Alaskan Cruise: Day 5

Date:  Wednesday, May 14th

Itinerary:  Glacier Bay, at sea

Highlight:  Glacier Bay was absolutely spectacular, a trip highlight

Favorite eats:  Pepperoni pizza and salmon

Drink of the day:  Extra hot coffee while glacier watching

Weather:  Cold, overcast, and slightly rainy with wind

We woke up at 5 a.m. this morning!! We heard there was lots of wildlife to be seen on our way into Glacier Bay, and we didn’t want to miss any of it. We went down to the continental breakfast and had some cereal, fruit, yogurt and coffee. We went back to our room so we could try and do some nature watching on our balcony. The weather was windy, foggy, and rainy. Not a downpour, but a consistent sprinkle. Our early morning wake up time wasn’t for nothing though, because we did end up seeing lots of porpoises and sea lions. They were so cute with their little heads bobbing out of the water!

Our ship picked up a park ranger who spoke to us over the TV and a loud speaker about the area we were going through and the different wildlife we could see. The scenery around us was always changing so we got great use out of our binoculars.

Our Glacier Bay day was our first cold day! I mean, wind in your face, chilled to the bone- cold! With the cold weather, we were so glad we got a balcony room. It was SO nice to be able to step inside briefly to warm up and still see the views. Seriously, having a balcony made our trip. We ventured back out of our room to go fill our thermos we brought from home with piping hot coffee, and we decided to go see the very front of the ship. By this time we’d seen lots of mountain goats on surrounding cliffs, and the waters around us were practically filled with floating icebergs of all sizes. Our ship slowed waaaaay down too, so it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. It was really amazing.

After checking out the view at the front of the ship, we made our way back to our room just in time to see a Bald Eagle perched on an iceberg from our balcony. Um, how cool is that?! Soon, we could see the Margerie Glacier up ahead in the distance. The ship spends half an hour facing the glacier on one side, and then it turns so the other half of the ship can see the glacier for another half an hour. The glacier was on the opposite side of the ship from where we were, so we bee-lined to an upper deck to get a port side view. The forest ranger had said that since it was an overcast day we’d be able to see the blue colors in the glacier really well.

It. Was. Spectacular. And when the ship started to turn, we ran back to our room to keep watching. We watched that glacier for an hour straight. You wouldn’t think a piece of nature could captivate you for an hour straight like that, but it does. It really does. It was so cool. We even got to see it calve a few times, which is where the ice cracks thunderously and a chunk falls off into the water below.

As we were leaving the Margerie Glacier, Marty ran and got us a couple slices of pizza because we were starving from having gotten up so early. I was a little leery of the pizza from how it looked, but it was surprisingly good. It absolutely hit the spot.

Oh you know, just eatin’ pizza and glacier watching! By the way, how stunning is this backdrop? I was absolutely mesmerized by the color of the water through this area, and the many waterfalls we saw cascading through the mountains. I could have sat and watched that view for days. Unbelievably beautiful!

It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the other glaciers, and then we were on our way back out of Glacier Bay.

I took a steaming hot shower which thawed me out, and then we went and got an ice cream cone. (I know… I know… but that’s what happens when you have all you can eat ice cream at your disposal.)

We went back to our room to watch for whales from our balcony. Thankfully the weather had gotten much better and the rain had let up. It took a little while of watching, but then we saw them…

WHALES!!! Slapping their tail fins as if they were waving at us! It was awesome! We poured ourselves the rest of our red wine, and watched whales for as long as we could see them.

Soon after, we were starving again and got ready for dinner. We were seated just the two of us. For dinner I had a salad, sorbet, the salmon, and vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce. The salmon was so delicious! And a really large serving.

After dinner we went to the comedy show in the theater. The comedian was Steve Smith, and he was hilarious. It was a great show. I was in tears from laughing so hard.

Then, we went back to our room and went to bed. It was a long day, but such a good one.

Visit again soon to read about day 6 of our Alaskan cruise, where we visited Ketchikan, Alaska!

xoxo,
Kayla