Day 7 - Sitka

Arrived at Sitka around 7am. It (like Kodiak) is both the island and the town. 

Relaxing morning...snagged a washing machine at 7:30am, so laundry could wash itself, while we put on the feed bag in the diningroom. No more laundry to do, until we hit the mainland. Sarah also did laundry, after I pulled my stuff out. 

We had an excursion which took us on a walk through a tropical rain forest, through to an area of muskeg. Our guide was very knowledgable. It seems most plants are edible. Not that I would eat them. 

The weather was wonderful! All the locals thanked us for bringing the nice weather. Apparently, rain is more common than warm, sunny days.

Mollusks along the shore

While we were hiking along, we could see a low fog/cloud at the base of the islands across the way. This managed to make its way across the bay in the form of fog. Sunshine/blue skies above, fog a few hundred yards off the ship. 

Fog rolling in

Not sure if we were delayed because of the fog or the lifeboats which were still frolic’ing off the side of the ship.

Regardless, we left...very slowly...after 5pm. Fog horn sounding every two minutes. The echo lasting 15 seconds. 

Day 6 - Icy Strait Point

Icy Strait Point is a purpose built tourist area with room for one ship to be docked. It was built in cooperation with the local Tlingot village (about six miles away). A good way to control the number of visitors per day & those entering the village. Smart. And proceeds are divided amongst the tour operators & villagers.

Sarah was first up (I was allegedly snoring). We had an early start: Our excursion meeting time was 7:10am. 

She ventured up to the Lido to bring back croissants & bacon while I made tea. 

Then down we went to meet up & straight off the ship and into the whale watching boat.

Didn’t take long for the first hump back whale to be spotted. The first sign of whale is the spume, which is mucus mixed with sea water (a snot rocket, we were told). Later we saw a blue whale. I’m using “we” loosely. I didn’t see the first two. It was the next sighting, where I was on the correct side. Between us & the shore was a mother & calf hump back. Pictures gallore. They swung the boat around to give the people on the other side a chance to watch. 

Humpback whales blowing spume

All but three of us watched the “show”. While they were distracted, we watched a bunch of gulls go after a sea lion. I thought they were going after the sea lion to grab whatever fish he caught. It is possible they were going after him because he snatched up a family member. 

Sealion under seige

On the way back to the ship, we saw about 4 sea lions perched on a buoy. Beyond them, the ship. Beyond...sea & mountains.

Back to the ship to sit on the balcony...in the sun. Lunch in the pub. Back on the balcony. Sarah in shorts. 

Since we’ve been back, two bald eagles have been resting on the top of piers at the end of the dock. Beyond that...whale.

While we were on the balcony, we watched people zip lining down the mountain. Then we watch a pod of about six hump back whales “bubble net” fishing. They swim underwater in a circle, then come up through the middle to catch the small fish trapped in the centre. This kept us entertained until we sailed away at 5:30pm.

Another perfect day.

Tomorrow, Sitka and a rain forest hike.

Day 5 - sail by Hubbard Glacier

We had a quick walk around Skagway, once we were back & off the ferry. Not a furkini in sight...thank goodness!

Brilliantly sunny & warm. 

Back to the ship & on the balcony to warm up. And watch all the helicopters take off and land. Actually, Sarah was in charge of that. I was busy updating the blog. We all have our responsibilities.

We shoved off a little after 5:30pm & turned around...therefore, losing our sunny balcony. But what we lost in warmth, we gained in scenery. Sun drenched mountains, hills, valleys & waterfalls. Fair exchange.

Our diningroom faces the same (port side) direction as the cabin, so we continued to enjoy the scenery until after sunset.

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When Gina & I did the kayaking & “viewing” of the glacier near Juneau, it set up my expectations for the viewing of the Hubbard Glacier. That is, we’d get within viewing distance...maybe 1 or 2 miles & continue on our way.

Nope. The glacier is down a long channel/fjord. Before this, there are the high mountains. So we snaked our way around the mountains and then we caught our first glimpse of the glacier. We kept on going. Then we started seeing bits of bergs (berg bits or berglets...no kidding!). 

