Day 19 May 8th At sea

     

2nd flower arrangement

flower arrangement

Our first day cruising at sea dawned dull, overcast and grey with some snow/sleet falling and quite a contrast in temperature to what we have been used to. We sorted ourselves out and went to breakfast which as usual had a vast choice. We both went to a destination lecture at 1000 for “What to see and do in Alaska” and at 1130 Christine went to a flower arranging demonstration and I went to a Digital Workshop entitled “Getting to know Cortana” for Windows. We both gained something from the experiences.

We had a light lunch and then went

whale near the ship

to a presentation entitled 

some wildlife on the boat

“making the most of your visits to Ketchikan, Juneau and Icy Straight Point” our first three ports. Both presentations gave a bit more background of what to expect and how to get the most from it. We came back to the cabin for a read and to sort out our laundry which had been returned. We went for a cup of tea

tail flute "flapped"

and took it to a window table to

tail flute showing

look out for wildlife. The fog rolled in and out but then cleared. While we were there we saw some spouting and then were thrilled to sea a whale breach. We watched for some time there but could not catch anything on camera. We decided to return to our cabin’s

resubmerging

verandah and soon saw more spouting and I managed to capture some breaching on camera. It was all very exciting.

Tonight was a gala night on the cruise with a meet the captain session followed by a formal dinner.  The Danish captain seemed very calm and capable which is reassuring.  Our dinner went off well whilst dressed in our glad rags.  What appeared on paper to be a boring day turned out to be very acceptable by the appearance of the whales.