Sitting here on the outdoor balcony of a bar/restaurant in Ketchikan, Alaska. It has WiFi and a plug-in so I can bring you up to speed on this vacation we’re on that absolutely defies description because of the weather we’ve had. We boarded Holland/America’s Volendam cruise ship Saturday afternoon in Skagway and set sail that evening for our Sunday cruise through Glacier Bay. HollandAmerica is one of only a few cruise lines whose ships are allowed in the bay and to snuggle up close the glaciers..especially the Tidewater Glacier which put on quite a show for us. Well, take a look at a few of the pictures from the last few days.
Okay to be honest, we haven’t had fair weather every day. The one exception was our long drive to Skagway.
But the clouds broke by the time we boarded the White Pass train that takes us over the same trail as sour doughs took during the gold rush of 1898.
The ship’s captain suggested we get up early for some great pictures of Glacier Bay. Linda and I were on deck, practically alone, at 5 a.m. But it was almost worth it.
They now have real comfortable chairs in the Crow’s Nest. Perfect for sitting back and taking in some of the most beautiful views on earth.
This is one of about a dozen glaciers in the bay. Seeing the mountains in the distance was a special bonus.
At the end of the Bay is a dirty glacer stained by earth as it retreats as most glaciers are doing now.
As soon as the ship pulled close, a huge chunk of Marjarie glacier let loose and crashed into the sea. It was the first of about a dozen major calvings in the hour we were there.
Here you see Linda’s hand pointing to, what one crew member said was the biggest calving he’d seen. Unfortunately, all I managed to catch was the splash which was large enough to rock the ship a little.
We did get off our butts and out on the deck. Everybody smiled as the captain announced how lucky we were to have witnessed such a glorious day and glacier display.
We’ve seen moose, fox, bears, caribou, Mt. McKinley and so many of the things people go to Alaska for. Linda and I said the only thing to make the journey complete would be to spot a whale through the Inside Passage. Within minutes we started seeing the tell tale sprays of exhaling whales then, sure enough, two Humpbacks surfaced showing off their tails. Mission accomplished. This photo..sans whales..was taken from our stateroom.
Formal night aboard ship. Here are just a few of our fellow travelers from Keloland all dressed up for dinner.
Ketchikan is always rainy but not for us.
This will probably conclude the Alaska blogs for this time. Love to have you along on any of these adventures with Linda and me. We’d have to go some to top this tour but it will be fun trying
