Normal breakfast in the World Cafe. Weather outlook fairly glum – heavy overcast with occasional rain. The forecast proved accurate.
No landing today. We are sailing in Glacier Bay National Park. Not every cruise ship can just come here. The National Park Service limits the number of ships of any kind in these waters. Only two cruise ships per day can enter. There are lots of other categories of ship that also have limits. Even private boating is regulated.
The link above provides all the information you need to know about Glacier Bay. I won’t try to repeat any or all of it. The pictures will tell the story. On a sunny day, the pictures would be glorious. Not so much today although the low clouds and mist offer their own allure.
First off, a picture of the Ship Cam from our cabin TV that always shows the view from the bow of the ship:
It’s raining out there! But that was as bad as it got, and there was plenty of time with no rain falling. Once the sun even tried to come out. It failed. We had a very brief and faint rainbow near the end of the day. No picture.
The first group of pictures are taken from a covered walkway near the World Cafe. Most people spent the day watching from the comfort of the Explorer’s Lounge. But it was crowded up there and taking pictures from indoors isn’t the best way to get good photos. So we bundled up with polar fleece and jackets and braved the elements. It was chilly and windy out there!
Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.
After awhile we retired to our cabin which is on the port side. The best views of the glaciers was on the port side although at the best viewpoints the ship basically stops and does a 360º rotation. And after turning around at the end of an inlet, the starboard becomes the better place to be.
A little further along. For a minute I thought the sun might break through. It didn’t.
Finally a look at Johns Hopkins Glacier. The link provides some great shots of the glacier in sunny weather. We couldn’t even begin to see the mountains behind it.
Here’s one panorama shot. Click picture to enlarge.
Sometime during that glacier viewing we had lunch in the (crowded) World Cafe. Then we did some reading and napping in the cabin. Dinner was once again in the World Cafe.
We haven’t seen much wildlife. Elaine saw a pod of whales in the distance yesterday. And we saw a romp or a raft of sea otters swimming Glacier Bay today. (Yes, a romp or a raft is correct terminology for a bunch of sea otters. You learned something today. See here)
There are shows in the theater every night. Generally we skip them and enjoy after dinner cocktails in the Explorer’s Bar. Ditto that tonight.
By the way, I have suspended taking ship photos until we begin our seven straight sea days from the end of the Aleutians to arriving in Japan. There will be nothing else to take pictures of during that time.
Back again tomorrow after another day of sailing in a different bay.
Sorry the weather god is playing hard ball. Fog snd rain are the worse. At least the calm seas are in your favor.
It’s been 24 years since we were there. Even your pictures tell me a lot is gone. We had water falled on all the slopes. Hope the sun is on your back the rest of the way.
Sorry about the weather, but you’re right, there is something alluring and eerie about the ocean in fog and rain. You can tell it’s cold by the floating ice chunks in the bay.
I love the Ship Cam on your cabin TV.
Maybe the sun will shine on Yakutak Bay.
Still with the clouds and rain it is quite a view to admire. Sometimes rainy days are just as beautiful as sunny, clear days. Good time to rest up for when you will be exploring the next ports.