I should mention, Sarah & I were by this time at the top of the ship. Securing our positions. I kept darting from side to side to get pictures of the mountains, glaciers and the every larger bits now sizable chunks, of ice.

And still we kept getting closer. Ahead I saw a solid patch of berglets & said to Sarah...okay, she’ll turn around now. Nope. We slowed right down, but kept on.

The berglets were becoming bergs & still we pressed on. The glacier getting larger & larger. Now we started estimating its height above the water. Calculating the height of the ship (based on the number of decks above the water line (14, we thought), height of deck (10’?). We came up with a round number of 150’. We think the glacier wall was about 200’ above the water. 

All this time, as we were silently approaching the glacier, we were the only ship around. We had the place to ourselves. 

Hubbard Glacier

Still we continued on. Until we rounded the last point. THERE was the glacier. The entire wall. On display. One estimate, put us within 200 yards/metres from the glacier. It was absolutely awe inspiring. We had the perfect conditions of clear weather, calm water and only little bergs and berglets.

Diningroom with a view (photo credit: Sarah Nadherny)

Our captain announced earlier in the crew areas that the crew should get out on deck to see the glacier. It was a wonderful thing for her to do & great to see them all availing themselves of the opportunity. For all of our voyage, the crew has been as excited as the passengers. We helped the sommeliers of our diningroom take selfies...with the Hubbard Glacier over their shoulders. 

In my round the world trip in 2014, never were the crew given the opportunity to get out and mingle with the passengers to sight see. That one gesture has likely inspired life long loyalty from her crew. The only reason I found out about it, was by chatting with a crew member I hadn’t seen before.

The ship stayed parallel with the glacier for what seemed like ages, before we slowly started to turn on a dime and moved on. There in the distance was another ship (Radiance of the Seas) at the mouth of the fjord, slowly coming in. We were looking forward to seeing that ship against the mountains and glacier to get a sense of perspective. 

We followed the coast south, staying with the mountains. Everytime we thought we’d seen the tallest mountain...there was one in the distance which was of even greater height.

Another amazing day in the books...capped off with a curry dinner!

Day 4 - Skagway

Panorama view - leaving Juneau

The sail out from Juneau, while in the dark...was unexpectedly lovely. Perfectly calm water with the hills and town lights reflecting. Wonderful. We were the last ship out.

Our arrival at Skagway was early...around six. Oddly, we passed the Norwegian Jewel on her way out. She was with us at Juneau, yesterday. Why would she leave so early? Or was she too early? 

As we were waiting to board the ferry for our excursion, we asked our local guide about the cruise ship. Apparently, it couldn’t dock because a small fuel tanker was coming in & it uses the dock set aside for that cruise ship. 

Our ferry took us 45 minutes to Haines. A naturalist filled us in on the natural history of the area. Very interesting. When we arrived, we transferred to a green painted “cheese wagon” (school bus) for our trip up river. Very few cars, but lots of hills, mountains & wilderness. We turned off the main road to a small, winding single lane side road through the woods and out to the side of a river. Where two rafts awaited us. We were ten strong, plus two guides.

We traded shoes for rubber boots. Added life jackets. Then some instructions:

Don’t fall out of the boat.

If you are told to duck...DUCK, as there are overhanging trees and branches. 

If we get hung up on a shallow patch of gravel, you will be asked to bounce to get us going again.

Chilquit

There were five of us plus guide/rower per raft. The weather looked ominous, but no rain. Cool and breezy. The river we were on was the Chilquit, which is fed by glacier & snow melt. The part we were rafting on (for over 1.5 hours) is in an Eagle preserve. 

On any trip such as this, there are no guarantees as to whether or not you’ll see anything interesting. 

We made two stops along the way: One such that our guides could walk ahead along the shore to determine the best route to take, as the river changes daily; second, for all of us to get out and wander along a small islet of silt, sand & stone. We had a bald eagle follow us along the way, keeping to the tree tops. There were bear tracks in the sand. And moose tracks (no, not the Canadian ice cream flavour). There was an otter as well. 

It was a wonderful trip! At the end, we met our bus driver - without our bus. We now had an executive van. Our bus wouldn’t start. But more importantly, hot beverages & sandwiches. 

