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As wonderstruck as I was being surrounded by Alaska’s natural beauty, there is more to its southeast coast.
There are mountain goats climbing high on craggy mountains,
sea otters floating on the water, bears and moose coming out of the woods, birds of all kinds fluttering about.
There are harbor seals floating on beds of glacier ice
and sea lions soaking up the sun.
Eagles soar over the water,
their sharp eyes looking for a meal to snare.
Once I spotted an eagle’s nest and only after looking at my photos did I see a white head sticking out of the twigs.
Perhaps most exciting of all are the whales that make way to Alaska’s waters to feed. Every time a blow was spotted, everyone on the boat ran forward or back to get a view.
More often than not all we saw was the whale’s back,
but sometimes it came out of the water, mouth open wide.
Other times its tail came up and we learned that was followed by a big splash fluke.
There is so much to tell about the wonders of Alaska, and I hope you’ve gotten some insight from what I have shared over the last several days. One trip is not enough to take it all in, but one is better than none. Oh, should you decide to visit, I highly recommend a small boat cruise as the smaller boats have much more flexibility than the big ships. We chose Alaskan Dream Cruises and couldn’t have been more pleased.
i so appreciate your visit and the comments you leave behind
Alaska abounds with breathtaking natural beauty.
Snow capped mountains and islands covered with hemlock, spruce and cedar are enough to satiate the senses, but there’s more.
Even the sunsets are wondrous on drizzle free days.
We were fortunate to witness two technicolor skies, one intense and dramatic.
The other was softer and cast its pastel glow over mountains and water.
When I see sights like this
and this, it renews my faith in a power greater than man and fills my heart with gratitude.
Whatever is seen at sea level is only a portion of the glacier which is likely to have originated some distance away and higher on the mountain. 
The visible portion may not look large from a distance, but do not be deceived. It is likely to be hundreds of feet tall and more than a half mile wide.
Much of a glacier appears to be some shade of icy blue which I learned is a function of density and the way light is reflected. 
The more color the denser the ice meaning that it contains very little air. 
Sometimes a glacier has dirty looking areas resulting from mudslides that leave behind dirt that gets locked in the ice.
On occasion there is a loud crack followed by a chunk of ice breaking off and becoming an iceberg only 10% of which is visible above the water. These lovely pieces of floating ice can be very dangerous as the Titanic sadly experienced.
Some things you’ve thought about doing for a long time aren’t always what you’d hoped they’d be, but that isn’t what we found to be true of an Alaskan cruise. Our seven days on Admiralty Dream exceeded expectations and took us to places full of wonder.
As with other places we would visit, much of Sitka’s economy depends on fishing for halibut, salmon and rockfish.
The days of wonder began when Admiralty Dream left the dock at Sitka and headed to open water and sights startlingly beautiful. 
As lovely as snow capped mountains were clouds hanging low splitting the mountains in half.
Though it doesn’t seem so, most of the mountains are higher than 5,000 feet which explains the snow. At that height, precipitation is snow and ice whereas at lower levels it becomes rain.
Because of those rocky surfaces rain cannot be absorbed so it is not unusual to see water cascading down the mountain creating some pretty impressive waterfalls. Should there be a few days without rain, rare I’m told, the waterfalls disappear.
Along the coast we stopped in places where we were exposed to new opportunity for discovery whether it be beachcombing
or learning about the Tlingit culture that has existed in southeast Alaska for hundreds of years. 
Theirs is a complex, socially organized matrilineal society whose stories and tradition are communicated in many ways. Tlingit stories that have been passed down through generations enhance knowledge of the physical changes that have occurred in southeast Alaska over the years.
It is impossible to capture the experience of seven days in one post, so you will have to come back for more about the days of wonder.