Climbing in College Fjord

The last full day of our cruise came faster than I thought it would. To my surprise, the three things I was most worried about didn't prove to be much of a problem:  

1. With the many stops and hours off the ship, I didn't feel like a caged rat. Though, without a doubt, two full days at sea was probably my limit. 

2. I didn't get sick from someone's rogue Noravirus/the ship's entire plumbing system didn't fail due to overuse/I didn't spend any significant amount of time in our room's teeny tiny bathroom. 

3. Rough seas did not overpower my preventative sea sickness patch. We had two instances of very small waves (extremely small per what we heard from more veteran Caribbean cruisers) that were plenty enough for me and required me to move to the center of the ship until we got in smoother water, but that was it. 

As such, there was some sadness as we powered into College Fjord. 

My knees, also sad in a different way, started to protest all the running. So I opted for a 45-minute elliptical session, climbing up and up and up in the early morning. After a quick shower, breakfast and some beginning packing, I ascended to the open air decks with Jim to see what Mother Nature had in store. 

Simply put: College Fjord is breathtaking. 

Imagine a long and narrow inlet, or bay, with cliffs and valleys on each side. The cliffs are sheer rock faces that jut straight up, right out of shoreline. In each of the valleys between mountains/cliffs, there's a glacier, trying to push into the water. Some are big, some medium-sized, some small. 

More beautiful than Glacier Bay, IMHO.

Perhaps the most exciting and important part of the day was this: 

THE SUN WAS SHINING -- ALL DAY!!!!! Happy dance now!  

All of the glaciers are named after Ivy League universities, men's schools on one side and women's schools on the other. (OK, the "men's schools" are no longer just for men, but the whole thing was discovered in 1899 when they were. And the smart asses leading the expedition purposely left Princeton off the list, which I find hilarious. Seems these gents had an ax to grind and a sense of humor. My kind of peeps.)

At the very end, the curve of the long, narrow "U" shape if you will, sit two of the most spectacular glaciers, Harvard and Yale:  

The sky was enormous. The reflections were cool. My less-than-
stellar photography skills can't do them justice. 

Hah-vaaaaahd. 

And, Yale. 

The water here was a bazillion feet deep. And just as blue as blue could be:

I still don't understand this. 

The whole ship just looked happier and more cheerful, right?

Rejoice! Blue sky, blue water, blue pools ... 

A blue wake leaving Prince William Sound ... 

And two people who are smiling, standing in front of blue
glass and just a little blue themselves to have this leg of their
Alaskan adventure almost over. 

We spent the last evening walking around the ship and packing. Our suitcases had to be outside of our room by 10 p.m., as we were docking early in the morning in Whittier. From there, we'd get on a train for a four-hour ride to a lodge near Talkeetna and Mt. McKinley, the tallest peak in North America. Water adventure over. Land adventure ahead!

Exercise: 45 minutes on an elliptical machine.
Food Splurge: I can't remember.
Hair Day Rating (1=worst, 10=best): One of the best days of the trip! A solid 8.

For a better image of what College Fjord looks like from the air, go here: Wikipedia