Un-Cruise Adventure Day One

 The first day of our cruise was just amazing.  We got on the boat at about 5 on Saturday night and went through safety drills, boat tours, dinner, unpacked, met the crew and were on our way.  We were up early on Sunday morning and the boat was heading towards Dawes' glacier.  Along the way we saw lots of seals and babies hanging out on icebergs and later swimming around in the water.  They were so cute and it was so surprising to see them all over the place.

 Before I tell about the glacier though, let's talk about the boat a bit--above is the only picture I got of our room--the rooms were tiny but a good use of space.  There were two people per room and Grace and I were roommates.  Their were two twin beds, a tiny bathroom that doubled as a shower.  Yes, the potty was in the shower.  I can't believe that I forgot to get a picture of this but you can click here and scroll down a little ways and you'll see a picture of the potty/shower.  The rooms were small but comfortable and we didn't spend much time in there anyway.  Below, is the white board in the dining room and this was where they wrote our choices for each day's adventures.  Next to it is a running list of the wildlife we were seeing on the trip (see the next post for more on that) and a map of where we were going.  On the bottom level there was a dining room, bar, and lounge, and some guest rooms, one floor up were more guest rooms, and the next floor was the sun deck where there were tables, chairs, exercise equipment, a sauna, and hot tub.  The boat was small and intimate but never felt crowded.

 Our first morning we got all suited up in our warm clothes, put on our life vests and hopped in a small boat for a skiff ride to get up close to the glacier.  We heard lots of glacial thunder that sounds just like it's name--thunder.  We were even rewarded with seeing the glacier calve (meaning a piece falls off with a big crash into the water).  Later, on the boat I saw two more calving episodes.

 Our guide picked up some ice out of the water and we got to pass it around and really check it out.

 As we got back on board, we were met by Heather, the bartender, with piping hot chocolate and for the adults...a splash of peppermint schnapps.  Yum!

 Everyone on the boat took turns going out on the skiffs and once everyone had their turn the boat did some traveling to our next location.  During that time the kids and I played some games up on the sun deck and we had lunch.  Those pictures are out of order and can be seen further down in this post.

 After lunch they parked the ship and it was time to kayak and paddleboard.  Joe and I and Uncle Billy and Jane all did a little class for new kayakers and passed with flying colors.

 We kayaked around for a while taking in the sights and sounds of Alaska...beautiful mountains and lots of birds.  Hannah and Grace did some paddleboarding and saw porpoises and more seals.  When I was done kayaking, Joe took a turn with Ollie.

 Here Hannah is paddle boarding with her friend, Sophie.  We were on a "Kids and Nature" cruise and there were about 15 kids on board.  All of the kids made friends and as the week progressed they spent more and more time with the other kids on the cruise.  The last few nights they stayed up late playing games with each other and the crew in the dining room--Apples to Apples, Taboo, Spoons, and who knows what else...I went to bed and left them to it.

 I don't have any pictures yet (they are on Ollie's camera) but after all the kayaking, most of the kids and some of the adults did a "polar plunge," where they jump off the side of the boat into that icy water.  All three of my kids were crazy enough to participate but none of the adults in our group were that crazy.  They had another "polar plunge" on our last day too and I'll share pics from that when I get to that day.

 At dinner dessert became a lesson in glacial erosion put on by the pastry chef, yes, the boat had it's own pastry chef!  We had freshly baked homemade pastries every morning, cookies at lunch, and fancy dessert every night.  Goodbye waistline...actually, I said goodbye to that a while back.  Anyway, back to the glacial cake.  They started with a big chocolate cake, topped it with "snow" (powdered sugar), added more snow and ice (frosting), then some soil and rocks (crushed cookies), and big chunks of ice (white chocolate).  It tasted as good as it looked...

After dinner I decided to end my day with a dip in the hot tub.  While I was relaxing, someone spotted whales in the distance.  This was reported to the captain and the boat immediately changed direction, I changed out of my bathing suit and into real clothes, and pretty much everyone on board spent the next hour watching humpback whales.  Ollie got some great pictures that I will share later but for now--look closely at the picture above--see the sun?  Look to the right and you'll see two little white dots...those are whale spouts.  That is the easiest way to see where the whales are.  Soon after the spout is seen, you can see the humpback and then the fluke.  I've never experienced anything like that...I usually have a short attention span but I watched these whales for at least an hour and didn't even think about what else I could be doing instead.  We saw more whales the next day and even had one come right up next to the ship...more on that in the next post!  It was a truly remarkable first day to a remarkable week.