Day 6:
We slept until 9:00am the next day as I was a bit sore from kayaking. We did some more exploring on the ship and prepared for the Hubbard Glacier sighting. The weather was glorious. It was bright, sunny and absolutely clear. We were told that the crew only sees weather like this a couple times a season. Based on our experience so far, we found that most of the activities on the ship start a little late. For example, the doors for dinner (we had the main seating) never opened until 6:05pm so there was no advantage to showing up early or even on time. Unfortunalty, the ice carving demonstration was the one activity that did start on time. We arrived about 5 minutes late to find that it was already done. Apparently it only takes 5 minutes to turn a block of ice into the head of a horse. I took a few pictures of the finished product and proceeded to walk around the 11th deck to enjoy the scenery. Everyone started to pick out their spots at around 1:00pm and it got quite crowded. The front of the ship on the 12th and 13th decks were the most crowded. I didn’t like the views from there because there was glass in the way on the 12th deck and on the 13th deck was to far away unless you had a high powered lens. For this reason I parked myself in the middle of the ship on the right side. Luckily, this was the side that faced the glacier first. The Celebrity staff started selling hot chocolate in a souvenir cups for $8.95. My wife eventually gave in, as it was cold and windy. When we arrived in the bay, the ship pulled in pretty close the Hubbard Glacier and the naturalist began to tell us some facts about the glacier. She also pointed out where she thought some calving events would happen and that they should happen while we were there. We were not disappointed. We probably saw 8-10 significant calving events and 2 that were particularly huge. I had a perfect vantage point for one of them and was able to capture spectacular pictures of the event as it progressed. When the ship started to turn to the other side I headed down from the 11th deck to the 8th floor where my wife’s parents had a balcony. It was nice to hang out there as there were no crowds and we were still able to hear the naturalist on the television. The only problem was the people smoking a couple balconies over. When the ship started to turn again I headed down to the 4th deck. One of the crew members recommended viewing from down there and I believe it was much better than the viewing from the 11th deck. From the 4th deck, the glacier is closest to eye level which gives a better perspective of the size of the glacier. The 4th deck wasn’t very crowded which allowed for great viewing. It was on the 4th deck that I was able to get my great photographs of the calving. Also, when the ship turned again, it was easy to walk across to the other side of the ship (which wasn’t crowded) and continue to get a great view of the glacier. The glacier really does have blue ice which really makes it pretty. I forgot to mention that on the 11th deck you’ll find the ever present Celebrity photographers there to take your picture. Now about the “Digital Processing” that I referred to earlier. I noticed that when the pictures were developed and displayed in the gallery on the 4th floor, the blues were way overdone. I think they increase the blues on all the pictures to make the pictures more vivid and striking. It’s a cheap trick if you ask me and the pictures looked fake when compared to the real thing. Anyway, the ship did make one more turn before leaving so I was able to walk across the ship one last time for my final viewing before the ship began to pull away from the Hubbard Glacier. I then went up to the 11th deck which was empty because at the ship was leaving a took more scenic pictures. There is another glacier to the left (when facing the Hubbard Glacier) that has black stripes. I also saw a lot of seals sun bathing on the ice that had broken off the glacier. This was quite a memorable day and an experience I will never forget. I think I had a rack of lamb for dinner that night. It was delicious. I miss all the good food.