Day 2 via Alerino

We had an early wake up call, 6:30 AM. A calm soothing voice came over the intercom announcing that we were wading in the College Fjord and we had a small window of opportunity to see all the glaciers that surrounded us. Heather and I jumped out of bed, threw on a hat and some shoes and went to the top of the ship. Both of us were speechless. We certainly were surrounded and it was amazing!

Each of the glaciers were named after a college hence the “College Fjord”. It was very cloudy and raining but it did not stop us from snapping a bazillion pictures of all the glaciers. The same soothing voice schooled us in glaciers. We found out that when we see blue in a glacier, it is simply the light reflecting from deep inside the glacier. Because the weather was the way it was we saw a lot of beautiful blue in all of them. We also learned about the different kind of glaciers. It was very cool.

At first we did not want to take pictures with us in them. We were in our PJ’s for crying out loud! But then we realized that this was possibly the only time we’d see something like this again. So here we are in all our morning glory. For the record, we were not the minority dressed in bed clothes. Most passengers that were out on the deck had bathrobes on! I’m so glad we got up. We were in the College Fjord for about a half hour and then we headed out. After seeing all those glaciers I thought, if I had to go home today I would be satisfied. The pictures do not give the glaciers justice. They are massive and beautiful.

The whole entire sound, fjord or whatever that alcove is called was covered with chunks of ice floating in the water. I wonder how much damage the ship incurs by sailing into these ice chunks. As soon as we were out of the fjord, the ship picked up speed.

At one point the voice pointed out a bald eagle but it was on the starboard side of the ship and by that point we were already in our room eating breakfast and trying to warm up the tips of our noses and hands.

We had a Muster Drill this morning. We had to walk like cattle through the stair ways. A very nice middle aged Australian couple were exiting in front of us. She turned to tell Heather and I “That sound was so loud! It nearly knocked me out of the bed!” Her husband responded “Ya, considering what we were doing”. The four of us just laughed and laughed. We sat next to another couple from Louisiana. I have yet to meet an unfriendly person on this ship.

We took a scrapbooking class in the afternoon. We bought a kit that was made just for the Alaskan cruise. It’s only 22 cents to print photos from your camera so when we get a significant amount of photos we will begin our scrapbook!

As I look outside my window right now the water seems choppy. The ship has a heavy vibration and I can feel myself sway slightly side to side. Scratch that. I wrote this late morning and it is now around 4PM. The ship is battling 10 foot swells. You cannot walk without stumbling. I now sway side to side HEAVILY and the ship is constantly vibrating. Things have fallen off our shelves because of the swaying. Many people are sick. Please pray that Heather and I do not get sick. The crew will not allow people to walk outside. The wind is so strong it’s howling. It is now 6PM and the waves have calmed a bit. I still sway and the cabin still vibrates but we do not have to Velcro down things on shelves. Heather, Shanon and I decided to go sit in a spa. The pools are completely drained but the spas are up and running! There were people out on the deck sick as dogs! The whole entire ship feels deserted. The buffet is one story above our room so I had to walk through it to get to our room elevator. Well, the buffet area had maybe 15 people in it. I would venture to say that there are a ton of sickies out there.

Tonight is our first elegant night. I’m excited to get dressed up. One of the crew was telling us how tonight is going to have some gourmet food. Being that I eat like a 4 four old, this gourmet stuff may not be the thing for me. Don’t worry Kelley, I will order and not make faces.

Tomorrow we port in Sitka, Alaska. If I can get through the next 12 hours without getting seasick, I will be one happy Alaskan princess.