September 10, 2004

September 10, 2004

This morning we flew to Anchorage, Alaska to begin a 7-day Alaska cruise with Royal Caribbean. I have heard nothing but good things from everybody who has ever sailed the Inside Passage. Once in Anchorage, we join up with a few other passengers and board a transfer bus headed to Seward. Along the way we get a nice narration by the bus driver. Our route follows a long narrow finger off Cook Inlet called Turnagain Arm. The tide comes in and out so fast and strong that people can supposedly surf the tidal bore.

Once in Seward we board our cruise ship and find our cabin. We don’t set sail till later this evening so we have a few hours to explore. The area around Seward is pretty rugged. Winter comes early to this area as the mountains already have patches of snow. We walk along the coast and see a line of people fishing in the surf. Strange, they aren’t using bait, just a very large treble hook. The salmon are returning to spawn and the fishermen are trying to snag them by pulling the hook quickly thru the water. I don’t see anybody pull one in but they all have a few large salmon at their feet. RV’ing must be very popular among the fisherman as we see a bunch of motorhomes parked along the beach.

September 11, 2004

September 11, 2004

Today is a cruising day. We spend the whole day at sea traveling from Seward 400 miles east across the Bay of Alaska. The distant shore to our left is a continuous line of tall mountains. This area is pretty inaccessible except by sea.

After lunch we sail into Yakatut Bay to observe Hubbard Glacier. Hubbard is in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and at 76 miles is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska. As we sail toward Hubbard at the end of the bay we pass several small glaciers to our north. We finish right in front of Hubbard. It is a massive wall, seven miles wide, 400 feet high, dwarfing the cruise ships anchored here. Hubbard, nicknamed the Galloping Glacier, is the fastest moving on the continent. We spend the next couple of hours watching the continual calving of icebergs. With a thunderous crack, a large chunk of ice cleaves off exposing ice with a beautiful intense shade of blue. A glacier is a frozen river of ice that slowly creeps down out of the mountains. The pieces of ice we see breaking off are supposed to be 400 years old, having begun their life as a snowflake at the mountain top that many years ago. Despite global warming, Hubbard is actually getting longer.

While at Hubbard, we get a chance to also watch the ship’s rescue squad practice in the water. They are dressed in survival suits and seem to be having fun wallowing in the icy sea. But not everyone is enamored with the glacier. A bunch of kids play in the deck pool the entire time oblivious to the spectacle.

September 12, 2004

September 12, 2004

We wake up this morning and find our selves docked in Juneau. It is a gloomy rainy day, but probably typical for this area. Juneau is a small city on the east side of a channel spread out along the base of a mountain range. It is very isolated, being the only US capital that you can only reach by ship or plane.

We disembark and take a public bus thirteen miles to Mendenhall glacier. Mendenhall is a small glacier that flows fourteen miles out of the huge Juneau ice field. Here at the glacier terminus, it melts forming a lake that flows out into the channel. After a quick look thru the Visitor Center we hike down to the lakefront for a closer view. Needing some exercise, we decide to hike the 3.5-mile East Glacier Loop trail. The trail begins with a sign warning of bears. Apparently they have been active, feeding on spawning salmon along some of the lower trails. This trail goes up a pine-forested hill to an overlook of a waterfall to the right of the glacier. The return trail follows a wooden walkway back down the hill. During the entire trek Aimee is talking very loud and making noise, hoping that will warn off bears. Darn! I am never going to see a bear in the wild with her along.

Back near the ship, we stop to do some shopping. Since this is the last cruise of the season, the stores are anxious to reduce their inventory and prices have been slashed. We get some really good buys on ball caps, t-shirts, and gloves.

September 13, 2004

September 13, 2004

Last night we set sail again and we awaken to our ship cruising north down a long inlet docking in Skagway. Skagway was a major gateway for the Yukon gold rush. In 1898, 100,000 people flooded this town, in preparation for their 600-mile journey inland. The Canadians required everyone to bring a year’s food supply with them. It took dozens of brutal trips to carry this ton of goods up the steep, snowy, and cold White Pass trail to the top of the mountain. There gold rushers had to build a raft to carry them down the treacherous Yukon River to Dawson City deep in the Yukon Territory.

