Day 6: Glacier Bay National Park

All along, my fervent hope was that we had not used up our weather luck in Ketchikan, Juneau or Skagway because, let's face it, the real draw of this itinerary is the day spent cruising in Glacier Bay National Park. I kept checking the weather in Skagway and the weather in Whittier...when they both looked good, I began to get hopeful that we would have a good weather day in Glacier Bay, which lies somewhere in between.

Have we ever.

We were awakened by the sun coming in our cabin around 5:30am. Once again, we were on the "right" side for sunrise, but when we opened the sliding glass door to step out onto our balcony, the cold air took our breath away.

Was it only yesterday that we had worked up a sweat climbing to Dewey Lake near Skagway? Hard to believe...

Unlike two mornings ago approaching Juneau at sunrise, today I was NOT alone. Already we could see other people positioning themselves on their balconies in preparation for the day ahead. We all ooohed and aaahhhed as we saw several humpback whales around Bartlett Cove on the south end of the park.

After we showered, it was still well before 7am, and neither the dining room or Patisserie was yet open. We opted instead for the Horizon Court buffet for breakfast (the egg beaters veggie omelet is really delish, and the fresh pineapple as sweet as candy). We were lucky: on board naturalist Jules joined us at breakfast, and was gracious enough to answer our questions and show us on his map exactly where we'd be going.

Glacier Bay National Park had sent aboard three rangers as the Island Princess passed the park headquarters at Bartlett Cove, and Ranger Randy had begun narrating even as we were eating breakfast. Ranger Carolyn had set up a "visitors center" in the central area of the buffet, with maps and brochures, posters and souvenirs available. They had several activities scheduled throughout the day until they would disembark at Bartlett Cove as the Island Princess left the park about 3:15pm.