Alaska Cruise – Day 5 (Sitka)

The destination the R.C. and I were least excited about on the cruise (we picked this specific cruise because it visited Glacier Bay) has fulfilled its promise and thrilled neither of us.

The R.C.'s long-awaited visit to the Raptor Center was a scant 55 minutes where she wanted at least 2 hours. In fact, her description made me jealous that I hadn't selected that excursion myself, but I was determined to see sea otters. (We saw a television special on them before we left on the cruise, and I thought they were just too adorable to be true.)

My Wildlife and Sea Otter Quest produced both (sea lions, harbor seals, a humpback whale, a black-tailed deer, sea otters, bald eagles, and a veritable university of salmon), so why did I almost fall asleep at one point?

Possibly because today's boat captain had an obsession with fishing. We stopped and watched four or five different boats and received much the same explanation of what they were doing each time.

The sea otters were darling and I wanted to take them all home with me. They frolicked and played and generally acted as if they were aware of the cameras. Sea lions, when asleep on the rocks on a gray, wet day, just sort of look like more rocks, heaped up here and there. As do harbor seals.

The part I enjoyed most was riding the ship's tender into town an hour early so I could walk around and do a little souvenir shopping before the boat trip. Although I'd dressed carefully for that day's excursion, so that I wouldn't have to carry a purse, I wound up buying two books (I knew unpacking four of the books I'd planned to bring would be a disaster) and a few postcards.

We've been eating mostly in the ship's buffet restaurant. They do a good job there, the food is tasty and there's good variety. My only complaint might be that the desserts seem to be getting progressively staler as the trip itself progresses. In spite of what we're told about the all-night bakery working to produce new goodies for us each day, I'm finding myself of the opinion that these bits of cake have been sitting there, waiting to be eaten, for the last five days.

N.B. When next cruising, accept the "old lady" stigma and pack head-scarves. They can't look worse than your hair has this week!