Day 5 we were on our way back South from Skagway. The next stop is Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier. The nice thing about cruising is the ship sails while guests are dining, watching shows, or sleeping. We Enjoyed our day at Skagway and the Foreigner concert on the ship. Dinner was waiting on us at the “American Icon Grill”. After that, we late night excitement seekers went to bed around 9:00 p.m. Remember, the sun doesn’t completely set in Alaska.

Endicott Arm fjord is located approximately 50 miles southeast of Juneau. Breathtaking Endicott Arm extends over 30 miles long, with nearly one-fifth of its area covered in ice.

Over 600 feet tall and around one mile broad, Dawes Glacier is a mighty remnant of an even bigger ice block that forged Endicott Arm Fjord thousands of years ago. Dawes Glacier covers 250 feet of ice underneath the surface of the glacier.

The Captain sailed into the fjord very slowly and watched for floating ice, some of which were as big as a house. The ship was only able to get about 1/2 mile from the actual glacier. One of the more fascinating moves of the ship was to rotate the front point of the ship from “12 o’clock” position pointing directly at the glacier. Then turn it to the “9 o’clock”, then around to “3 o’clock” so that everyone had an equal opportunity to get some photos, and different views while the sun moved over the horizon.

You will also see a small “tender” boat taking passengers who paid extra for an up close and personal visit to the glacier. We learned that they were allowed to get off the “tender” and walk on the glacier. That would have been fun.

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