Glacier Bay

We had toured Glacier Bay back in 2014 when we took the girls on a more southern Alaskan itinerary. I found this northern route to be a better option because we saw so much wildlife. Unfortunately, the only bear I saw after the grizzlies in Denali was the towel bear our stateroom attendant left on our bed. But we were lucky to spy lots of otters (in the hundreds), seals and whales on the cruise through Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

We sailed by our HA sister ship, which made for a pretty picture. We also spied a couple other smaller vessels on our cruise route. The closer we got to the glaciers, the more layers I had to put on to stay outside. They were serving hot cocoa when they opened up the bow on our deck for several hours, so we definitely enjoyed that.

We continued to see cascades dotting the landscape, places where water was flowing from the melting snow down the inclines. It was really picturesque.

In the pics above, you can see where we spied humpback whales in the water. In the pics below, those specks of dark on the ice are otters. Some were seen swimming surprisingly close to the cruise ship. Bonus - we saw lots of otter mothers with their babies, and they were so stinkin' cute. 

There were the glaciers, of course. But they just weren't as thrilling to see as the critters. We ended our time outdoors with afternoon tea, a wonderful way to cap off our visit to Glacier Bay.