Tracy Arm Fjord

Ugh! We were up SUPER early this morning.  It was 5 am local time, but of course, as Zach would remind us, it was already 9 am at home.  With the additional hour time change, the sun had come up around 4:30 am, and after a rainy day at sea, we were excited to see land.  

Alaskan Sunrise

Our naturist, Michelle, had told everyone that we may start seeing wildlife from the ship early, so everyone on the ship seemed to be up and ready.  When we went to breakfast on the Lido deck, people had taken the chairs from the tables and lined the windows so they could enjoy the view.  This made it a little tricky to find seats, so after a breakfast, we decided to just go back to our rooms to get away from the crowds and enjoy our balconies.  Because we had adjoining balconies, there is a doorway that can be opened between the two, but it has to be done by the crew so that it is secured properly.   Zach and I had completed the paperwork to have the balcony opened on Tuesday, but because of the lousy weather yesterday, the balcony had been closed up.  We called guest services and requested they come back and open our balcony, but we didn't know how long it would take.   Until this was completed, we all shared our balcony together. 

The view was magnificent.  The ship had slowed considerably, and we would be travelling very slowly through the fjord today, so Kelley was feeling a little better.  If you ever go on an Alaskan cruise, get a balcony on the starboard side.  You have a much greater chance of seeing the wildlife.  Of course, the whales probably don't know what side of the ship they are on, but we did seem to have great luck seeing them on our side of the boat.  

Bald Eagle in flight

Porpoises playing along side the ship

First whale of the day

Whale tale

Another whale

We didn't get to Tracy Arm Fjord until 11:30 am (so why were we up early, again?)  At that point, an excursion boat pulled up along side the ship, and for about $185, you could ride on that smaller boat along the shoreline of the Fjord.  We opted out, and frankly, I'm not sure what they could have seen that was any better than what we saw from our balcony. 




Excursion boat

Tracy Arm is about 45 miles south of Juneau.  It's a narrow passage about 30 miles in length with steep cliffs running along both sides.  The cliffs are mostly covered in trees and shrubs, and every now and then, there are little waterfalls.  The water itself was very calm, and is dotted in areas with pieces of ice floating in the water.  It really is breathtaking.

A whale in the reflection of the clouds

Since the Lido deck had been so crowded this morning, we opted to eat in the dining room for lunch.  When you eat there for dinner, you have an assigned table; however, at lunch, they seat you at a random table.  For their convenience, they try to seat everyone at the larger tables.  It's usually pretty neat because, not only do you get a different perspective of the dining room, you also get an opportunity to meet new people.  Today they sat us by a window (which was a perfect way to enjoy the view), and we sat with Bob and Sue from Indiana.  Bob was a professor, and he and Zach found plenty to talk about.  They had signed up to go on the afternoon excursion boat into the fjord, so when they left the table, they were headed to the theater at the other end of the ship to board the smaller boat.   When we got up to leave the table, we realized Bob had left his hat behind.  We weren't sure how to get it to him, so we left it at the hostess stand with instructions to hold it for Bob. 

 

When we came back to the room after lunch, our balconies had been opened, so we all took our seats and enjoyed the view.  . Our balcony had two chairs, but Kelley and Zach's balcony had a recliner and a chair, so Kelley was able to chill in the recliner.  We hung out there taking pictures, relaxing, and enjoying the scenery all day.  I'm not sure I've ever had the opportunity to do that before, but it was awesome.  However, I do think it might have made us a little loopy.  At one point, Kelley talked about writing a children's book using the pen name Bee R. Buttz, and the book was going to be illustrated by I. M. Stanky.  Maybe fresh air isn't good in large doses.

Zach looking cool in Mom's visor

Mom enjoying the view

Our first view of a glacier

Birds enjoying the iceberg

Brrrr!

Waterfalls along the fjord

Yep, a bear.

Just chillin'

Sawyer Glacier at the end of Tracy Arm

After dinner that night, we went to the theater to play bingo.  The show that night was a hypnotist named Jac Rene.  He was totally corn ball, and the show was lame, but there was one highlight.  At the beginning of the show, Jac asked people to volunteer as participants.  He had 16 chairs on the stage, and he didn't start the show until there were 8 men and 8 women in the seats.  Once he had all of the participants on the stage, he began trying to hypnotize them.  Not everyone is susceptible to being hypnotized, so every so often he would eliminate people who were faking it.  One of the contestant was a 20-something Indian man.  Frankly, I'm not even certain he understood English.  We noticed he was fidgeting a lot, playing with his watch, and discretely looking around at the people around him.  Jac must have noticed, too, because at one point, he went from person-to-person, made this clicking noise, and sort of jerked their arm to put them in a position slumped against the person next to them; however, he skipped our Indian friend.   When he realized he had been skipped, he immediately slumped against his neighbor, while Zach and I were laughing our heads off.  Of course, Jac noticed, too, and eliminated him in the next round.  Bummer! 

We sort of stalked  him until we got a photo of him (Kelley's forehead in the foreground)

 

Um?  A Playboy bunny? 

Zach's Word of the Day:  Majestic
5,892 steps
2.65 miles