College Fjord

A “lazy” day at sea - which really means getting up early for our morning constitutional only to find that the staff had also chosen the early morning hours to do deck maintenance (resulting in lots of half laps for us!), the race to the laundry (Gerry’s pretty quick but still nearly missed out on getting quarters and washers) and another win at trivia (we would happily take medals for all our victories but instead we’ve won a large number of blue Princess grocery bags - Dona nearly has enough bags to use for the “Turkey Trot” or “Jingle Jog” winners!)

After inspection of the dessert buffet (as usual lovelier to behold than to eat) and a bit of lunch (seriously - did you expect me to pass up shrimp? I’ve got to get my fill before the existing supply runs out!) and then (sigh!) get a bit of packing done before the wine tasting in the afternoon. The last night of a cruise is such a sad thing - the only small consolation in it this time that we still have another week of vacation before us (and I’m really hoping that the weather is as gorgeous…or even somewhere close as I don’t want to appear too greedy…so that we get some views of Denali, one of the major reasons for this trip!).

Then we enjoyed the "Landfall Dinner" at our favorite table (Pacific Moon restaurant, table 427 with our favorite waitstaff - Henrik from South Africa and Pya from Thailand) and our bottle of champagne (Chateau Last Week) courtesy of Frank (Sinatra that is - we won the Frank music contest last night). The view out the window was stunning as we drifted by the College Fjord Glaciers (each one named for a different Ivy League school).

Then all at once it was time to get a move on. Someone needed to get to the Front Desk to get envelopes to leave a little something for Marlon, who had taken such good care of our cabins all week long; I had to run to the Photo place to pick up a reprint I had purchased so I could get it packed to send back with the Helmers to Anchorage since we wouldn't need it (or have room for it) while on our "road trip". While I was down on Deck 7 I could hear the "oohs" and "aahs" outside on the promenade deck. Fortunately I had the camera with me - the naturalist was trying to get out complete sentences but she was constantly interrupted by the Harvard Glacier calving. Suddenly the events were closer together and larger. What initially sounded like Rice Krispies snapping and popping became thunderous roars as larger and larger chunks of the glacier dropped into the bay. It was incredible to witness (and since I can't really show the movement of the glacier here, this picture really doesn't come anywhere close to the actual experience!)

Tomorrow morning early (6:40 am - and we’ll have to get a walk/showers/breakfast/final packing done before that!) we will arrive in Whittier and proceed directly to Valdez and then on to Copper River. Since I don’t know what internet service might be available to me for the next week, it may be some time before I continue with stories of our adventures!

Must pack!

~later, tw