Alaska Cruise - Day 7, Thursday May 28

This morning we were at sea and stopped at the Hubbard Glacier. It was a marvelous site. We saw several parts of the glacier falling into the ocean. The sound of the crashing ice was as loud as thunder and was spectacular.

The Hubbard Glacier stretches 76 miles to the sea at Yakutat and Disenchantment Bays. It is the longest tidewater glacier on the North American continent and has an open calving face over six miles wide. It is one of the few glaciers that is still growing and expanding instead of which are thinning and retreating. If the Hubbard Glacier continues to advance, it will permanently close the seaward entrance of Russell Fiord and created the largest glacier-dammed lake on the North American continent in historic times.

In the afternoon we watched one of the food staff do an ice sculpture. He carved a fish in the block of ice. Then we went to the Crew farewell & disembarkation briefing. Sue attended the Alaska Native Culture: The Yakutat Way of Life program. The program was narrated by two Native Alaskans about the Hubbard Glacier and other information about the natives in this area. Later in the afternoon we attended the meeting for all who would be leaving the ship on Friday. They brought all the staff out on stage one last time and introduced everyone.

Dinner in the Rotterdam Restaurant was a fun evening. When we went in there were no napkins and we wondered why. The the staff started coming down the stars waving napkins and dancing. They came to each table and put the napkins on everyone's lap. They then brought in a large salad bowl and put together the salad, later they did another number when it was desert time. It was fun to watch.

In the evening Sue & I went to a movie – confessions of a shoplifter. It was funny. Mom went to a show that was an impersonator & singer. She said she had a good time. After that we went back to our cabin and packed. We had to have our checked bags outside our rooms before going to bed so they could get them ready to go to our hotels where we will be going after our ride from Seward to Anchorage.

Mom & Sue had their picture taken with Moses the Cruise's Native Alaskan Cultural Expert. He was an interesting person to listen to. We had several opportunities that he joined us for lunch and talked about Alaska Natives and history.

The picture below is the sunset of our last day at sea and was taken at 11:40 pm. The other picture was taken at dinner when they brought me a birthday cake. Even though my birthday was not until Saturday, since it was the last day on the ship the celebrated my birthday.