Helen FieldsScience Writer

The sun came out this evening! We hadn’t seen the sun since probably last Wednesday. The time zones are kind of wonky here, so the sun set at about 10:15 and it probably won’t rise until 9 or so. We’re on Anchorage time, but we’re pretty far west of Anchorage.

Anyway, gratuitous sunset+ice picture:

Isn’t that amazing? It looks like solid ground, but the ship just steams right through it. Watching ice break…I’ve been trying to think of something it looks like. It’s a little like cracking the top on a creme brulee, if you could do that forever. (Mmmmmm – creme brulee. I’m hungry.)

To the front, the ice looks solid, except for the cracks that spring up as we approach. From the side walkways of the ship, you can look straight down on huge tumbling chunks of newly broken ice. A lot of it is 18 inches or thicker. Some is a lot thicker. Some shows layers, I suppose where water froze at different times. Some has murky brown algae growing on the bottom. From the back of the trip you see a serpentine dark line in our wake.