The day dawned rather cloudy, but at least it wasn't raining. The temperature had dropped noticeably and we could see small rivulets of ice descending valleys in the higher peaks.
After breakfast we made our way to the theatre for the "Ocean's Ahead: Secrets of Ship's Navigation" - a presentation by the Chief Navigation and Environmental Officers - which was very interesting.
It seems the company adheres to a strict environmental policy, tighter than required by law and it was good to learn that a huge amount of recycling takes place from waste products. For instance, there is crushing equipment for glass, aluminium and tin on board ship and staff members sort everything. Once the products are taken ashore at the end of the cruise, all proceeds from the recyclable materials are returned to employees so there is an incentive to recycle as much as possible.
I spent much of the morning up on deck thirteen on whale watch, and saw some spectacular scenery as well. There were numerous sightings, but most of the camera clicks were just too late!
Mid afternoon we dropped anchor at Icy Strait Point and waited to be tendered ashore. We rather showed our cruising inexperience here. We had imagined that, since we had already purchased a shore excursion, our "tender" ticket would be included in this. Not so. Although it doesn't cost anything, you have to pick up a ticket in the hours before going ashore. By the time we realised this, we were in block 23 and had to wait for a couple of hours before disembarking.
After breakfast we made our way to the theatre for the "Ocean's Ahead: Secrets of Ship's Navigation" - a presentation by the Chief Navigation and Environmental Officers - which was very interesting.
It seems the company adheres to a strict environmental policy, tighter than required by law and it was good to learn that a huge amount of recycling takes place from waste products. For instance, there is crushing equipment for glass, aluminium and tin on board ship and staff members sort everything. Once the products are taken ashore at the end of the cruise, all proceeds from the recyclable materials are returned to employees so there is an incentive to recycle as much as possible.
I spent much of the morning up on deck thirteen on whale watch, and saw some spectacular scenery as well. There were numerous sightings, but most of the camera clicks were just too late!
Mid afternoon we dropped anchor at Icy Strait Point and waited to be tendered ashore. We rather showed our cruising inexperience here. We had imagined that, since we had already purchased a shore excursion, our "tender" ticket would be included in this. Not so. Although it doesn't cost anything, you have to pick up a ticket in the hours before going ashore. By the time we realised this, we were in block 23 and had to wait for a couple of hours before disembarking.
The trip to Hoonah on Chichahof Island was well worth it though. We took what was labelled as a tram ride round part of the island, although it was more like a slow open single decker bus with two carriages behind.
The driver, who also spoke over a loudspeaker, was excellent and gave us information about the flora, fauna, weather, population, island, town, services etc. For instance, we heard that the sea otter wraps her babies in kelp seaweed in order to keep them warm and also so they don't stray while she goes for food; some of the many berries (of which he listed about ten) are used medicinally and the folded rocks show how tectonically active the area has been (and still is).
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