Today started off brilliantly because I could have a lie in and breakfast was included in our hotel so it was a win win! Add to this the fact that we then saw so much on our cruise it made the day unforgettable.

So after breakfast we headed out to the parking lot to prepare our lunch by the trailer (now I've written this it sounds a little odd but each morning we prepare our lunch for the day before we leave and today it just so happens we did this in the parking lot). So after making our lunches I went back to the hotel room to pack my warm clothes ready for our 6 hour wildlife cruise. I was a little worried that after spending so long on the boat yesterday today might be a bit much and too long but I was so wrong.

The cruise started at 11am and from the start we had the most amazing views with Mountains either side of us. Almost as soon as we got moving in the open wTer I spotted a seal, little did I know what was to come. We stopped initially to look at a bald eagle sitting in a tree and then to look at the fishing boats and the waterfalls.

After this we then had some lunch. Just as we sat down to have our lunch (clam chowder - they provided lunch it turns out so I just had 2 lunches not to waste the one I made - oops!) we saw a sea otter and a couple of seals sitting on a buoy. We were a little disappointed that they didn't stop but realised later why this was the case.

After lunch they suggested we were going to go and find some wildlife so we made our way back up to the deck to see what we could see. After a little while we stopped to see some puffins swimming in the water. Then we thought we saw a seal by the water but when we looked more closely we realised it was in fact lots of sea lions bathing along the coastline. Literally everywhere you looked you saw a sea lion or two or three. They were in the water, on rocks, on the shore and there were hundreds of them all different colours and sizes. So we stood and admired these for a while before moving on.

From here we made our way through the icebergs (on some occasions you questioned how the boat was going to make it through as we were surrounded by ice! Then the captain said that he had spotted some sea otters on the ice and That the young might swim away as we got close. They did in fact do this but we soon realised that sea otters love sitting on ice bergs and by the end of the day I think we had seen over 200 sea otters and just to think I got so excited about see Ollie the sea otter in Victoria!!

So after our first sea otter siting we saw some more seabirds including pigeon guillemot (they have bright red feet), murre and marbled murrelet, we also saw a little fish swimming around the surface of the water looking like it was gasping for air.

As we made our way through the icebergs and sea otters we saw an iceberg that had flipped over and could see what they really meant by the fact that you only really see 10% of the actual iceberg.

After being teased by the Glacier we finally reached it and were able to get really close (I think we were only half a mile or so away). It was amazing seeing where the Glacier came into the water and the sun came out too so we were really lucky to see it in such good light. As we were watching the Glacier the captain told us about how it sometimes calves and sheds ice and you'll never guess what happened. A couple of minutes after this the Glacier started calving. Slowly at first loosing a few chunks of ice but then the real drama started with massive chunks of ice calving away from the side. At one point it looked like the whole of the side of the Glacier was collapsing. So much so that the ice seared off pummeted into the water and then seconds later shoot right back up. It was like watching Planet Earth Live! It was a totally amazing experience and what was quite surreal is that you saw it happening, saw the ice fall into the water causing a big splash and then you heard it, it sounded like a gun had been fired.

So after all this excitement we rewarded ourselves with a hot drink (well mine was technically warm by this point as I had abandoned it to watch the calving) before we ventured back upstairs to see what else we could see.

From here we saw even more sea otters and then we saw a sea lion which we thought might have been something a little more exciting. We then sailed past the site of the massive oil spillage and made our way towards a canal when we saw some fins in front of us. It was some Dall's porpoise. The captain was trying to entice them to play (they like to swim by the fin of the boat) but hey didn't seem interested until we went to turn around and then one came to play briefly. So we headed in further to see if we could find more and we decided there was no way we were moving form our front row view and it was worth it because a few minutes later some more Dall's porpoise came to play and stayed for around 5 minutes. It was brilliant and I even managed to film them on my phone they were that close (my second attempt was much better as I actually remembered to hit record!!). So we watched the porpoises and then made our way between some Islands in the hope to see a bear or something similar but all we spotted was a raven eating some meat/fish.

From here we had to start our journey back to the Harbour as we were running out of time so we ventured inside and watched from there for the rest of the journey.

When we got back to land we were still smiling and couldn't quite believe the number of animals we had actually seen.

On the way back to the hotel we took an extended journey home via a gift shop, the visitor centre and the river just in case a bear might be hanging around - he wasn't!

When we got back to the hot I warmed up with a shower and then met the rest of the group for a lovely dinner which was filled with laughter and some rather odd German proverbs. We then finished the day with ice cream as we walked back to the hotel and to bed ready for our day of fun tomorrow!