Alaska - Day 7

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 – We awoke very early today so we can get a good breakfast without having to wait in line. It was 6:30am and we found out that the “hot” breakfast is not served until 7am. So we got a table and watched for whales while the ship cruised towards Glacier Bay.

We for the most part finished eating when Shari came up to meet us. She claimed that Dennis' phone went off around 6am, which Dennis slept through and did not answer. Shari picked it up but was too late in answering it. It was Jeff Bilsland calling. Somehow, she had heard from her mom and that a huge storm came in and there was downed trees in their driveway (Shari's mom was staying at their place). I got my cell phone and turned it on and found there was a voice mail. It too was from Jeff so I called him back. Shari was having problems with her phone, but my was working fine.

Jeff said that the tree fell in the storm. “Yea, good one. I've got a bunch of trees, which one was it,” I said, thinking he was talking about my house. Then it occurred to me, it was the office. The remainder of that tree that fell last week had fallen in the storm last night... and this time it hit the office.

Fortunately, there was little damage. With help from Beth's parents, I got Jeff a key to the office and he pretty much took care of everything. Dennis and Shari's house was fine, with the exception of some downed trees and my house came out unscathed.

The cell service on the ship is bad. If someone calls us, we can hear them, but they can't hear us. We learned, but not for certain, that wireless calls from off the ship is $12/minute. Yikes!! This is not the time you want a call to chit chat.

Shari, Buffy and I walked laps around the ship and spotted some whales. We then pretty much took up residence at a table by the Lido Deck pool and stayed there most of the day. While Jack played in the pool with some other kids, we watched the various glaciers the ship maneuvered around. From time to time, some of us would leave the table to find a better vantage point. But someone would stay with the table at all times.

It was cool watching ice chunks fall into the ocean. We didn't see anything massive, but even small slides make a thunderous sound.

Right now it's a little after 5pm and Jack is still going strong in the pool. We'll probably hit dinner I'm guessing somewhere around 6:30 – 7pm. I'm not even hungry right now as we've been munching on food all day. They will have to roll us off this ship when we're done.

Tomorrow is a port of call in Haines, AK. On Thursday we stop in Juneau, where we are signed up for a helicopter tour that makes 2 landings on a glacier.

Photo info:
It's me with the Margarie Glacier in the background.