Day 5: Another Display of God's Majesty

Two hundred years ago, Glacier Bay was visited by Captain George Vancouver who observed it to be a large open bay, blocked at its northern end by a giant wall of ice. Since then, the ice in Glacier Bay has slowly receded, uncovering a new waterway 65 miles long containing many fjords and inlets. Today, we had the privilege of witnessing the calving, large portions of ice splitting off the glacier (places that are bright blue shows the places of newest calving), of this massive glacier, a slowly moving mass of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles. We also saw a bald eagle swoop down and catch a fish and fly back to his iceberg whilst being chased by two gulls. There are not words to express the awesomeness of Margerie Glacier. It was an indescribable experience. We even had US Park Service Rangers on board to narrate over the PA system and share their vast knowledge of the glaciers with us. After showering and getting warmed up (spent nearly all day outside with the glacier on the decks in 30 degree weather) I headed up for my evening ritual of a few hours up at the Ocean Bar, followed by dinner, and then dancing the night away (literally until 2am, 3am, even 5am) in the Crow’s Nest. The first evening at Ocean Bar I met a couple from California who were marvelous dancers and ended up being regulars with me at this bar every night before 8pm dinner. John, the husband, was kind enough to teach me how to Cha-cha. This evening for dinner I was able to get a table on the second level of the dinning room with a pretty good view got to enjoy dinner by myself. The Assistant Dinning Room Manager, Nugie, was kind enough to offer me a better table for the rest of the week. Tonight I tried Halibut….tasty! I also ran into Rick, sat next to me in the spin class the other day, and his wife, Sherry, who invited me to join their table for a big Friday night dinner. True to form I headed upstairs after dinner to the top deck for hours of dancing!
Video and more photos posted to http://gallivantingrunnersteph.shutterfly.com/