July 8
Today is the big day…the whole reason I picked this cruise line and this itinerary. It’s time for our Glacier Bay Day!
Glacier Bay is a World Heritage Site, although I’m not quite sure what that means (and I’m feeling too lazy to Google it). What I do know is that people who’ve been raved about it, and I can’t wait to become one of those people!
I woke Mark up a bit early, so he could get to the Kid’s Zone by 9 a.m. Poor kid’s so exhausted that he actually cried and refused to get up. “I wanna sleeeeep!” he sobbed, but Mama wasn’t having any of that.
“It’s Glacier Bay Day!” I replied, like that meant anything to him. With a little more persuasion (i.e., I pulled him out of bed), he got up and dressed.
I took him up to the Kid’s Zone to participate in the Junior Ranger program. A Park Ranger was to narrate today’s passage through the park, but first he would make a special appearance with the kids. I didn’t want Mark to miss out.
I then made my way down to our pre-planned meeting area on Deck 7. Kathleen had suggested that deck because unlike the Lido Deck (yes, there really is such a thing), Deck 7 did not have the hazy blue glass balconies that are hard to see through when you’re sitting. Deck 7 also turned out to be a good choice for other reasons -- it had comfy wooden chaises and very few people.
I found Kathleen and Edra, then the Wawerchaks. They were all staring out into the ocean, binoculars scanning the horizon. We dropped our jackets, cameras, and other personal belongings onto the deck chairs, claiming at least 7 or 8 of them as our own.
The entrance to Glacier Bay National Park
It didn’t take long to spot the wildlife. We saw the telltale spout of a humpback not too far off, quickly followed by the tiny dorsal fin, and then the tail. A flock of seagulls tipped us off to another humpback, and then someone spotted a pod of orcas. There were whales literally EVERYWHERE -- we were shouting and pointing an unable to believe our eyes.
Suddenly, there was a huge explosion, as a humpback whale surfaced and exhaled not more than 10 feet away from us. It was so forceful and sudden that it surprised us, and our whole group screamed. We screamed from shock at first, but then with delight as we saw the whale dip back down below the ship.
My parents stopped by, as did the Stricklands, and pretty soon, it was a party. I tried to be calm (read: quiet) but I couldn’t help myself. It was just so exciting that I screamed with delight at each whale that I saw. Pretty soon, I didn’t have to worry about our area becoming crowded; I was scaring away would-be viewers with my volume.
Someone came by and said whales were spotted on the starboard side of the ship (we were on the port side). We scurried across to the other side and sure enough, we saw a pod of orcas. Have I said it was amazing enough times yet? Because it truly was!
Another benefit of the starboard side was that it was the sunny side of the ship. The port side had excellent views, but it was freezing cold. For the first time our whole trip, we actually used our heavy coats, gloves, scarfs and hats. It wasn’t a freezing cold, but it was windy and breezy, and we definitely needed our warmest clothing that day.
I met a very nice Canadian woman who stopped her walk around the deck to ask what we were so darn excited about. We pointed out the whales, and she got excited as well. She was very sweet, and kept saying, “Eh.” As in, “You’re right, those are some whales, eh?” She said that she was trying really hard not to say “eh” so much, but the harder she tried, the more she said it.
She also remarked on the crisp, clear air, and marveled at how clean it was. I agreed, saying it was terrible where we lived. She asked where that was.
“Los Angeles,” I replied.
“It’s really bad, eh? Then why do you live there?” she asked.
I glanced at my beautiful surroundings, all the clean air and water, all the green trees and whales. I thought of all the open space here, and the crowded, smoggy freeways bursting with angry drivers back home. I was at a loss; I had no answer.
Then I remembered her telling me about the weather in Manitoba, how it dipped to 40 below during the winters.
“Well, the weather’s like this all year round in L.A.,” I told her, “That’s why we live there." She nodded. Sunny weather is reason enough for someone accustomed to 40 below.
While we waited for the Park Ranger to start narrating the tour, we kept scanning for wildlife. We were momentarily distracted by my dad, who'd found the hot chocolate cart.
"Taste this," he told me, passing me a "Monte Chocso" -- hot chocolate with shots of Grand Marinier and Kahlua in it. It was so good that we all purchased them, keeping the hot chocolate guy busy for another 15 minutes.
The Park Ranger started the narration, which began by pointing out a glacier on the port side. We gathered up our stuff and reclaimed our original spot, and marvelled at this amazing glacier.
