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| Berg patrol |
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| Jannelle, Deb, Rolland, Bianca |
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| Columbia Bay |
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| SV Precipice |
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| The mountain is emerging from under the glacier. |
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| Cordova, AK |
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| Precipice on the tidal grid for a hull repaint. |
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| Cordova, AK |
A couple weeks ago I headed to Cordova, AK to meet up with the Trowbridges. As usual, we had a good time and even got to take a couple day boat trip to see some glaciers in Columbia bay. I have to admit I was a little nervous when approaching the icebergs. I was quickly reminded that I didn't need to be worried, besides this was nothing compared to Northwest Passage done a couple summers ago by the Trowbridge family. Plus, the myth that "bergs" are bigger underneath than on top...just a myth. Between the 4 of us girls we took turns with 'berg" watch, while skipper maneuvered "Precipice." By moving approximately 1m/hr we manually pushed away the little bergs and stayed clear of the big ones. At times we would latch onto a medium sized one and use it as a plow on the front of the boat. Worked pretty nice once we finally found on just the right size. Occasionally we would hear a loud thunder clap type noise which was the "calving" of the glaciers, when huge chunks fall off and cause a huge splash and small waves even from a mile away.
Columbia glacier used to be just one glacier but now has receded to four different ones. Pretty cool. We wanted to get closer in but the icebergs were getting a little too thick. We didn't want to get locked in, we were probably about a mile still from the actual edge of it.
