Day 7 - Hubbard Glacier

This was a sea day, since the ship cannot approach the Hubbard Glacier too closely, but we arrived on station at 8am to view it from about half a mile away which was awesome. There was a boat excursion offered to get much closer, but it departed at 7:30am, which is just way too early for us to even contemplate. The view of the glacier was great from the open top deck of the ship and the captain obligingly did slow donuts so that the passengers could see from either side of the ship. The Hubbard really is impressive and is apparently one of the few glaciers in the world that is advancing rather than receding.

This video gives you a better idea of scale:

And since this was mostly a sea day, we made sure to enjoy a French lunch in Chartreuse. Laura chose the haddock with sauce citronee, and I went with the beef tenderloin and sauce perigourdine. Nom nom nom!

Day 6 - Hoonah on Icy Strait Point

Hoonah is a city of around 1,000 people, entirely owned and run by the Tlingit native people. Where the ships dock there are two gondolas to choose from: the green one is free and connects to town, and the red one is paid and takes you up the mountain from where you can zipline down. We picked the green gondola to explore the town, which has a nice beach and a selection of efficient tourist focused restaurants. We also went on another nature hike excursion, where the guide told us he could see a brown bear through his binoculars. Maybe he did.

Day 5 - Skagway

In Skagway, the excursion we had booked was canceled and we did not book a substitute, instead deciding to explore the town on foot and then enjoy the afternoon on a peaceful ship while the majority of passengers were away. The terrain around Skagway is breathtaking - beautiful mountains, forests and fjords. And given that we were in Alaska in June, sunset was around 11pm and sunrise at 4am. As the ship moved away from port and turned south to head back to the ocean we had a lovely long sunset from our balcony on the starboard side.

And a video, taken at twilight: