Alaska Day 6: Victoria

Our final day on the ship was sailing. We sailed all the way south to Victoria, where we had our final stop. The sailing was not totally uneventful. The boys finished their Junior Rangers from Glacier Bay and earned their patches. They played a lot in the kids’ and teens' room. Everyone swam. Mostly, though, we watched for whales as we came through the calm waters of the inside passage.

Having fun at the pool.

Dax is working on how to hold a baby!

Matchy matchy!

 
There were a lot of whales, but we saw them at a distance. We saw dozens of them. A few of them were doing exciting things. One slapped the water repeatedly with his tail. Two more lay on their backs with their pectoral fins straight in the air. Several more jumped all the way out of the water. We stood on the deck and watched for hours. Then we played games together in the crow’s nest.

We spotted lots of new water birds in Alaska.

We couldn't believe how many whales we saw by the cruise ship.

The tails are so fun to see!

This is a pod of three whales right together.

Another tail shot!

We all spotted whales in different places breaching.

It was so cool!

Luckily Mel and Britt got some good close up pictures.

 
Victoria isn’t a very easy stop because the dock is so far from downtown. Most of the family decided not to even get off the boat in Victoria because it would be dark (after 8pm), short (we had to be back on the boat by 11:30), and difficult to get anywhere (it is a thirty-minute walk or $15 shuttle per person downtown). Still, Dad wanted to get off the boat in Canada. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really possible, as it was a long way to Victoria from the shipyard.