The captain announced that the icebergs were too thick in the Tracy arm fjord, so we will be going to Endicott glacier instead.
We got up knowing that today was going to be chilly and it was. So, we dressed in layers and headed to breakfast.
BTW it is Thursday or, so the elevator floor shows.
I know it is silly, but it really helped after about a week. I will try to restrain myself in future posts.
As we started into Endicott Arm we could see waterfalls on the cliffs.
The ice was flowing past the ship as we moved in toward the glacier.
Huge hunks of ice that are larger than school buses were floating by the ship.
It was time to get to the bow for a better view. Wow did we!
Later the glacier came into view. This was our first sighting of the glacier. It only got better. A wall of ice with blue color spread over much of it.
If you zoom in, you can see a yacht size cruise ship up near the glacier. It will move out before we continue much further. Okay if you could not find it, I have some more pictures of the 145 foot long ship.
Yes, the glacier is huge.
Our turn to move up close.
We had a great view from our balcony.
It is time to get out on deck.
Isn’t it just like a glacier to photobomb your picture. LOL!
We stayed for over an hour pivoting slowly around and around so everyone could get to see the glacier. No caving but the weather was great. The sun was out and almost no wind. Because of the amount of ice in the water, the captain decided that this was as close as he felt was safe for the ship.
On the way out from the glacier, we passed many burgs with seals and pups resting on them.
One large hunk of ice passed directly below us that showed where a mother seal had given birth.
She was coaxing the pup to take its first swim. I watched as she got the newborn to swim and kept pushing it up. Amazing!
The video is not very stable, so I apologize.
That was not the end of our wildlife viewing.
On our way back to sea, we passed a wide beach that had two rivers flowing. We saw 5 brown bears. Two were on a peninsula and quickly moved back into the forest.
Three on the river continued to eat directly in front of us.
The captain stopped the ship and maintained position for more than 30 minutes.
It was great, and everyone was watching from that side of the ship. The three looked to be a mother and one year old twin cubs. If so, they will leave her later this year to be on their own.
I am sorry about the bounce in the video but just to give you an idea about the level of zoom I was using, here is a picture with no zoom at all.
Then our last look at Tracy Arm.
We have dinner at 8pm and the food is always fantastic and elegant. Tonight, we had Alaska crab and watched Orca swimming behind the ship from our table.
Later, we returned to our room and saw a sea otter below us from the balcony. Of course, we had our towel animal waiting for us.
The sun set 9:59pm but as I write this at 10:52pm, it is still light out.
4 Comments
Julie
7/3/2018 08:34:31 am
The glacier height and the blue is stunning. The kids loved the videos of the seals and bears. They laugh at all the towel animals, too.
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Dad
7/10/2018 08:22:12 am
We are enjoying looking back through the pictures too. The pictures do not do it justice. Each glacier had something different to see and experience. We wondered what would be our next towel animal. Love you.
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Matt Rabren
7/3/2018 10:55:01 pm
I do not say this lightly. The glacier and the wildlife are beautiful. I appreciate more the old expression, A picture doesn't do it justice." That baby Seal was awesome. Just born. You two look like teenagers enjoying your journey. Glad you are back but i absolutely can see how the "cruise bug" bit you. That ship is gorgeous and the little attention to details means a lot. Love you both. We are good here.
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Dad
7/10/2018 08:17:42 am
We are enjoying looking back through the pictures too. The pictures do not do it justice. Each glacier had something different to see and experience. It was an amazing trip and we understand how Kevin loved the state. We definitely have caught the cruise bug and are going on another cruise next year (maybe two). Love you.
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