Endicott Arm - Dawes Glacier

Cruising in Endicott Arm

So, the itinerary was originally supposed to be in Tracy Arm to see the twin Sawyer Glaciers, located at the end of the arm.  However, our Captain decided to make a detour the day before.

I awoke at 6am knowing I would be seeing the Dawes glacier that morning.  I looked out the window and saw ice floating in the water.  The ship was slowly making its way to the end of the arm.  How exciting!!

My niece and I got dressed and headed up to the Lido Deck for some breakfast.  We kept an eye on the water for changes in the water colour and seeing more and more ice floating in the water.  We had ordered hot drinks to our cabin which was going to arrive at 9am.  We didn't want to go back down to our cabin to wait as our excitement was growing on the appearance of the glacier.  So we decided to head up to Observation Deck 10 to ask the Exploration Cafe if they could serve it to us there instead of sending it down to our cabin.  They said it wouldn't be a problem but we'd have to wait til it was ready.

I spent my time looking out the front window and watching the screens showing us where the ship was and what was happening beneath the water.  I saw an Orca swam less than 5 meters beneath the ship but never surfaced.  Then a whale showed up on the screen.  He was a little bit deeper at just below 16 ft.  He also never surfaced but it was exciting to see that they were there.

Once we got our drinks in hand, we headed out to the bow of the ship as the Captain had indicated.  I found it too crowded and it was hard to see anything in the water.  I looked up to see the decks uptop had barely anyone on them.  I told my niece that we should go up there so we headed up to deck 9 and had it pretty much to ourselves for a long while.

It was cold and windy and had to go in once in a while to warm up our fingers and toes.  But then we headed right back out.  Here are some of the views before we reached the glacier.

And then we finally reached the Dawes Glacier.  It was beautiful.

We witnessed some calving and although the ice fields were something to behold, it was also sad to see.  It brought to reality that global warming is real and it was happening right before our eyes.

The cruise ship made 360 degree turns a few times so we all got a view.  It was absolutely breathtaking to see in my lifetime.  We had beautiful sunny weather as the day went on.  We met some friends for high tea in the afternoon in the dining room and then proceeded to sail away to our next destination, Ketchikan.