Hubbard Glacier 24th June. Sea Day.
An early start to see the magnificent Hubbard Glacier. The glacier is at the end of a huge bay. The ship went right into the bay to the front of the glacier. It was the Captains first trip here. After telling us how close we went, we learnt that he had halved the recommended distance. Great for us.
Hubbard is the largest tidewater glacier in North America and is very active. We saw heaps of calvings, where house sized blocks of ice fell into the sea. The noise was spectacular. The face is 10kms wide and 2kms high. It is one of the only advancing glaciers in the world.
It was colder then expected so Sarah made the trip back to the cabin to get more clothes. On the way she ran into her Canadian ‘Tom Eh’ who was wearing thongs. His shoes had got wet the day before, so the logical choice was to expose his feet to Alaska’s glacial winds. Well, he was a Canadian and obviously a lumberjack in the summer who spends the winter living in an igloo, so he is used to the cold. Pretty amusing.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the ship. Sleeping, drinking, duty free shopping….. The scenery continued to be magnificent. We went past Prince William Sound. Home of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Sarah had the Karaoke finals and did really well. The absence of many ‘warm up’ cocktails did have some effect.
Nathan continued to entertain us by smashing his bottle of perfume. He had spent all week trying to win three tokens on the coin pushing machine. He finally got all three and collected his prize. As he walked out of the casino, his swinging hand slipped, throwing the bottle onto the marble floor with great force. Once again the ever supporting Raina came very close to peeing her pants with laughter. Not kind…….but SO funny. The staff loved him so much they gave him another bottle.
Travelling with Nathan was very much like travelling with Ferris Bueller. Everyone on board knew him and liked him and asked after him. He was always making us laugh.
It was very sad to know this was the last cruise night!
Some things we were really going to miss… Room cleaning twice a day, towels folded into animals, unlimited access to quality restaurants, $6 giant cocktails and the idea of being on a floating hotel. Sarah was really going to miss ‘Her Canadians’, her all night-ers and the gym. But in the words of Macarthur… “We shall return”. Infact… we have already re-booked.
Next tab – Anchorage – Click below to get there