Today we are docked in Haines, Alaska (population ~2600). This morning after breakfast we went ashore and left on our booked excursion: Lake Chilkoot kayaking. After an extensive safety briefing we went out on the lake - Adrian and I in a triple kayak together. It was cool but calm. It was beautiful scenery but I thought we would see more wildlife than we did. We saw an adolescent eagle, an adult eagle and a stellar jay (quite close and good pictures). It was quite a tough paddle back into the wind - our arms/shoulders etc will be sore tomorrow! We did a very quick tour of Haines (Fort Seward) before getting back on the ship. The weather had got worse - wind colder and raining so we probably won't go back ashore today.
Yesterday was Glacier Bay day. We entered the bay around 6am and 'picked up' some Park Rangers to commentate over loudspeaker. At around 9.30am we arrived at the face of the beautiful Margerie Glacier, at the top of the bay along with the Grand Pacific Glacier. We rotated there for about an hour for good views and photos of the glacier. We also saw (and heard) quite a lot of calving which was spectacular. The sail out was nice but we had been a long time in the cd by then so went back to our cabin to recuperate. We think we may have saw sea lions and definitely saw at least one sea otter. In the morning there were apparently orcas (we didn't see them), a bear (Adrian saw it through someone else's telescope) and a black wolf (which resembled a flea from where we were standing). I'm annoyed I didn't think to bring our binoculars as everything has been quite far away.
Not sure what we will do for the rest of today. The ship is leaving Haines at around 4pm. There isn't much to do on the ship really. I think what makes it worse is it's too cold to enjoy the open decks really. Princess seems more relaxed, laid-back and well, boring really. We aren't in their target age group. The other ships we've been on have been brightly decorated with gaudy colours and patterns, but now we realise at least they are energetic and happy. The Grand Princess is 'Italian themed' throughout but the class it purports to have doesn't really come out right. But we are grateful obviously to be seeing these beautiful places.
Tomorrow is Ketchikan - we are going 'zip lining'.
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