Glacier Bay

Click here for a Video of Glacier Bay (& Endicott Arm)

On to Day 7 of the cruise...Glacier Bay. Hard to believe but our previous Alaska cruise would be ending already today. After our last few cruises, we are getting spoiled. I think it is going to be harder and harder to book ANY cruise that isn't longer than a week now.

Unfortunately our day in Glacier Bay wasn't the blue sky day we had hoped for. It was raining and the view from our balcony was...non-existent. 

I was following along on Google Maps on my phone and when we were getting closer to Reid Glacier we seemed to veer away rather than sailing right by as we had on our previous cruise. It seems the captain was taking us on the opposite side of Russell Island this time. Perhaps he was hoping the weather would improve a little more and we would have a better chance of seeing Reid Glacier and John Hopkins on the way out? The downside to this plan was that our port side balcony would be facing the opposite direction as we sailed out of Glacier Bay.

This is the route that we took to reach the end of Glacier Bay:

Here is all we saw of Reid Glacier on the sail in...

I kept a towel handy and continually dried off the railing so I could steady myself when taking photos. Not sure if it was worth the effort because even with some editing, the photos are pretty bad.

As we got close to Margerie Glacier, the fog did seem to lift just a bit.

And instead of larger ice bergs, the water was filled with tiny pieces of ice.

At the end of the Tarr Inlet we reached the face of Margerie Glacier where we spent some time. The captain rotated the ship so that both sides had a chance to view the face. 

We watched from our balcony and then went down to deck 6 where we would be undercover and out of the rain.

Waiting as the ship turns to view the glacier.

We weren't alone.

We were fortunate and got to see the glacier calve several times. At a distance, the falling ice chunks didn't look very large, but I'm sure they would have been massive to anyone sitting in a canoe!

The wildlife in Glacier Bay were few and far between, but we did get a couple of photos.

Seagulls, on the other hand, were easy to spot! And as you can see by this photo...the rain continued.

Only two permits per day are give to the larger cruise ships. Sharing the bay with the Sun was the Holland America Volendam.

This Un-Cruise ship, the Wilderness Explorer, sailed towards us through the fog...isn't this a surreal photo?!

If cost weren't a factor (which it is) I would love to experience an Uncruise in Alaska. 

Here is the same ship in front of what I think is Reid Glacier. Definitely the way to see the glaciers up close and personal! 

At 1 pm we attended a Glacier Bay ranger's presentation in the main theater. At the end of her talk, the ranger suggested we go outside because we would be passing by South Marble Island and would be able to see a large group of sea lions. We were quite a distance away so without binoculars you would not have been able to see anything (and the distance and speed of the ship made it impossible to get a decent photo.)

That night we had the 3rd of our 4 specialty dinners at La Cucina. I am a little embarrassed as I think back to that night...

Since we had the dining package we asked what was included. The waiter told us that we could order unlimited soup & salad, appetizers and dessert but only one main course. 

I ordered a caprese salad to start and then decided to get a pizza as an appetizer. I "assumed" that the pizzas on the menu were small, personal-sized pizzas and the waiter didn't give me any reason to believe otherwise so I requested the Mozzarella, Italian Sausage & Pancetta pizza. My main course was the Shrimp Fra Diavolo and dessert was Affogato (which was good but too much caffeine that late in the evening for me.)

The pizza was brought out after I finished the salad and it was a FULL SIZE PIZZA!! There wasn't even enough room to set it on the table!! I did not want to see it go to waste, but there was no way I could ever eat a whole pizza by myself...and I still had my main course & dessert coming!

The manager happened to stop by our table about that time and I apologized that I wouldn't be able to finish the pizza (and neither DH or our friends were willing to help!) I jokingly told him I wished I could do a carry-out and he said he would make that happen!! So...I ate one slice and then the rest was boxed up and waiting for me after the meal. 

I actually enjoyed the pizza more than I did the main course so I was happy to be able to enjoy the rest later. I packaged it into some ziplock bags I had and put it in our cabin fridge! Cold pizza is one of my favorite snacks!!

 We stopped by the cabin briefly to stash the pizza before going to the show and I stepped out on the balcony to snap a few photos while we were there.

And a few last photos that I took following the show...