With a crack and a rumble, the gigantic curtains of ice
broke suddenly from the mountain sized glacier and crashed into the water
below, creating a mini-tsunami that forced the Zodiac raft to face into the
waves as they spread out into the fjord.
What a spectacular day!
In the morning we hiked into the rain forest, observing a
large brown bear and her three cubs ambling quickly along the shoreline.
The afternoon took us from the ship in Zodiacs to observe a
huge deep blue crystal glacier up close, dodging ice burgs inhabited by seals
who were just finishing their pupping season.
As we observed an incredible late sunset and prepared to
make our way to our cabins, a pod of humpback whales appeared off the bow of
the ship. We shivered and waited between each animal’s plume of breath,
watching the creatures’ backs and tails
arch and dive amid the clicking of many cameras on deck.
Each event was accompanied by expert commentary from excellent
naturalists, interpreting what we were seeing and answering our questions.
The answer is no, by the way. If you lick a glacier, your
tongue will not stick. But you don’t dare get close enough to find out.
I can’t even begin to convey this extraordinary day except
to say that if it ended now, we would have gotten our money’s worth.
But tomorrow, new adventures will be had as we cruise Alaska’s Inside Passage on the National Geographic Sea Lion.
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