A day at sea

Whether from excitement or not being used to the time difference, Bob and I were both up early. By 6 am we were bundled up and sitting on the balcony! This was pretty much our “outpost” throughout the cruise! And as long as we were looking...we were usually able to see some type of wildlife, regardless of where we were. 

Luck was with us that first morning and a pod of dall’s porpoises swam alongside our balcony for some time.

A sea day on an Alaska cruise is so unlike a cruise in the Caribbean where one sees beautiful blue water...but nothing else. Sailing through the inside passage provided land views on both sides of the ship. 

Even with the beautiful vistas, we didn't spend ALL day on the balcony. A trivia game was on the agenda for the morning, but we were so lousy that we were blown away by the competition. So with the intent of taking "in" some information instead, we attended a couple of lectures. On this sailing the naturalist, Susan Hazlett, and author, Rachel Cartwright, both gave several talks throughout the week on Alaska culture and wildlife. Rachel's book "The Alaska Cruise Companion" includes a map that shows when and where the best wildlife viewing can be expected. We took notes and a photo of her map so we were ready!

I had also checked out a couple of other Alaska cruise handbooks from my local library. Each one had maps that I clipped to the cabin wall to help chart our location as we sailed northward. 

Later in the afternoon we watched a documentary, “Go North” on the outdoor movie screen on the Lido deck. Interesting…but probably fewer than a dozen people were watching! Wimps!

Actually I will admit...being out on deck was windy...and chilly.

The first of two formal nights was that evening...sort of like prom for grown-ups. Bob and Kent both chose to forego their suit coats on this cruise...the atmosphere on the ship was much more casual and informal than other cruises.

Afterwards we attended the production show “Motor City” in the Princess Theater. The theater was one venue on the Coral Princess (~2000 passengers) that was noticeably smaller than its counterpart on the Emerald (~3000 passengers) which we had sailed in December. In spite of the smaller size, we never had a problem finding a seat in the theater as we did on the Emerald.

A great sunset ended the day as we looked forward to our first port of Ketchikan bright and early the next morning.