For me this was the best land experience of this cruise.  I had been to Alaska once before, but with our children when they were younger, so I opted for more family friendly experiences.  I love nature and since then felt that I had been missing out on something important.  While some others saw a couple of breaching whales for a few moments, I truly felt fulfilled spending hours surrounded by deep greens, running water and moss-covered trees.  (And with Silversea charging a mere $89 for the experience it truly was a great bargain.)

After returning to the pier we walked through the charming town of Sitka – which is about a 30 minute stroll if you continue on to the excellent park at its far end – where we had a very nice casual lunch at Westmark consisting of an excellent fresh clam chowder and a grilled halibut sandwich.  A bit of art gallery wandering and then it was back to the pier.

Curiously, with the mist and rain starting, Silversea did not have Welcome tent or any hot beverages and it was only running one tender, so we had about a 30 minute wait taking cover under the bridge next to the pier.  Not the end of the world, but not expected and not a luxury experience.

Back on board I tried to get some work done, but the internet is terribly slow and inconsistent.  I am sure this is, in large part, due to the latitude and the mountains.  Silversea does not offer a full cruise internet package, but rather only three choices:  100 minutes for $45, 250 minutes for $85 and 1,000 minutes for $250.  Figuring I would use about 250 minutes I bought that…and then a $45 package and then another $45 package, but at about 50% efficiency it does come out to be quite pricey.

Although feeling guilty, we dined in Le Champagne for a second time and again enjoyed the experience.  This time I had the King Scallops and the Dover Sole, both of which were very good.  The wait staff, who are Romanian, were polished and very friendly. My dessert, however, was the only disappointment as the crepe Suzette was soggy and without great flavor.

As our last day is a Sea Day I thought I might just sleep in…until I realized we would be visiting the Hubbard Glacier between 6:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.  Again, being lucky on this trip, we arrived with some rain and low clouds/mist…and then it cleared. While there was a good bit of ice, Captain Alessandro Zanello – who is friendly and charming, guided the Silver Shadow within 3 miles of the glacier.