June 10
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June 15
June 16
June 17
June 18
Shutting the drapes about 3/4 of the way seemed to do the trick. I only woke up twice during the night. Mom said I snored more than usual....
I got up about 7 and headed for breakfast with my book, just in case there weren't any charming people there yet. Just as well. There was no one seated anywhere near me until I was getting ready to leave, so I got a bit of reading in.
I stopped by the Passenger Services desk to drop off two forms. One was to enter the Walk for the Cure walk on Sunday - 5 K around the ship. For a donation, one could participate in the walk and got a hat to wear. The other would allow us to check into the airlines and get our boarding passes from on board ship, bypassing a lot of the hassle of collecting bags at the disembarkation point and rechecking them at the airport. Definitely worth the $15 each ticket price.
Back to the room to collect my notebook. Back to the front of the ship to check email. Back to the stateroom to trade the notebook for two more layers of clothing and the camera. I'm getting my walking in again today!
We enter Glacier Bay this morning and I intend to spend the rest of the day on deck.
This photo shows the Park Service boat bringing the ranger to the ship. She was our commentator the rest of the day.
After coming through the first narrow passageway, I came inside for the bathroom and to catch this journal up to date. Soon it was time to return to the stern of the ship (the photo on the right is the view from the stern at our deck level), where I can walk easily from one side to the other and see almost everything - just the stuff that's directly in front of the ship is out of sight.
I wound up going up to deck 15 (this photo shows what deck 15 looked like - it's the upper level, above the pool), where it is possible to go all the way around the ship in the shortest distance. It was a really pretty day. It started out foggy and cloudy, but quickly cleared up by the time we reached the glaciers.
The first glacier we saw was Johns Hopkins Glacier and inlet (left above). We passed it slowly, then continued on to Margerie Glacier (center above), our primary target for the day. Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers almost meet in the Tarr Inlet, so we were able to see both. Very different glaciers. Margerie is a tidal glacier which calves fairly readily. In fact, we were able to see two fairly large calvings while the ship circled on its thrusters only, rotating 540 degrees. I would walk along the railing at close to the same rate, staying in almost the same spot. Grand Pacific Glacier is the one on the right above.
Margerie is much prettier than Grand Pacific. It calves more readily because its terminus is on top of a submerged cliff. Grand Pacific, on the other hand, is also a tidal glacier, but it ends in a moraine field and tapers to a very dirty slab of ice by the time it reaches water.
We stayed in the same virtual position for almost two hours, then retraced our route back down Glacier Bay.
While at Margerie Glacier, one of the ship's photographers was asking people to turn around so she could take their picture in front of the glacier. When she finally reached me (I kept in front of her as long as I could), I turned around and brought my camera up to my eye. I thought she would double up laughing... So I let her take my picture. This isn't the photo I threatened to take, but one I took a few minutes earlier. The ship's photographer (one of them) is in the red jacket. The ship's officer in the foreground is Florian, one of the passenger services representatives who was very helpful.
It was a wonderful day that quickly became quite pleasant outside. Most of the passengers were shedding coats, gloves, hats, and such while at the glacier face.
We finally got cleaned up and went down for dinner, again being the last to arrive at our table. It was Italian night with the waiters dressed in striped shirts and handkerchiefs around their necks. A mostly Italian menu. With dessert, they offered a special glass of limoncello, a lemon flavored liquor from Italy with a commemorative glass. I took them up on the offer. Yum!
After dinner, we went to the evening show, a production number type show with the Princess entertainment staff. It was from the 20's - flappers and period songs. I dropped Mom off at the casino on the way back to the stateroom and I crashed early.