Wednesday, August 10: Day at Sea

The scenery from the bow of the ship.

Trust me, all those little splashes are Pacific white-sided dolphins.

I woke a few times during the night, but managed to get right back to sleep.  I got up at about 6:45 and took my meds, then went out on the balcony.  While I was using my binoculars, glassing an area near a small island, I saw a spout and then the flukes of a whale tail as he dove.  He spouted and dove again and then was gone.  Just a little bit later, I saw a seal pop his head up out of the water.  The day was off to a promising start. 

We went up to deck 9 for breakfast at Beach Blanket Buffet and had a delicious but light breakfast.  They had everything from fresh fruit to hot and cold cereals, eggs, breakfast meat, bagels and more. 

I headed off to find the laundry.  It’s not exciting, but it had to be done.  There are three self serve laundries on the ship.  I went to the sixth floor laundry first, but all the machines were in use.  So I headed to the 7th floor, and found two empty washers.  I figured out how to use all the machines (it was harder than you might imagine!) and did two loads of laundry.  Then it was time for showers and getting ready for brunch at Palo.

We went up to brunch and enjoyed it thoroughly!  Palo is the adult only restaurant located in the aft of the ship.  It has huge floor to ceiling windows so we could watch as we sailed the Inside Passage.  The brunch was amazing.  There was a huge selection of cold appetizers such at cheeses, seafood and salads, plus you could order hot foods like pizzas, breakfast specialties, tilapia, chicken parmesan, and veal.  Then there were desserts like tiramisu and chocolate panna cotta.  We had a server named Mariana from Argentina and she was wonderful.

After brunch, we walked out to see a large pod of Pacific white sided dolphins playing alongside the ship.  Dave estimated that there must have been 150 of them riding the waves.  I saw a mother and baby swimming right next to each other.  We watched them for a while, explored the ship for a little bit and then headed back to the balcony where we enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  Honesty forces me to admit that the scenery looks a lot like the Porcupine Islands up in Bar Harbor.  By that time, Dave was getting sleepy, so he laid down for a nap and I went to the gift shop!  I got a long sleeve tee shirt that I wanted and spotted a charm for my bracelet that Dave is going to get for me.  As I was walking along the port side, a pod of orcas was spotted.  They were too far away to get a good picture of, but at least I can say that I saw them!  I hope to get a closer look at orcas in the next few days.  Then I went back to the room and sat on the balcony for a while.

At about 3:30, Dave got up and we got ready to go to another meet and greet, this time with some Passporters who were on the cruise.  We met Holly and Michelle at the Outlook Cafe and they were both delightful.  While talking, we saw another whale surface, spout and dive showing his/her flukes.  Holly spotted it first.

By that time, it was time to get ready for dinner, so we got dressed and headed down. Tonight was “formal night” but Dave did not was to lug a jacket across country for one meal (and I don’t blame him) so he wore a nice button down shirt and chinos and I wore a nice (but by no means fancy) dress.  At dinner people were wearing everything from gowns and tuxes to what we were wearing, so we never felt underdressed or uncomfortable.  Two of our tablemates did not go to dinner, as they felt uncomfortable with formal night, so it was only 4 of us at our table.  Dave had prosciutto ham and melon, broccoli and cheese soup and then a smoked duck breast salad and I had carmelized scallops and then steak and baked potato.  For dessert, I had the vanilla bean creme brulee and Dave had the raspberry cheesecake.  We both really enjoyed our meals. 

There was a show after dinner, but we did not really come to Alaska for the shows, we came for the scenery.  So we headed back to our room and sat on the balcony again.  When it got too cold, we went inside and watched from the couch until it was too dark to really see anything.  Then we got ready and went to bed.  It had been a wonderful first day!

PS: Dave and I are really enjoying cruising!  We will definitely be cruising again in the future!