We’re not big on bureaucracies, nor having to live with lots of rules and regulations when we cruise. But in the case of Glacier Bay, you either do it by National Park Service regulation – or stay out of Glacier Bay. At first we were put off by the concept – you need to make a reservation well in advance, and we never know in advance what we’re going to do, let alone where and when we’ll be doing it.

But when we found out that our daughter Elyse and granddaughter Emma were coming to visit, we gave the Glacier Bay Park office a call. They limit the traffic to maintain the pristine wilderness – so just 30 yachts at a time are allowed in. As we were calling only two weeks before we needed to visit, we were not if a slot would be available. We were pleased to find out that they’d had a cancellation – this is not unusual.

Of course there are rules. For one, you have to reconfirm within 48 hours. Then, you need to hail the park on VHF and get permission to enter. Finally, there is a mandatory orientation for the "boat operator". Not a lot to put up with, considering what you get in return.

We did not have a lot of time – just a couple of days to get a taste for the area. The surrounding terrain is a visual delight, especially when you have sunlight and blue skies, which Elyse and Emma were kind enough to bring with them.

We took hundreds of photos like these.

We decided to visit just one glacier and were advised the John Hopkins was very active.

There were several several large "explosions" as the face of the glacier calved. You could hear these for miles.

If you look at the base of the glacier you’ll see one of the splashes. We braced for a wave, but we did not feel even a small ripple from this one.

The ice bergs are home to a small colony of harbor seals, who come here to have their pups. The orca whales know this and visit the area looking for easy meals – which is why this little guy is hauled out in the middle of the ice pack fronting the glacier.

There were also lots of sea otters – checking us out and just chilling in the afternoon sun.

The textures on the ice are wonderful to look at with camera and binoculars.

Linda is using the stabilized Canons here, while Emma is using her pair of 7 x 30 binoculars. We found that for sightseeing, the stabilized binoculars were wonderful. Whale and bear watching, not to mention just taking in the surrounding topography, are much enhanced with high-powered stabilized glasses.

Although it is a sunny day, the adiabatic (downslope) winds off the glacier are barely above freezing.

Glaciers do an interesting carving job on the granite walls of the canyons fronting them. The textures change with the composition of the walls themselves, what is in the glaciers, and the light.

We’ve got to show you at least one "posed" photo with the boat. We’re still looking for that perfect poster photo for the wall to remind us why we came up here.

Emma has been driving both Wind Horse and the dinghy. She seems to prefer the raw speed of the smaller boat.

Glacier Bay is much more than glaciers. There are a number of lovely anchorages, which one gets to share with resident bears – both brown and black varieties. This is in North Sandy Cove. Notice the crushed reeds over the after quarter of the dink? Those are made by black bears – and they’re probably lying in wait…

Thought we were kidding, didn’t you! This mom and her two new cubs were about a quarter of a mile away – hence the fuzzy photo. But there had been a nice daddy-sized black bear walking the beach off our stern as we came into the anchorage.

Consider the activities this day on the good ship Wind Horse. Early morning – watch humpback whales. Midmorning – get orientation from rangers and visit park museum. Afternoon – navigate ice, imbibe breathtaking vistas, visit calving glacier. Evening – watch for bears, bake apple and peach pies.

We’re exhausted just thinking about all of this.