The mountains, trees, animals, prints & broody skies. Brilliant.

Day 3 - Juneau

We were to take a side trip into Tracy Arm to see a glacier. However the weather & amount of icebergs prevented that. Amazing to see icebergs in the flesh! Such beauty. And to think we only see the 10% above the water.

Arrived in Juneau early.

Walked the town and nothing much more.

Well...there were the jewellery stores, furkinis and cashmere sweaters on sale...who could resist? Not me!

There were three other ships in port. How our captain managed to fit us into our spot, I have no idea!

Tomorrow, we are rafting & visiting an eagle wilderness preserve. Or at least I think that’s what we are doing. We leave a little after 8am and return after 3pm. WHAT ABOUT LUNCH???? We could starve to death! We have warned our dinner partners they may not recognize us at dinner. Shadows of our former selves & all that.

Shoved off at 9:30pm. Cloudy/rainy all day. No sunset to see us off.

Day 2 - at sea

I had asked Edgar, the day before we arrived in Vancouver if Sarah would be getting a bottle of champagne. Not to worry. He would take care of it.

So the tradition starting back on the QE2, through the world cruise, med cruise, and in Tokyo...we sat on the balcony with champagne and hors d’ouevres for our sail away.

Yes. All about the food & drink.

We had a pleasant evening. Met our new table neighbours. The first “couple” we met, weren’t at all a “couple”. Just friends who have known each other for 60 years & like to cruise together. We were confused at first when she said she had a flat in London & he lived in the NW of the city. 

We thought about going to the theatre - there was a Barbra Striesand singer...but didn’t make it.

We DID manage to stir ourselves to listen to our guest lecturer, Ann Daniels. She has been on a number of expeditions on the Arctic Sea - which refers to the polar ice. Interesting how she sort of fell into it. Not something I’d want to do once or even for a few days.

A misty start to the day. Winds increased to about 25 knots...finally, some swells! The  noon update included the origins of the term “sky scraper”. It came from the top sails used in light winds. There were also “moon rakers” & “star scrapers”. On land, the first use of a sky scraper to refer to a building was in 1880. 

Also in the Captain’s message, she advised we may not be able to have a scenic passage to/in Tracy Arm tomorrow morning, because of weather and...ice? 

First ice sighting

Winds have steadily increased & are now at 37 knots, but the sun is shining & our balcony is in the sun AND in the lee of the wind. Only 50F but feels wonderful! Sarah spotted a full rainbow around the sun...kinda neat.

Sun encircled with a rainbow

Perhaps tomorrow we’ll see whales & no ice.

Day 19 - Vancouver: End of Leg 3, Beginning of Leg 4 - Day 1

One thing Gina & I forgot to do until nearly the end of the trip was be clear as to which towels we were using. Turns out, we’d been using the same bath towel. Good thing we are family.

We set the alarm for 6:45am, such that we’d be able to watch our arrival. Gina was already up when I awoke at 6:30. We were docked by 6am. So disappointing.

Oh, well. 

We got ourselves ready & shifted ourselves out of our room. Gina went down stairs to await her disembarkation. I went to the top deck to see if I could figure out which hotel room Sarah was in - no idea.

Went down below to join Gina. Off the ship by 8:30am. In the hotel diningroom fairly quickly after handing in our immigration forms and leaving Gina’s VERY LARGE SUITCASE with the bell hop of the hotel. Also enquired about how Sarah’s cases were to make it aboard. 

Breakfast (still seems to be all about food), then up to see Sarah’s room. Enormous would be too small a word to describe her hotel room! 

Me, Sarah, Gina (photo credit: Gina Gooderham)

We parcelled Gina into a taxi for her flight home. Herein ends Leg 3.

Sarah & I wandered for a bit along the sea wall, then made our way to the ship. Complete balls up on the shore side. But I will move on from that. Made it aboard. Quick visit to the cabin & balcony & then to lunch.

Where we started with the last two glasses of pink champagne from a bottle Gina & I started a couple of days ago.

Photo credit: Sarah Nadherny

Herein begins Leg 4.

PS - in case you are wondering...we have already discussed bath towels - mine are the top rung, Sarah’s are the bottom rung.

Sarah with our traditional start