Cruising Northwards

Friday 12th July
Today the ship is cruising north all day towards the tiny port of Whittier, where we will disembark tomorrow morning and travel to Anchorage. I will really miss the cruise ship although I am excited about the next stage of our holiday. We have discovered that there is a Laundromat on every deck of the ship so we have processed a couple of washings and we will be leaving the ship with our suitcases full of clean clothes which should see out the holiday. The weather continues to be absolutely brilliant, with blue skies and the sun shining on the white capped mountains in the distance. We spoke to Jamie by phone this morning; his exams finished on Friday and he is back in Cambuslang for one night before travelling to Peru on Saturday. He thinks his exams went well, although they were not in the format that he is used to so he is not totally sure. He summed it up by saying that if he passes he wouldn't be surprised but if he fails he also wouldn't be surprised! I do hope he passes! He says that it's also very good weather in Scotland just now and he had to air the house when he got in because it is so hot. Luckily Grandma has been watering the lemon and lime trees for us.
So back to the cruise, which has been great. The ports of Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway were all different and interesting, and we had great fun sea kayaking, rafting and cycling. I have been going to the gym every day and I really enjoy it; I watch television using my headphones while I am on the cross trainer, and I also watch the scenery because the gym is at the front of the ship with big windows. I have also loved swimming, especially in the Sanctuary pool, and reading and relaxing. The food is good and there's plenty of it, in fact you could just about eat all day if you wanted to because the Horizon canteen-style dining room changes seamlessly from breakfast to lunch to dinner! The menus are delicious and varied in the formal dining rooms - our favourite is the Santa Fe and the waiters, both there and in our favourite bars, have got to know our favourite drinks and have them lined up for us! And our cabin is fantastic, more than big enough for the three of us and Davie has enjoyed having his own space and his own television! It's a strange but very pleasant life on a cruise ship and having enjoyed it twice we would definitely like to do it again. Anyway, I'm about to head for the Sanctuary pool for the afternoon, while James and Davie go to a lecture on how the ship's engines and how to steer the ship!
Evening of Friday 12th July...
The rest of the day was lovely; we sailed down College Fjord which was amazing with lots of Glaciers named after US colleges. They were all beautiful but Harvard was really brilliant because it was "calving" so lots of huge pieces of ice were breaking off it and crashing down into the sea. One giant shard of ice disappeared into the sea then rose back up again like a rocket before finally subsiding. Our captain took the ship right up to it and we spent ages just watching it. The ship's naturalist called the day "Alaska at its best"! Another highlight was seeing lots of sea otters floating past the ship who were lying on their backs with babies clinging to their fronts! Their wee paws were sticking out of the water. When they dived their babies just clung on! We spent so long on deck that we were late for dinner! After a delicious last dinner we went up to Skywalkers Bar and had drinks perched overlooking the gorgeous sea and snowy mountains.