DAY 7: Endicott Arm
We woke excited about the day before us but feeling sad that our Alaskan adventure would be wrapping up soon. We bookended our adventure with another glacier, spending our final day at Endicott Arm.
After our stretch and breakfast, we had a choice of water activities – skiff tours, guided kayak tours or open paddle. The guided tours visited North Dawes Glacier. We chose the guided kayak option. Our guide lead us through the water right toward the ice, explaining the area around us. She advised that we stay away from any ice chunks too large to hug. These pieces could roll, causing a dangerous wake for our kayaks. Other pieces were small, so we were able to pluck a few chunks out of the water, giving us a chance to see just how cold the water beneath us was. It was beautiful and memorable -memorable for a right reason (the beauty of the place) and a wrong reason (the challenge of kayaking such a long distance). My daughter and I only had kayaked two other times together that week. On the way there, it was alright, but the paddle back was cold and seemed much farther. As we fought the current, we also bickered in our boat. In the end, we made it back to the SS Legacy, but it was dicey in addition to being icy. We had a chance to warm up a bit and get ready for the next big event of the day – the polar plunge! At least one of us was going to do it, and – you guessed it – I wasn’t going to be me!
Just before lunch, a small group of brave and perhaps crazy individuals decided to jump into the glacial waters. The rest of us not-so-brave souls watched them from the deck, recoding their polar plunge from many angles. My daughter joined in on the jump. Watch here. She liked it so much that she considered plunging again! Instead, she headed to the hot tub on the sun deck like a sensible girl.
We had an Asian-inspired lunch: teriyaki chicken or teriyaki tofu, both served with pineapple fried rice and stir-fried veggies.
As we dined, we pulled closer to Dawes Glacier. The temperature on board dropped quite a bit. The ice appeared blue, and the water was jade. We boarded a skiff for an opportunity to get closer. Although the glacier appeared close from the SS Legacy, the skiff traveled some three miles up to the face of it. From a safe distance, we observed the glacier and, of course, took photos. On our journey out, we encountered lots of sea lions lounging about on the ice floes in the water. The glacier was majestic. We were all a bit breathless once we arrived close to Dawes. After some time to soak it in, we headed back, passing a waterfall on the way. As we approached the SS Legacy sitting in the middle of Endicott Arm, I was struck by how small the ship seemed compared to the scale of Alaska. It was a brochure-worthy image.
We had a few hours to warm up and clean up after our day of icy adventures, but the fun wasn’t over quite yet.
That night was the captain’s dinner. The captain dined with us, and after dessert, he introduced the SS Legacy crew. We’d met most of them by now, but there were several below-the-deck crew members that had a chance to get some recognition and applause.
Dinner was a choice of petit filet or king salmon served with potatoes and Brussel sprouts.
After dinner, the guests gathered in the lounge for a slide show presentation. During the course of the week, the crew took photos. Sometimes they asked us to do silly things – like kiss banana slugs – or simply pose and smile. One of the crew members compiled the best photos for an end-of-week slide show, reminding us of all the amazing adventures that we’d shared. The best part? The photos were available to download after the cruise. This was all part of the fare; there were no extra costs for photos.
Although no one had cell service yet, many of us had our cell phones with us in the lounge. There was a lot of air-dropping going on. Many of us had snapped photos of our newfound friends and wanted to share them as well as share our contact information to keep in touch.
