could hardly wait for a closer look. With our trusty watercraft we left the National Geographic Seabird and headed straight towards Dawes Glacier. Only then did we capture the true size of the scene before us: while our home for the next seven days turned into a small dot, the glacier ahead loomed a full 30 stories above us. Throughout the morning we watched as huge pieces fell off with a crack that locals call “white thunder.” And if you listened closely, you could hear the snap, crackle, and pop of air bubbles escaping the ice, known as “bergy seltzer.” It didn’t take us long to realize that new sights and sounds and even new vocabulary will be part of our Alaska adventure.
This afternoon we took to the small boats again, but this time we headed for Ford’s Terror, a place that a mariner must carefully assess before entering, because the narrow opening constricts the tidal flow. The inlet is named for a Mr. Ford, who barely lived to tell the tale. But once inside, it’s the land of 1000 waterfalls—not that we counted—but they are EVERYWHERE! The rain forest with its waterfalls made for a fairyland and the kids on this week’s family expedition imagined a forest of ewoks, centaurs, and unicorns.
The last splash of color in this day came from the camera of Justin Hofman, our undersea specialist, who brought us pictures from his afternoon dive into the deep. Never did we expect such a rainbow of creatures just beneath the surface. If this is just day one, imagine all the colors we will encounter in a week of exploring Alaska.