Amazing!No, I do not remember its name. I was too excited to retain much information, and too mesmerized by the bright blue ice!
I picked Mark up from the Kid's Zone, which closed during lunch, and brought him down to Deck 7. He stared at the glacier for all of two minutes before wondering aloud when we were gonna eat.
None of us wanted to take time away from the views to sit down for lunch. So we took turns going up to the Lido Deck Grill to grab lunch and bring it back down to our viewing spot.
It was like a whole different world up there! Whereas our deck was empty and quiet, the Lido Deck was loud and swarming with people. It was like a huge party. There was an open air buffet, and people everywhere. It was also about 15 degrees hotter, so the pool was teeming with swimmers enjoying the Alaskan glacier/tropical weather juxtaposition.
We grabbed our lunch and got the heck out of there. We returned to our quiet little corner of the world on Deck 7, which was peaceful and serene someone spotted some puffins. Then I jumped up (once again, overcome with excitement) and immediately knocked over my soda. I didn't even care -- I just left the mess there until after the puffins had passed by us.
Just after lunch, we reached the best part of Glacier Bay -- Marjorie Glacier. It was huge, a massive frozen river flowing down the mountain.
Marjorie Glacier from afar
It was as beautiful as all the previous glaciers, but the best thing about this one was how close we got to it. The captain drove the ship really close up, so that you could see how massively tall the glacier really was. For the first time, I really felt dwarfed by the humongous sheets of bright blue ice.
Marjorie Glacier up close
Mark was again impressed for all of five minutes. I escorted him back to the Kid's Zone precisely at 2 p.m., then returned to stare at the glacier.
Besides being really close to the glacier, we got to see something else really great -- the glacier calving! That's right, as we stood there, the glacier put on a show for us, dropping huge pillars of ice into the ocean. You saw it first, a tiny movement, followed by the chunking ice and splashing water. Then you heard it, a noise the native Alaskans called the "white thunder" -- a thunderous crash and explosion as the ice crashed into the water. If you heard the noise, it was too late -- the ice had already broken off, so we kept our eyes tightly focused on the glacier.
It paid off, too, because we got to see the glacier calf two or three times. Here's a shot from one of the biggest calvings we witnessed:
It was SPECTACULAR.
The captain did a phenomenal job of ensuring everyone got a close-up view of the glacier. He turned that huge ship around like nobody's business for the better part of an hour. Each time he moved the ship, we simply ran to the other side of the boat to stare some more.
Right before our trip, I bought a big, fancy zoom lens for my camera (a Nikon70-300 mm lens). I'd fretted about the expense and whether I really needed such a huge, heavy lens. Let me say that after zooming in on the glacial ice, I don't regret one penny of that purchase!
It was the most fantastic day. We stayed out on deck all afternoon, until I had to go pick Mark up from Kid's Zone again at 5 p.m.
On the way back to our room, I stopped at my parent's. My mom threw open the door and yelled, "Whale off the balcony!" at me. I ran out to her balcony, Mark close on my heels.
And was treated to the most beautiful sight ever! There was a humpback out in the water, having the best time ever. We watched it diving, applauding as its tail broke the surface. The whale came up and playfully slapped the water with its pectoral fins a few times, then dove back down again. Suddenly, it burst from the water, breaching! It came halfway out of the water, then fell backwards. There was a gasp, then applause from all the balcony viewers.
The best part was that the whale repeated this a bunch more times! It breached probably four or five times, until the boat finally sailed too far away to see any more.
Because we didn't want to miss any more shows like that, we skipped the dining room, and ate at the buffet instead. The moment we finished, we returned to our beloved Deck 7.
We were leaving Glacier Bay, and the whale sightings became few and far between. We did see a lot of otters sailing past us, and Kathleen spotted a bear on a nearby island. (She has some serious eagle eyes -- she was an expert spotter!)
We also watched the pilot boat speed up to the ship's side so the Park Ranger naturalist could disembark. As we were watching that, we spotted more pods of orcas, and then Kathleen spotted a whole bunch of humpback whale spouts in the distance. We watched all those whales for another hour; they just kept popping up right next to us!
We stayed outside the entire day, for at least 12 hours. Seriously, we blew off our fancy meals, the ship's entertainment, the bars, the nightclub, and spent our whole day out on that deck.
And I can honestly say as boring as that sounds, it was one of the best days of my entire life.
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