June 17 - Glacier Bay + Lots of Whales!

While we had planned to get up about 7:15, I woke up extra early at 6am. We decided to get up to see if we could catch a view of Mount Fairweather as we sailed by prior to our entrance to Glacier Bay. Unfortunately, we were too late since we had passed it a few hours earlier. Nevertheless, we used the extra time to enjoy the exceptionally clear views as we headed toward Glacier Bay. The weather was simply amazing and highly unusual for this area - warmer than usual and quite clear.

We were able to enjoy a quiet early breakfast in the Lido and then started our wildlife and landscape watching in earnest. We spent the entire day doing this from various vantage points on the ship but found ourselves really enjoying the vantage point that Deck 9, the Lido pool deck, provided. The day did not disappoint! 

The landscapes were unlike we have been able to see in the past.

Normally a low cloud deck limits visibility into the hills and lower

mountains directly adjacent to the bay. Today, however, we could see far

into the distance when the valleys and lower mountains would allow it.

Many of the distant views were reminiscent of Lord of the Rings views, with

lower mountains or valleys in the near ground and taller, completely snow-

covered mountains in the distance. We took pictures, but they can’t convey

the impact of the views we had all day.

The true highlights though were the whales. One or both of us were on

 whale watch all day and we saw spouts from no fewer than 25 humpback

 whales and saw bodies of most of these as they surfaced, arched, and

 often showed their tails as they dove down to feed. We had three great

 “sessions” of whale watching and even added to these with a few more

 views at other times of day.

The first session was just 5 miles or so into the bay on the starboard side

 before we got to the first large island on our left. Leon remembered seeing

 them here in the past and sure enough, they were here again. We likely

 saw 6-8 here plus the highlight of the day, a full breach from a humpback

 followed by two prominent fin slaps on the surface. This was an

 unforgettable sight!

Our next session was the same spot as we left the bay in the afternoon.

 Sure enough, we saw 8-10 whales in this area again, including a partial

 breach likely from a juvenile who couldn’t get enough speed to fully leave

 the water.

Finally, Leon remembered where we had a great whale watching session

 just outside of Glacier Bay back in 2019 or so. Sure enough, many whale

 watching boats were in the area and we got another show. The highlight

 was a big tail slap Leon caught from the initial showing of a whale, quite

 close to the bow when we were in the Crow’s Nest. He showed a few more

 times, plus another 8-10 whales could be seen, mostly in the distance.

We saw lots of sea otters too, but the humpbacks were the true highlight of

 the day.

For lunch we enjoyed the Pinnacle Grill as we approached Marjorie Glacier.

 The entire experience was incredible as we had a thoroughly enjoyable

 meal where we shared three appetizers and then both had the tenderloin

 and key lime pie. The ship slowly spun around so we both had decent

 views.

After lunch Haley had an extended nap and Leon did a spa cycle, even

 catching a whale from the relaxation chair.

Dinner that evening was good as well. Haley had another salmon dish

 while Leon had short rib stroganoff. After dinner we enjoyed a Ray Charles

 tribute singer, followed by a stunning sunset directly in front of us around

 10:15 pm. We mostly watched that from the Crow’s Nest since it was

 directly ahead of us.

All in all, a truly memorable day of our trip.