Alaskan Cruise 2017 - Day 6: Endicott Arm Fjord & Dawes Glacier

7/11/17

A new sight outside our window this morning as we head up (down?) the Endicott Arm Fjord on the way to Dawes Glacier:

Is that...?

...it is.  Ice.
(Lots of ice pics coming up - nyuk, nyuk, nyuk)

Our itinerary for this day originally called for us to cruise down (up?) Tracy Arm Fjord to arrive at Sawyer Glacier at 7am, however the last few cruises were forced to skip this stop altogether as it was too hazardous for the ship to approach.  Last evening our captain announced that due to ice conditions that may be the case for this cruise as well, but he indicated he would try an alternative course if it appeared clear enough in the morning.  And so we woke up on very slow and careful way to Dawes Glacier.

A flatter piece of ice gets dunked in our wake

"This country is so beautiful.  One fine day you will see it all."
John Adams: Nixon In China

I never thought I'd see such sights in person

This one's pretty big

Ice upon ice

The closer we get, the more drift ice in the water

We took a break for breakfast in the Windjammer Cafe where I had oatmeal, wheat toast, sliced bananas, scrambled eggs with onion and peppers, has browns, Raisin Bran and a donut.  Outside of the cafe they had a table set up with hot chocolate and warm donuts for passengers to enjoy on deck while they were glacier watching.  We joined everyone else on deck for a while, then went back to the room.

Morning lighting

Many waterfalls along the fjord

Look at that view!
The ice increases the closer we get.  Some chunks are quite large.

Incredible

First glimpse of Dawes Glacier

As we approached the captain turned the prow of the ship to port and starboard, avoiding large pieces of ice and giving passengers on both sides of the ship view of the glacier

Just...wow

Ice detail

Already amazing, but we'll get closer still

Starboard view (I think)

Port view (I think)

Off in the distance:  Another glacier, like a frozen waterfall

A closer look

Dawes Glacier.  At this point the captain turned us in the water so the ship's broadside was facing the glacier.  It was approximately 7:30am, and we would stay parked here until almost noon.

Ice field and waterfall

Natural and beautiful

Another shot

Magnificent.  This is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

In this satellite image from Google Maps you can see how far the ice field flows down to the glacier.

Panorama

Time to say goodbye

Mysterious islands

The green hills of wherever this is

I just want to jump in a tender and explore every shore we see

Around 11:30 the captain made an ship-wide announcement that a medevac helicopter would be landing on the deck in an hour to evacuate a patient.  We watched as the helicopter approached...

...as did others.  The front of the ship was blocked off.  The helicopter dipped below our sightline and made an attempt to land at the helipad, then rose and made another.  A short while later it took off for good.  I don't know who needed the evacuation or why, but I hope everything turned out ok.
UPDATE:  I just found a link and video here showing that it was a 68-year old man who fell down some stairs and injured himself.  It also shows the helicopter never landed - it hoisted him up from the deck.

Unicolor.  Nothing to see here.

Before the helicopter arrived Todd and I played a round of Putt-Putt miniature golf on deck (he won).  After we watched the helicopter take off we went to lunch.  I had a hamburger and fries, triple chocolate crunchy cookie, and pear-Nutella pie (blech).  We went back to the room afterwards then later met John and Norma on deck 3 for the 4pm Spirit of the Seasons ice skating show.  The ice show is only held on certain nights and to accommodate everyone due to limited seating attendance at each show was determined by passengers' assembly station numbers - since today's show included entry for our station numbers, we went.  Seemed like the thing to do.

The show was about the changing seasons (Spirit of the Seasons, get it?), and I'll say this about it:  the skaters were talented; the show was awful.  I want to stress that the cast did a great job, but the material they had to work with was bad.  The choreography/routine they had to skate, the costumes, the music were all super cheesy.  Barbershop quartets, boating stripes and hats, beach balls, multi-colored umbrellas, neon wigs and short-shorts, Currier and Ives-type winter outfits complete with hand muffs - it was clearly geared toward a much older crowd, like The Lawrence Welk Show of ice shows.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but there was a wider audience on the ship.  At any rate it was much, much better than the horrible Fast Forward stage show we would watch the next night.  More on that in the next post.

Waiting for the show to start

Autumn

Winter

80's hooker Spring

After the show we strolled once around the outside of the ship on deck 4 then it was back up to our room on deck 9.  We relaxed until it was time to go to dinner.  We had some rolling waves during dinner, but not too bad.  What was bad was that we had to wait for our table again.  It wouldn't have been an issue if we were never promised that it would be no problem to eat at the same place at the same time each night - it's about expectation setting.  Also again, service was mediocre at best.

Tonight was "lobster night", so for dinner I started with the duck and port wine terrine with pear, frisse and brioche, followed by the lobster tail entree.  Another disappointment.  The lobster had the right consistency, but absolutely no flavor.  Once again, Rekorderlig pear cider to the rescue!  The lobster was accompanied by rice pilaf, carrots and broccoli.  Dessert was Baked Alaska.

After dinner John went back to the room and Todd, Norma and I went down to the Promenade Cafe on deck 5 for coffee and then walked around the ship a bit.  We also took a minute to drop off our Canadian declaration forms for our stop in Victoria, British Columbia coming up the day after next.  We then went back to the room to settle in for the night.

Tonight's towel animal was an elephant.  We also had a handy notice that the time zone would change overnight.

The next day would be an all-cruising day with no port of call.  See you then!