Cruising - Part Two

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I have massive amounts of photos to sort through and edit (not to mention a few distractions here and there).

On our second day of cruising, we enjoyed a relaxing day on the ship, browsing the ship and watching the scenery as we passed through the Icy Strait and cruised through the glaciers.  This is the main buffet, where we ate breakfast most mornings.

Most nights, they offered "Movies Under The Stars" in the area below.

Sea Lions made their appearance today, always ready to entertain the passengers.

This sea bird (not sure of the variety) scooted across on top of the water!

My favorites, however, were the puffins who suddenly appeared just below our window!

So cute!!

The day began very hazy with lots of low-hanging clouds.

But, as the day progressed, the skies cleared a bit and the reflections of the sky and clouds in the water were just beautiful!!!

As we approached the next glaciers, the waters once again turned the most wonderful aqua color.

How about this bald eagle floating by?!

As we enjoyed the sights on our balcony, with cameras and binoculars in hand, we suddenly heard someone call out "Linda!".  We turned to find out rafting buddies from Talkeetna, Bev and Rick were staying just 2 doors down!  We took photos of each other and exchanged email addresses since they had accidentally erased their camera's pictures from Denali.

We approached the giant Marjorie glacier.

Once again, we were mesmerized by the calving, playing games to see who could predict where the next calving would occur.

As the calving subsides, sea gulls arrive in throngs to take advantage of any small delicacies that are unearthed.

I picked this spot---

and sure enough, moments later, it fell into the sea, exposing more dark striations.

The ship turned to let the starboard side passengers view the glacier.

Then it slowly began to make its way back to open water.
It was a beautiful day and since the crowds above the bridge were now dissipating, we ventured up ourselves.

It was frigid and extremely windy---hold-onto-your-hat windy!!

But, beautiful!!

Did you notice my new coat?  They had a sale on the ship and while the color/style choices were limited, they had one that would actually fit over my cast, so I considered it a bargain.  We saw a little bit of the St. Johns Glacier and then the massive Lamplugh Glacier where sea kayaks carried people from another ship.   I love to kayak, but I'll keep to my shallow lakes and creeks, thank you!

As we once again neared the Icy Strait, a boat arrived to take the rangers (who had been on board for the day to discuss the glacier and wildlife we saw) back to their nearby station, as the Captain watched from the bridge.

The sun began to slide a little bit lower in the sky.

We ended our day with a Movie Under the Stars, watching "Saving Mr. Banks".  As it finally got dark, it got colder and colder and despite the layers of clothing and blankets, I never could quite get warm.