January 30, 2012

Alaskan Cruise: Glacier Bay

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. The sun was shining, there was barely a cloud in the sky, and by Alaskan terms, it was warm! It was the perfect day to cruise Glacier Bay.

We started our morning walking into the buffet, forgetting how packed it would be because the Park Rangers, who had boarded our boat first thing in the morning, were giving a commentary that was being broadcast only to that room. As soon as we stepped in the Ranger went over the microphone and said, "Orca! Starboard! Killer Whale!". Almost everyone in the room ran to the windows on right side of the boat to try and see these whales. That's when we decided it was such a beautiful day, why eat inside?
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Glacier Bay was nothing like I had pictured. I thought the whole thing would be covered in snow and ice, with giant icebergs floating around. Needless to say, I was totally wrong! It was beautiful and green!

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We finally arrived at the Margerie Glacier right before lunchtime. The Margerie Glacier is the one you see in all the advertisements for Alaskan Cruises. Our boat pulled up (what felt like) right next to the Glacier. We thought the boat was going to be spinning so we hung out on the far side of the boat so we would have a good view when the boat turned. Unfortunately, we missed the 2nd largest calving our boat had ever seen! The whole boat rocked back and forth and the water in the pool sloshed around. We ended up moving after that so we wouldn't miss another one. There were a few smaller ones that happened while we were there, but none as big as that first one! After spending about an hour at the Margerie Glacier we headed back towards the park entrance, passing by many other glaciers on our way out. 

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On our way out of the park, we heard that there could be some good whale watching. We never saw one close up, but we did get a few tales and fins! 

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Up Next: Ketchikan & our zip-lining adventure! 

1 comments:

Janeen said...

This trip looks amazing.