This spring Iris and I went on our first cruise, a 7 day Alaskan Adventure on the Celebrity Millennium. Over all it was just about a perfect trip and it has certainly put the cruising bug into us. Amazingly it was my first real vacation.
The itinerary included a 4 hour stop at the Hubbard Glacier which is the stop I brought along my contour helmet camera for. Bringing a helmet camera for something like a glacier seemed a little odd to the people I mentioned it to. It’s a camera for action shots doing jumps and crashing into trees, not a Glacier. Really, what can have less action going on than a giant ice sheet dropping into the ocean?
My plan was pretty simple. I knew that we were going to have a balcony and balconies typically come with rails (good in this case, long drop to the ocean otherwise). One of the mounts I have lets me strap my contour to basically anything, like a rail. Maybe you see my thought process now. Knowing that this was a 4 hour stop meant I had to do a quick work around with an external battery to get the runtime needed. A few tests at home and I knew I was ready.
On May 21st we arrived at the Yakutat Bay. Iris and I found a nice spot to camp out on the top deck as the ship slowly cruised towards the glacier. The view was staggering, seriously, words are hard to find to describe just how amazing this was. We came within 1.6km (1 mile) from the glacier face and the ship came to a stop. This was when I became worried. I was up on deck snapping photo after photo, knowing that 5 decks below me on the starboard side of the ship was my helmet camera busy recording the entire thing.
My worry was this: Which way would the ship turn?
If we turned to the right I would miss recording the entire thing. All the prep work and testing time would be for nothing. Go left and I would have something. I remember tense moments, looking forward and aft, trying to gauge which way the ship would go.
A deep hum as the thrusters under the ship kicked in, a small shudder as it responded. We turned left. I was happy, and I shot the below video. Enjoy.
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