DAY 2: Glacier Bay National Park
After a restful night of sleep, we got up early to join the morning stretch class in the gym. It took place daily at 7:00 a.m. Just as our workout ended, the captain made an announcement over the loud speaker. Breakfast was served in the dining room. Breakfast always consisted of two choices: a specially item and an omelette-du-jour. You could add on things like fruit or bacon.
Just as breakfast was wrapping up, we spotted several orcas. The pod was training the young to hunt. Apparently the orcas wanted breakfast, too, because we watched as one gobbled up an otter. Welcome to Alaska!
After breakfast, we learned that we had a special guest with us for the day. The ship had stopped to pick up a Ranger Becca from Glacier Bay National Park. She told us about the land, the people who used to live there, and the animals who call the area home today. Ranger Becca also had Junior Ranger supplies with her. She gave the kids and any interested adults workbooks to fill out with the promise of a badge at the end of the day.
Our ship sailed some 60 miles into Glacier Bay. The park is that big – stretching across 3.3 million acres. There are more than a thousand glaciers in this area, although most of them are hard to see or access because they’re high up in the mountains. Some of them, however, stretch to the sea, like Margerie Glacier. As we began to approach the glacier, the air got colder, and we saw lots of ice floating in the water around us.
But before we got to Margerie, it was mealtime. It was a Greek-themed lunch, and our menu options included a chicken shawarma, falafel, and greek salad. My daughter was thrilled to discover that dessert was served after lunch. The joys of being 11-years-old!
Dessert was good, but the real treat of the day was Margerie Glacier. You can see the glacier from miles away. It’s about a mile wide and 21 miles long and has an ice face that’s about 250 feet tall. We could hear cracking and popping and saw small bits calve off into the water, leaving a trail of icy chunks. The ice was a brilliant blue, and the water around it appeared emerald green.
The captain steered us right up to Margerie, and we sat there for quite awhile. By this time, it was really chilly, so most of us were bundled up in jackets, hats, and gloves. No one really minded the cold, though, as the glacier was simply stunning.
Eventually it was time to move on. We saw other wildlife in the area like humpback whales, seals, and puffins.
Before we returned to the Glacier Bay National Park Lodge to drop off Ranger Becca, we had something important to take care of. It was time to swear in the Junior Rangers. All three kids and a few adults received their Junior Ranger badges.
Unbelievably, it was time to eat again. For dinner, we had a short ribs and rockfish.
After dinner, we disembarked the Legacy and took a hike around the Glacier Bay Visitor Center at Bartlett Cove, the only developed area in the park. This area used to be a glacier. When it retreated 200 years ago, a forest sprung up in its place. Today, it’s filled with tall spruce and hemlock trees, as well as several ponds. We followed the mile-long trail, stopping to eat the wild berries, look at the large mushrooms called “bear bread” growing on fallen trees, and examine the scat found on the trail, making sure it wasn’t too fresh.
KidTripster Tip: Scat is another word for feces. Our guides often stopped to examine scat. It sounds gross, but it was a safety issue. They were particularly interested in bear scat, wanting to make sure it wasn’t too fresh which would indicate a bear in the area. We’d been given a bear safety talk, and the guides were equipped with bear spray.
There are a few other points of interest at Bartlett Cove. There’s a totem pole and a tribal house as well as a large whale skeleton. The Visitor Center has exhibits about Glacier Bay and a gift shop.
We were back on board the SS Legacy by 10 p.m. It was just getting dark as the last passenger (me!) got back on the ship. How does the crew keep track of everyone’s whereabouts? When you disembark, you move a magnet from a column reading “aboard” to the column reading “ashore.”
KidTripster Tip: There’s no WiFi aboard the SS Legacy. There’s also very little cell service in this area. Hopefully, you’ll take this opportunity to disconnect from your devices and reconnect with your family. That said, sometimes you do need to check in with work or home. In my case, I was traveling with my daughter and without my husband and young son. I usually had an hour or two of cell service each day which gave me a chance to say “hi” to my boys. There only was one time during our cruise that I had WiFi access and that was outside the entrance of the Glacier Bay Visitor Center. If you want to Instagram your day at Margerie Glacier instead of later-gramming it, this is the place to do it.
