Tuesday

I had written about Tuesday's adventures in Glacier Bay National Park. This seems a little pale in comparison to the whale watching today in Juneau. I hope you enjoy and I will post more later.

Today was the most awesome day!!!!!! While eating breakfast on the 9th deck, we spotted a number of whales. The rain cleared and by 10:30 it was a sunny day and fairly warm. The idea of dressing like an onion saw many people peeling off layers of clothing. John had us meet him up on the 10th or observation deck aft to start watching for wildlife as we started into Glacier Bay. More whales, harbor seals and a couple different types of gulls were plentiful. By noon, it was time for a quick lunch before heading down to watch a presentation by the Hunan Native American tribe. The Park Rangers that had come on board to narrate during our stay in Glacier Bay, moved the time for the presentation. I missed the beginning of the presentation. After the talk, I had a chance to visit with Alice and get a web address to access information about the tribe. Alice said that the site included some lesson plans, workbooks on learning the language and other materials for teachers.

I went to the room to put on some warm clothes, as I planned to spend the rest of the day on the upper observation deck watching the landscape and wildlife. National Park Ranger Steve, a neighbor of John, joined our group to help explain about the glaciers we were seeing and answer our questions. Two juvenile orca’s were spotted beside the ship. John said that it was rare for orcas to be seen in this part of the Inside Passage. We slowly sailed by the Lamplugh Glacier on our way to the John Hopkins Glacier. The ship spent 1 hour in front of John Hopkins Glacier. During this time we saw whales, gulls and a puffin. What amazed people was watching the caving of the glacier. I was able to see 2 small caving and a spectacular caving before the ship slowly turned around and headed out of Glacier Bay

Some of the group stayed on deck and witnessed another big caving while the rest were listening to a presentation by Ranger Steve. We learned about some ways to access materials from any and all of the National Parks. Ranger Steve shared information about the school support they are giving the local school in the Glacier Bay area. We learned some activities to demonstrate glacier movement, the benefit of blubber, and how a whale collects his dinner. The Junior Ranger Program has materials on line that teachers can download and also a section at the National Parks site that is just for teachers. It was a great day of learning about Alaska.

Because of our early dinner time, we missed eating in the formal dinning room this evening. We had Ranger Steve join us on the Lido deck for dinner and more conversation. A small group of people joined John back on the observation deck to see some harbor seals and a second look at the scenery. We were waiting to watch how people get off the ship while at sea. All the group of rangers climbed one at a time down a rope ladder onto the deck of a small boat that took them back the land. The pilot boat (usually used to transfer special area pilots to and from the ship) comes along side the ship and matches speed before the ladder is lowered.

I forgot that the Park Rangers brought a collection of books and other materials to offer for sale. Having a group of teachers on the boat probably increased their sales today. I saw a few things I might want to get later. This was especially true after seeing the presentation by Ranger Steve.Internet service is terrible tonight so I will try again in the morning. The service is by satellite and so slower than what most of us are used to but this was extremely slow. I could not even get to the blog