Day 2: Glacier Bay National Park – Tidal Inlet & Margerie Glacier
Meals are served at designated times; breakfast at 7:30, lunch at 12:30, happy hour at 5:30 and dinner at 6:30. These aren’t suggested times. This is when you eat, so it’s important to be punctual.
Special dishes are offered at each meal. Breakfast choices this morning consisted of a Croque Madame or a three cheese omelette. If the choices aren’t to your liking, you can usually request something else, like toast, potatoes or bacon. At breakfast we met the Chef, no doubt one of the most important people on the ship! He explained that each morning he’d tell us about that day’s lunch and dinner menu. We’d be asked to make a selection for those meals at breakfast so the kitchen crew could roughly prepare, but he assured us that we could change our minds during the day and that it was always ok to order more (or less) if the portion sizes weren’t right for us.
Skiba, our Expedition Leader, also came to the microphone and told us about our activity choices for the day. We talked it over as a family and decided to spend our afternoon on a “meander” through the forest, on-shore at Glacier Bay National Park.
But before we could attend any activities, we first had to attend more required safety orientation trainings. We split into groups. Odd-numbered cabins attended a kayaking training, while even-numbered cabins learned about land safety, with important information about what to do in an encounter with a bear. Then we flipped and attended the other session.
That morning, we sailed past South Marble Island. The island is home to lots of sea lion, sea otter and birds, including puffins. We watched as sea lions tussled and played on the rocks, and slid off the boulders into the water below. As the ship moved on, we also had our first bear sighting of the sailing. Using our binoculars, we could see a scruffy brown bear foraging along the shoreline.
KidTripster Tip: You’re welcome to bring your own binoculars. If you’re tight on space or weight, don’t worry about leaving them at home. There’s a pair located in each cabin, and several dozen scattered throughout the lounge. Having binoculars is helpful for wildlife watching from the boat. It can be tricky to see animals like bear and mountain goats from a distance, without the aid of binoculars.
It was a quiet morning aboard the ship as we got our bearings and completed our training sessions. Then it was time to eat again. Lunch was really good. Chef served cod Po Boy sandwiches on homemade sweet potato rolls. The fish was crispy and the remoulade was tasty and tangy. Dessert was a cinnamon puff cake with a caramel drizzle and ice cream.
We had a few minutes to gear up for our first on-shore adventure, a forest meander though Glacier Bay National Park. That’s not something we get to do every day! A small boat, called a skiff, took us from the Wilderness Legacy to shore. We were warned it would be a “wet landing” and to wear rubber boots.
KidTripster Tip: You’ll wear rubber boots more this week than you’ve likely ever had in your entire life! If traveling with small children, it’s important that you bring their boots. There are several pairs of adult sized boots available to borrow on board. If you’re worried about size and/or comfort, pack your own pair with you. Don’t forget to bring those gel insoles!
Once off the skiff, we walked along the shoreline. Our guide, Jessie found a bear skull on the beach, that we passed around. Then we dipped into the forest. Because it was a warm sunny day, the bugs were out in full force! We swatted flies from our faces, then eventually headed back to the beach where we walked along the shore, exploring the tidal areas, finding jellyfish and crab. We watched several oystercatchers (birds with bright red beaks that eat oysters) on the shore squawking at us to get out of their territory.
When we were done exploring, our skiff returned to pick us up and take us back to the ship. While we waited, the kids threw rocks into the water, challenging each other to see who could throw the farthest.
We had time for a short break before happy hour in the lounge. The happy hour snacks included meat, cheese and crackers along with hummus. Happy hour is also what our expedition leader referred to as “news hour” in which she shares details about the day ahead, including the adventures offered. After we were given our menu of activities, guides went table-to-table to get everyone signed up.
Once that was taken care of, it was off to another meal. Dinner was about to be served. We sat down to apple cardamom soup. The entree that followed was a choice of scallops or moroccan chicken. We wrapped up the meal with a chocolate mascarpone tart with a raspberry glaze.
KidTripster Tip: Dessert is served at every lunch and dinner aboard the UnCruise. Your kids will love this perk!
Bobby, the lead guide, offered an after dinner presentation about glaciers. Good timing given that Captain Doug was steering us toward Margerie Glacier. The mascarpone tart was a treat, but the real icing on our day was the stunning close-up of Margerie Glacier. “Large Marge” is more than 21-miles long and a mile wide. Our ship pulled up in front, providing passengers with an amazing view of the gorgeous glacier. We had plenty of time to admire the glacier and take photos, but there was a bit of disappointment when it was time to pull away. Sensing our sadness, we were told to set our alarms for early the following morning. We were due to arrive at Johns Hopkins Glacier at 6 a.m. and we were told that this was something not to be missed.
So off to bed we went, setting the alarms on our otherwise useless cell phones, determined to wake up early for another big day.
KidTripster Tip: UnCruise doesn’t offer any WiFi on the ships. There’s also extremely limited cell service in remote Southeast Alaska. You might experience brief bursts of intermittent cell coverage, but go into this vacation preparing to unplug. You really won’t have a choice in the matter!
Click on “3” below to ready about the glaciers we saw on our third day, as well as what we did on land at Glacier Bay National Park.
