Alaskan Cruise- Part Five

June 22, 2018  

We awoke in the morning as the ship entered Glacier Bay, National Park.  We knew we were in for quite a day seeing shining mountains and long glaciers.  The bay is about 80 miles long with many side bays.  We were definitely in fjord country. The captain opened the bow area of the ship for the first time and we joined a crowd looking for the first sign of chunks of ice cleaving off of one of the glaciers that pushed into the water.  We had seen many large chunks of ice floating in the water.  Several had seals resting on them.  We also saw sea otters lounging on their backs in beds of kelp. 

At the end of the bay, we turned in front of the Margerie Glacier which towered over 250’ above the water.  The top would have been high above our ship if we had gotten close to it.  We watched for the ice falling from the face of the glacier, called calving.  Over the next couple of hours, we would see big chunks of ice begin to fall and then hear the boom of it breaking loose. 

In the afternoon we cruised slowly back up the bay.  We went to the theater to hear a ranger talk and then a talk by a native Tlingit elder.

Alaskan Cruise- Part Six

June 23, 2018  

No stops this day.  We sailed across the Gulf of Alaska.  We feared it would be rough and trigger some seasickness but we lucked out.  The Gulf was calm all the way across.

The cruise planned several activities to keep everyone active.  We found several to enjoy while the outside scenery was the same, hour after hour.  We took advantage of the tour of the kitchen where all of the food for the entire ship was prepared.  We then rushed from the stern of the ship to the bow to participate in a conversation with the ship’s captain.  Of course, Dick had a question for him.  In the afternoon we got to know the Lincoln Center artists better.  In the evening there was a magician show, he was quite good and at one point asked members of the audience to come up on stage for a big trick.  Not surprising, Patti rushed to be a part of it.  The sky was still quite light when we went to bed at midnight.  We knew we would awake in the Port of Seward and the end of our cruise.

Alaskan Cruise- Part Seven

June 24, 2018  

In the morning we looked at Seward.  We disembarked for the final time and caught a shuttle to the train station where we checked our luggage for the evening train to Anchorage.  Then we had a quick walk along the harbor.

Right on time, our bus arrived to take us on a wonderful tour of Mitch Seavey’s Sled Dog Kennel. Mitch is a three-time Iditarod Sled Dog Race champion.  We have followed him for years and met him several years ago when we went to Anchorage for the start of the race.  His crew gave us, and the rest of our group, a great time, including meeting some three-week-old puppies and going for a ride in a cart pulled by a team of dogs.

We then went to see the Exit Glacier, just a few miles from the kennel.  We had a lovely walk to the toe of the glacier.  Next, we saw a salmon stream where red salmon were fighting their way upstream to spawn.  We watched over 100 of them swimming in a pool below a low dam and then many of them jumped over it to keep going.  Our final stop was in downtown Seward where Patti found a sled, minus dogs, to test out riding the runners.

We were delivered back to the train station in time to catch our Alaska Railway train to Anchorage.  We spent most of the four hour trip in the dome car where we could watch the scenery, including a bald eagle sitting on its nest.  Once in Anchorage, we had a short Uber ride to the airport to catch our night flight home.

Alaskan Cruise- Part Seven

June 24, 2018  

After a long night with little sleep, we arrived back in San Diego.  A city bus, a train ride, and a short drive in our car put us back at home.  What an adventure we had been on.  Loved it!  We are not ready to be committed cruisers but really liked what we had done over the past week.