What is the best way to experience a glacier? Not everyone would have the same response to this question. In Glacier Bay, we visited immense glaciers in expansive settings. Today, the focus was on exploring Tracy Arm and Sawyer and South Sawyer glaciers.

After an exciting delay to watch humpback whales, the ship wound its way up the fiord towards the face of the glaciers. Steep, ice -carved walls rose sharply up from the glassy, turquoise water. The sun glinted off the polished rock as we passed classic "U"-shaped valleys and other glacial topography. Just before lunch, our vessel rounded a bend for a breathtaking vista of first South, then Sawyer Glacier. Ice sculptures of birds and dragons bobbed around us as we took in the wild beauty.

Another way to view a glacier is from the air. Many guests opted for flightseeing for a totally different perspective of these rivers of ice. Float planes hummed in the distance then landed beside the Sea Lion to pick up guests. Later, when all three rounds of flights returned., there was an active exchange of stories that will hopefully remain as special memories of this remarkable landscape.