Eventually it began to mist. It seemed our good weather luck was running out, but even the mist felt wonderful.
We returned to our cabin to shower and change for the evening. We were supposed to be approaching Snow Pass about 6:45pm. This is a narrow place in the water with a strong tidal current. This current churns up the marine life on the ocean floor and provides a buffet for the humpback whales that tend to hang out there.
We were on our balcony hoping for just one whale sighting when the naturalist announced a pod of whales on the starboard (our) side. We must have seen 7 or 8 breaches- just incredibly good luck. Then another pod passed by; while we didn't see them breach, we did seem them spout repeatedly.
All sightings were on the starboard side. We were so lucky! It had continued to rain, and while other people were standing on their open balconies with umbrellas, we were cozy and dry tucked up under the pool deck above us.
What a day!
However, the evening was just getting started. For the third time, we were invited to the Most Traveled (Top 40) party. In fact, not only did we make the cutoff for the party (in terms of days cruised on Princess), we had the fourth highest number, just 8 days behind the second and third place couples, who were tied. I KNOW we should have stayed on the Emerald 10 more days last winter! Captain Binetti certainly remembered us (only because we were on that ship for 100 days), but sadly told us he would not be returning to the Emerald next winter. Instead, the Princess fleet commodore would be the relief captain when the Emerald's primary captain goes on vacation. Sure hope we make the top 40 cutoff on those cruises, as I would love to meet him.
After the party, we went to dinner, about two hours later than usual. Although that's not our favorite thing to do (to eat so late), sometimes it can't be helped, and tonight was one of those times. I was NOT going to miss whales just to go to dinner early.
No show for us tonight, although we did pass by the piano bar and stopped for a few minutes to listen. When the pianist began to play and sing "How Great Thou Art", I had to leave. Smoked salmon, a long walk and that hymn. Dad was certainly sending his vibes to Alaska today!
Tomorrow: a long day in Juneau. The weather forecast is for a 90% change of rain and 60 degrees. What a difference a day makes!
