Alaska Glacier Bay 2018

Alaska Glacier Bay 2018

Gary and Carol returned to southeast Alaska, May 24-June1, 2018, on another amazing trip led by Alaskan photographer Ron Niebrugge aboard Ben Swanson’s classic yacht MV Discovery. We sailed from Juneau to Sitka for eight glorious days in the waters of Southeast Alaska.

Our 87-foot classic fantail yacht, Discovery, was built in 1931 and has been beautifully maintained and enhanced by her devoted owner and captain Ben Swanson. She is gorgeous, with teak decks and fine mahogany paneling, comfortable cabins, and lots of room to spread out and enjoy 360-degree views.

Our focus was exploring the tidewater glaciers, including McBride (in the Muir Inlet), Marjorie, Lamplugh, and Johns Hopkins Glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park. We saw humpback whales fluking and bubble-net feeding all along our way. Special surprises were mountain goats clinging to the rocks above our vessel and a pod of orcas coming very close to check us out. Very special!

We were seven oh-so-sympatico photographers who were treated royally by our photographer leader Ron Niebrugge and the Discovery staff: Captain Ben Swanson, Second Captain Susi Zimmerman, deckhand Uncle Ted, and Chef Allan Reitfeld. Oh, Allan’s food (and Susi’s Pavlova) was unbelievably delicious. We were indeed pampered!

Each night we anchored in quiet coves, except for the night we tied up at the dock in the tiny town of Hoonah and went to the local bar to watch (along with some local Tlingit basketball afficianados!) the Warriors beat Houston to advance to the NBA finals. Fun, fun!

One evening we lowered crab pots and the next day we were thrilled to find a haul of over twenty gorgeous Dungeness crabs. That night we feasted on the sweetest, most delicious crab we have ever tasted. Another day several of us, including Carol, kayaked in a beautiful bay on a sunny afternoon.

Once again we extend our heartfelt thanks to Ron and Janine Niebrugge of Niebrugge Images, and to Captain Ben Swanson, Suzi Zimmerman, Uncle Ted and Chef Allan of Alaska Charters for an absolutely fabulous trip. To our fellow travelers and new-found friends, Murray and Judy McEachern (who came all the way from Australia), Alan Jones, Josie Hickel, and Phil Frigon, it was such a delight to spend time with each of you.

Photos were taken on Fuji X-T1 and X-T20 cameras, as well as two iPhone 6s Pluses. To see photos individually, click on the first photo and use arrows to move forward and backward. To see any photo at full size and higher quality, click on “View full size” on the bottom right of the screen and open that photo in your browser where you can save it to your computer.