So Long, Sitka!

Today was the last of our days in Alaska...boo! We visited Sitka, where we enjoyed fantastic weather and wildlife spottings. I have to elaborate on the weather a bit, as everyone had been predicting cold, rainy, snowy times for s. Other than one day in Icy Strait, we have been treated to sunshine and mild temperatures. Today's prediction was for 90% chance of rain, and we beat the odds and had a perfect day - no jacket required.

For our last day we choose a Fortress of the Bear and Sea Otter excursion. We were concerned it may be lame, but it turned out to be one of the best excursions we've had. The Fortress of the Bear is actually a start-up sanctuary, where they are housing motherless cubs until they are old enough to either be released to the wild or turned over to a zoo. They only had 2 cubs out for viewing today, and oh, how cute they were! They were big enough to still eat you, but not full sizers - I think they will stay until they are 2. They have just picked up three other new cubs, but they are being treated for diseases and worms and whatnot, and will be released into their new sanctuary in two weeks or so. They'll be in a separate house since they don't want them to get roughhoused by the older ones. So that was fun.

Then we went to the sea otter excursion part, which was a real treat. We saw so much stuff! More whales, which were unexpected, including both Humpback and Gray, which is very rare in these parts. We saw more bald eagles than we could count, sea otters and seals and all sorts of stuff.

After our trip we ate locally again, dining on incredible halibut and fresh Alaskan King Crabs once again. My dining expectations have all been met on this trip, so much fresh seafood!! We left a huge tip (we always do when traveling), and the waiters were so excited they shook our hands and wished us well, and then talked football with Kenny.

We got back to the ship in the nick of time, literally. We thought our last tender back to the boat was 3 or 3:30, and it was actually 2:30, so while we thought we were early, we just made it at 2:30! After our early morning (tour was at 7:30 a.m.), fresh air and full bellies, we promptly headed to our stateroom and took a 2 1/2 hr. nap. We just got out of the show, where we were entertained by a great impressionist who sang and whatnot, it was a good time. Now, listening to live music in the cybercafe, not a bad day in the life of me at all.

Tomorrow, at sea day. I have a date with a book, will make my way to the gym so I can justify dragging my workout clothes all the way to Alaska and generally just enjoy rolling around on vacation.

Next stop, Victoria, British Columbia. I may be touring that little city by myself, Kenny wants to stay on board and watch football. Hey, it's his vacation too, and if he doesn't want to have high tea and visit gardens, that's his vacation choice. But we'll see what shakes out.

Now, off to explore around. It's 8:30 p.m. ship time, still time for much more fun things to do!