Cruise Flashback #4: Yelling "Whale" in a Crowded Room

I'm determined to finish my account of our Alaskan vacation before summer's over. To see the rest of these posts, visit my archive of Travel posts here.

June 29, 2005: Yakutat Bay, Alaska

After Ketchikan, we set sail north for Yakutat Bay, site of the spectacular Hubbard Glacier.

We were well outside the Inside Passage now, the closest we'd been to sailing on the open sea. This was the first time I felt the sensation of the ship actually rocking on the water; walking in a straight line down the hallways was proving to be difficult.

Tuesday night, we had decided to catch a show in the two-story nightclub area, but it was standing room only and the ship's buckling made standing difficult. So Linda and I ended up perusing Wednesday's ship schedule in our usual evening hangout - the Martini Lounge. With everyone stuck on the ship for an entire day, the schedule was full of activities like art auctions, bingo, movies, more cooking demonstrations -- and a seminar on glaciers, led by the ship's resident naturalist. The newsletter itself included lots of interesting tidbits about the Hubbard and glaciers in general - such as the reason the glacial ice looks blue. (The ice absorbs all the other colors of the spectrum but  reflects the blue.)

This was the third night in a row that Linda tried to get her teens to participate in a midnight mixer that was being held in the little disco area below The Martini Lounge. We'd positioned ourselves at a table that overlooked the dance floor. Unfortunately, my 16-year-old nephew is at the age where he's concerned about being "cool," and he wasn't sure the teen activities met that standard. And his 17-year-old sister didn't want to go alone. But Alex is prone to seasickness, and the boat's rocking put a stop to any plans to join the dance. He retired early and Carly sipped tea while Linda and I enjoyed our martinis.

I retired early, too. I wasn't seasick, but I found that the rocking had the same effect on me as a baby; I was very sleepy. And that sensation lasted through the following morning. I barely woke up in time to grab some breakfast and join Linda for a sushi-making demonstration. It was all I could do to stay awake.

At the end of the cooking demo, Chef Oswald announced that he was preparing a little something special for the viewing of the glacier. It was now 11:00.  Linda and I went up to deck 11 to see if we could find a window seat in the Rendezvous Lounge. With our arrival in Yakutat Bay scheduled for 3:00 p.m., we figured it would be a snap.

No such luck. The lounge was packed.

"A lot of these seats will free up when the bingo game ends," I reasoned.

Fat chance. Two thousand people aboard the ship had already begun jockeying for the best position to view the glacier. Linda and I managed to move some empty chairs in position not too far from a window. Then I went looking for Gareth. A stroll on the recreation deck revealed that every single deck chair with a view was occupied. The ship's staff was also doing a brisk business selling souvenir Alaska fleece sweatshirts on the cold deck.

I eventually found Gareth and Alex on the observation deck above us (which was mobbed), cameras at the ready. Having coordinated our locations, I returned to the lounge so that Linda could look for Mark and the kids.

My parents joined me in the lounge, where the staff had set up a hot chocolate station (and were offering it with shots of liqueur). My mom had not been feeling all that well and they had been spending most of the days at sea in their cabin so I was pleased they came out for this. Linda let me know that she, Mark and the other kids had found a great viewing spot on the helicopter pad (I didn't even know the ship had a helicopter pad - nor did I know where that was).

It was now about 1:00 p.m. The bingo game had been long over, but no one was budging from their seats. In fact, the lounge was more crowded than ever. My mom struck up a conversation wtih a couple who were seating near us, in prime viewing position. These folks were cruise junkies, and had done Alaska twice before.

"The way to get a good seat," they said, "is to yell, 'I see a whale.' Then, when everyone jumps our of their seat and runs to the side of the boat, you run back and take one."

Good advice - but I wasn't about to try it.

We were all getting pretty hungry, but no one wanted to give up the seats we actually had. So we all took turns bringing lunch back from the ship's restaurants.

As we neared the bay, the ship's naturalist went on speaker to tell us what to look for and what to expect. Around 2:45 (a little ahead of schedule), we were there. And, it was spectacular.

Soon after we arrived, Linda returned to the lounge, with the two little girls in tow. They had been getting bored at the helicopter pad (where Gareth and Alex had joined Mark). And they were hungry. They sat with their grandparents while I ran off to the restaurant to bring them back some lunch.

True to Chef Oswald's promise, the ship's restaurant staff had set up stations around the ship, where they handed out little bread bowls of steaming pea soup, which was a nice touch.

It's estimated that Alaska is home to over 100,000 glaciers, most of which, in response to global warming, are retreating. Hubbard is an exception - a tidewater glacier that is actually expanding. The thing is constantly in motion, visually and aurally by "calving" - which is when large pieces of the ice break off and slide into the water, with a noise that sounds exactly like a loud clap of thunder.

We stayed at the glacier for the better part of two hours, listening to the naturalist, snapping pictures and ooh-ing every time the thing calved. Megan and Maddy were bored again. They wanted to watch a movie in the cabin. So I took them back - and noticed that we had an excellent - unobstructed - view of Hubbard from our balcony. Plus, we could actually hear the thing when it calved (unlike in the lounge, which was pretty much soundproof).

The girls and I spent a good 30 minutes watching the glacier from the balcony, before the ship started backing out of the bay.

We'd be in Juneau in the morning.