Going further north we arrived at Icy Bay. The ship nosed its way into Tsaa Fjord and they launched the RHIBs. The Amundsen cannot sensibly drop anchor here because the water is too deep. Instead, they use a clever Dynamic Positioning (DP) system. Multiple GPS receivers are used to accurately determine the position and orientation of the vessel. The DP uses the ship propellers and bow thrusters to keep it in exactly the same place. In effect, they can just park the ship anywhere. We spent the afternoon pottering around in the RHIBs. A group of canoeists went out. There were no shore landings. I don’t think that is allowed here by the park rules.
Several glacier tongues drop down into Icy Bay making for a spectacular scene of ice and cliffs. The amount of meltwater was phenomenal. I have never seen anything like it. It is normal, in the summer, for meltwater to permeate through the glaciers and run out at the bottom. In Svalbard, we explored an ice cave that was made in just this way. Here, there were thundering great torrents of water coming out from under the ice. It was impressive and noisy. Huge waterfalls were gushing out. The water was heavily sediment laden making it a dirty grey colour.
The next day we continued making our way north along the Alaskan panhandle. Wonderful little islands and small settlements. We passed many more glaciers and at one point, paused to watch a distant bear on the shore.
