It was sort of an odd day as far as cruises go… our first big stop was a place where we couldn’t dock, but it ended up being one of the better stops. It was Glacier Bay National Park and at first, it didn’t look like we’d be able to see anything, as the clouds were really low and everything was grey as we approached the park.

Once we actually got up into the dead-end inlet in the park where most of the glaciers are, things cleared up a bit. There was a big, dirty glacier that we floated past…

Saw an orca - actually, I’ve seen a few, but this is the first time I was able to find it in the camera before it went back under.

Otters were much easier to catch in the viewfinder, since they stay above the surface longer.

Eventually, we reached the dead end and lots of folks were out on the bow of the ship to have a look.

Even thought the sun came out a bit, it was freaking cold up on the bow of the ship because it was quite windy. Luckily, the ship turned around and faced the opposite direction for awhile, and the main glacier was right there off our cabin’s balcony.

And that was perfect, because the dividers between the balconies blocked the wind. It was perfectly comfortable to sit out there and enjoy the scenery without having to bundle up.

And then we got a show! First, a thunder-like noice echoed across the water. I grabbed the camera quickly, because I knew that meant the glacier was about to start calving. Just a few seconds later, a big chunk of the glacier broke off and fell into the water.

We saw several more calvings, but I wasn’t always quick enough to find it in the camera. I did get lots of shots of splashes, though!

Lunch was… um… well, I ordered the andouille burger. You’d imagine that it’s a burger with a patty made from andouille sausage. When it showed up, I was a bit surprised to see a regular beef burger with a section of andouille link sausage sitting on it.

After lunch, it was up top for the handbell group photo - it was the first time that both groups had been all together. It’s a big group!

And we got a selfie with the clinicians Matt Compton (front left) and Alex Guebert (tall guy in the back). OH, and if Kevin McChesney is reading this, Lisa Phillips says ‘hi’.

Then we docked at a place called Icy Strait Point. There’s not much here, actually, aside from an incredibly long zipline (I’m still nursing a fractured rib, so I didn’t do it) and a fish canning museum of some sort. There was a very short, free gondola ride from one cruise dock to the other, though. It was kinda fun.

After getting back on board, we caught the evening show, called “Sing!” It was the four singers from the show we loved a couple night ago, but this time there were no production numbers, it was just them singing.

The premise of the show was re-imagined solo hits done up in four-part harmony. And that could’ve worked, except it sounded like the same person wrote all the arrangements - the songs mostly all sounded the same and they had the music cranked up so loud that the singers were over-singing a lot. As much as we loved the show a couple nights ago, we were really disappointed in this one. According to the cruise director, there will be a “Dance1’ show later on in the cruise, so we’re looking forward to that one.

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