If it is Saturday it is Glacier Bay

We were told last night that the best place to see the glaciers was from the Palm Court which is a cocktail lounge. This morning a coffee and pastry station was set up for us ... Jerry manfully bolted out of bed early to get us good seats and at 8 AM, when he got there, he just managed to get front rows seats for us on one side of the boat ...I still don't know the proper names for the sides. Anyway, after a breakfast of juice, croissants and coffee we sat watching the magnificent ride into the Bay. If you look carefully at the top picture you will see the brown bear and her cubs that we saw on one of the islands as we sailed by ... I know it looks like a rock bu I swear it is a bear ... Ranger David assured us it was and the people with binoculars agreed. Yes, we absolutely did forget our binoculars ... typical!

Anyway, we relaxed, read and looked out the windows until we approached Margerie Glacier. The second picture is the glacier as we approached and the top picture is the glacier itself. If you see blue streaks they are not bad photography ... although I am not a good photographer there is actually a great deal of blue in the glaciers ... it is the light reflecting in the dense and compacted ice. The dirt that you see is the dirt and debris that the Glacier picks up as it moves through the Bay ... at the rate of 7 feet a year ...

The glacier is 25 stories high, 10 stories of which are underwater. We spent over two hours sailing along side the glacier ... each side of the ship had equal opportunities to view it. While we did not get to see big chunks breaking off (calving) we did see many small ones. The noise that you hear is incredible ... I will never hear thunder again without thinking of this. Additionally, you hear the sound of the ice within the Glacier as it moves and shifts. Truly one of nature's most awe inspiring sights and sounds. Throughout the day Ranger David gave short bits of information through the ship's PA system and Ranger Andrea was present walking around the deck answering questions. Incredibly it was warm on the deck ... right next to the glacier ... OK, not really right next to the glacier but you get my drift ... (little ice berg pun!). The crew came around with hot chocolate with rum in it ... quite a treat.

After a couple of hours it was time to sail out of the Bay ...while we saw whales and sea otters thy were in a distance and if we had not been told that they were there we would have missed them. However, once they were pointed out it was very exciting whenever we saw one. The pictures show black dots ... but they will serve as memory prompts to us; however, I will not bore you with them.

Back inside a lunch of soup and sandwiches (Crystal Symphony style) was served so that no one had to go to the dining room or to any of the food areas where the view of the Bay was not apparent. Finally, we left the Palm Court and went to another area of the ship where we could stretch out, watch the Bay slip by and of course fall asleep. At 2:15 I sat up and raced downstairs to take my third computer photography course.

After the course back up to the deck and more viewing of the Bay ... as we headed back to somewhere in the Inner Passage on the way to Ketchikan. Up to our room to shower and get ready for dinner... tonight is the French dinner and we had been told by Sofka not to dare miss it ... as though we would!

We are opting to go to bed after diner tonight as the show is the awful Improv group again ... and we want to enjoy our last day on shore in Alaska tomorrow. Jerry is yelling at me that we area going to be late for dinner ... so that's it for today; the next post will be after our excursion in Ketchikan ...

Until then ...