FOR YEARS WE HAVE BEEN recommending an Alaska cruise to our less adventurous friends as a great travel baptism. We had spent a summer camping in Alaska, driving up the AlCan Highway in our Subaru, had visited Kodiak, Sitka and Juneau via the Alaska Marine Highway ferries but had never taken the cruise to Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage. Until now!
Have you seen the White Whale? Beluga surfacing in Turnagain Arm
Dall Sheep
While the cruise itineraries usually “begin” in Anchorage, ships actually dock in Seward or Whittier—a two-hour bus ride from Anchorage. We stopped along the way to Whittier when the driver spotted a pod of Beluga Whales cruising the Turnagain Arm, the first we've ever seen. Only Belugas, we were told, have echo location sensitive enough to navigate the silty waters. On the mountainside across the highway several Dall Sheep grazed, oblivious to the Grizzly someone saw heading in their direction.
Hubbard Glacier, 6 miles wide and 400 feet high
Calving from Hubbard Glacier
Once at the ship, check-in went very smoothly. We easily found our cabin, claimed our luggage and visited our lifeboat station before grabbing dinner at the Lido buffet. This was Nieuw Amsterdam’s last Alaskan voyage of the season and we were on deck to watch the sunset as the ship left windy Whittier.
Stellar's Sea Lions
Monday was a “cruising” day culminating in a visit to the ‘tide-water” Hubbard Glacier, a 200 mile river of ice that flows all the way to the sea. It is six miles wide and is 400 feet tall where it meets the ocean. Icebergs up to 3 storeys high are common and the bay was littered with blocks of ice that “calved” from the face. A few became resting places for Stellar’s Sea Lions.
