Day 06 - 07/28 - Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay is a magical place for me. It's a long fjord with many glaciers and a lot of wildlife to be discovered. Early this morning around 6am in the fog, a small catamaran with 5 persons (2 rangers, 2 National Geographic Alaska employees, and one State of Alaska employee) arrived and boarded the stationary Noordam via a rope ladder. We did awaken until around 8am but enjoyed a scenic view out our obstructed view cabin and Ranger commentary from our TV. Mountain goats were spotted, but we did not see them.
After breakfast and checking Jakob into Club HAL, we spent the rest of the day around the ship admiring the stunning views. At the Marjorie Glacier the Captain rotated the ship 180 degrees so all could take in the view. There was one small calving (ice breaking off the glacier wall. We then took a one hour break for lunch and at 2pm attended a Ranger talk in the Main Stage. Afterwards there was a wildlife spotting time on the aft deck where we saw a few whales, but nothing as magnificent as Juneau a few days ago. I also spent some time on deck 9 forward spotting otters and a few whales. During the afternoon Jakob earned his second Jr. Ranger Pin and he was excited about that. We also learned a a few new kids finally discovered Club HAL because of the Ranger program today, but they were sad that they had missed the earlier days. This Club HAL program is really really good for the 6-12 year olds. We highly recommend it.
All day I wore my 'Dam Ships' T-shirt which has a list of the HAL ships on the back with check marks to indicate which ships we have sailed on. All are marked except the Veendam which we missed before it was sold in 2020. When I was on the bow, a fellow came up to me and asked for permission to photograph my back which I granted. We then chatted and I learned after I asked how he was enjoying the cruise and his response was that he had just gotten on that morning and he was a technician who came on board on the Ranger tender to record data about the emissions levels of the ship. He said the tests were last done around 20 years ago, and the improvements are quite dramatic. He had boarded 6 ships so far and had a number more to do. It turned out he was from Juneau and I grew up in Juneau, so we had a great conversation about that. He also shared with me a movie he took of the ranger boat approaching the Noordam in the thick fog that morning. It was a pretty cool video.
After dinner (we ate in the Lido as it was Dressy night), we attended the Step One dance company performance of Humanity followed by a set of the Pianists at Billboard Onboard and a set in the Rolling Stone Lounge. All were good. It was Chocolate Surprise night which was yummy! After picking up Jakob at Club Hal we enjoyed an Alaska movie about our cruise before retiring at 11pm.
Tomorrow is our last sea day before we begin the land portion of our journey.
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