July 17, 2016: Seward, Alaska

A new port for us on this transition day, the ships turnaround port as well as a room change for us. What a beautiful day, we are truly lucky, must be about 25 Celsius today in the warm Alaska sun. We attempted the Mt. Marathon hike but we were deterred after about a half hour by the swarming of these little black flies, even worse than being in Australia. We got to about a small waterfall when we just had about enough of these little pests. So a walk through came in a second on our list. Lots of camping and RVing here in Seward, must be great fishing here.

Seward itself was named for President Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Henry Seward, the man who engineered the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. Seward enjoys a history dating back to 1792 when Resurrection Bay was sighted and named by Alexander Baranof, a Russian explorer.

Seward really came together as a town in about 1903 and was laid out once again as a result of the gold rush.

Grilled fish and chips at a local restaurant was our lunch, excellent. We did try to hook up with a local tour company for a shuttle and hike to Exit Glacier but they were full for the rest of the day. This was fine as we plan to do a hike to the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. So we just shuttled back to the ship to enjoy the sun, pools and hot tub before getting ready for dinner. Turnover day always fun to watch as the new people get familiar with not only the ship but their table assignments in the main dining room. The staff here are always so good and so patient.

Lastly for today, we have a change in Cruise Director, Kelsey is gone and we now have Jude. Had a nice chat with her in the Ocean Bay tonight, she will be great. Sea day tomorrow, yes...or shall I say today, won't get a chance to post till then. Hope you enjoy our pics from the day, beautiful moon as well another amazing twilight around the midnight mark.