Alaska Cruise - Day 5

Day 5 was spent cruising up to the Tracy Arm Glacier. Though it is one of the smaller glaciers, it is still an amazing sight. We woke up early (not hard since it started to get light at 3:00 am) to watch as we proceeded up to the glacier. It was room service for us so we would not miss anything.

"Uncle Boyd and Aunt Connie." Boyd is actually Mom's cousin but we always referred to him as "Uncle" Boyd. We were both surprised and pleased to see them board the plane and find out they would be on the cruise with us. When they were younger, Boyd and my Dad were very good friends and was the one that introduced Dad to my Mom. We invited them to come to our room and enjoy the view with us from our balcony. And it was cool, not real cold, but cool enough to wear a coat.

Icebergs started out few and far between. At first the ship kept quite a distance from them. Perhaps not wanting a repeat of Titanic?

It was so beautiful with sharp and steep walls carved by the glaciers and filled with beautiful green water. It's amazing to see life cling to the sheer walls.

Occasional side valleys open up the views.

Waterfalls were all over the place.


Ice floating in the water is occurring more often and we start seeing the glacier.

Slowly getting closer to the glacier and notice that the amount of floating ice has dramatically increased. I noticed that cruising speed was anywhere from 18-20 knots but at this point we were doing 2-3 knots (1 knot = 1.15077945 miles)

Then right up near the glacier it is so think you could almost walk from piece to piece.

As we arrived, a piece of iceberg was calving. You can see the end results at the water level as the last of the ice crashes into the ocean.

There is it, the Tracy Arm Glacier. The Captain indicated this was the closest he had gotten to the glacier in about 5 years so we were fascinated by the littering of ice in the water and the ability of the ship to safely navigate through them all. Thanks to the pilot for getting us so incredibly close!

The colors of the glacier were amazing. It's hard to describe in words the color and hard to capture the beauty on film. It's something you have to experience in order to understand.

Once of the most amazing moments came as we watched this seal give birth right in front of us. We named the baby Rhapsody. As we proceeded up the fjord, we noticed a few icebergs with blood stains on them. We thought this might be where the seals had brought up fish to feed or perhaps a seal had been attacked by a whale, but once we saw this incredible moment of nature, we noticed how many baby seals there were in the area and realized what the stains might be.

Blueberry cheesecake

This was probably our favorite day of the cruise. The sights we encountered were incredible and probably will not be repeated for a long time.