After breakfast we disembark and walk into Skagway and find the Visitor Center. Most of Skagway is now part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park. We sign up for a 45-minute walking tour. The park ranger gives us a very entertaining tour of the town and its very short but wild history.

In the afternoon, we board the White Pass and Yukon narrow gauge train for a ride up the original trail. The train does in a couple hours what it took the gold-seekers days to accomplish. It is a beautiful ride up a pine-forested mountain pass, along very steep cliffs, and ends just over the Canadian border. I would not have wanted to haul a ton of equipment up this arduous trail in winter. There was an alternative route to the Yukon from the nearby port town of Dyea up the Chilkoot Pass trail. It was ten miles shorter but even steeper than this one and prone to avalanches.

September 14, 2004

September 14, 2004

Today our ship lay at anchor off Icy Strait Point.  This morning we took a tender to shore and walked around the area setup for us.  It looks like it was the site of an old salmon cannery.  It has a small cannery museum and a walking park.  Bored, we make the long walk into the little fishing village of Hoonah.  We pass an RV that seems to have been converted into a house!  Only in Alaska! 

This is mostly a wasted day in my book.  I believe we are here across the strait from Glacier Bay National Park because the feds are now limiting cruise ship access to the park and we drew the short straw.  No wonder we got such a great deal on the cruise.

September 15, 2004

September 15, 2004

This morning we awoke docked in Ketchikan.  Ketchikan is very cute and most like what visitors think of an Alaskan town.  A tiny river runs thru the center of town.  We follow it upstream.  The first stretch has wooden houses on stilts lining both sides of the river.  Originally red light district residences, they are now a series of tourist shops.  We follow the creek further upstream watching the last of the salmon scurry up the shallows.  We are too late for the peak of the salmon spawning run.  Aside one of the shallows is the Deer Mountain Hatchery and Eagle Center.  We tour this hatchery learning about the life cycle of the salmon.  Salmon are born in freshwater streams but live their life in the ocean.  They always return to their place of birth to spawn.  The journey takes a tremendous toll on the salmon and they die after mating.  The hatchery also has a pair of injured Bald Eagles and a Great Horned Owl.

Also along the river is the Totem Heritage Center.  This museum has a bunch of original, mostly unpainted totem poles displayed indoors.  Totems are sculptures carved from large trees by the Indians that inhabited the Northwest.  Unfortunately totems decay quickly in this wet environment so few old totems exist.

We head back downstream to where the creek empties into the sea.  Looking down from the last bridge we can see thousands of salmon in the water.  A local fisherman tells me that the salmon linger here until they acclimate to the freshwater.  They don’t feed but sometimes will snap at a fishing lure out of anger.

Back outside the ship, ready for lunch, we stop by a few booths selling flight-seeing tours.  There is one open spot on a seaplane tour leaving immediately. The vendor makes me a deal I can’t pass up, so I kiss Aimee goodbye, and jump in the van that drives us to the float plane dock.  I climb in the rear of the small plane and we take off heading east. We fly into Misty Fjords National Monument.  We land on a small remote narrow fiord inside the park. We get out to take some photos of the gorgeous scenery. Back in the air, we head west skimming the water trying to spot whales. No luck. We fly at eye-level right by the cruise ship as we land.

That evening we leave port early as the ship is going to make a detour into Misty Fjords. The ship gives me a different view, cruising up a long fiord with sheer cliffs. Along the way I am wondering how this large ocean vessel is going to get out of here. Amazingly, the ship is able to make a 360 turn and sail out.

September 16, 2004

September 16, 2004

We spend the day cruising south down the western shore of Canada.  Aimee and I spend time with the binoculars scanning for sea-life.  We see lots of whales in the distance.  In particular we see a pod of killer whales and a small boat chasing them.

Every night after dinner, we return to our cabin and find our bed turned down and decorated with a folded-towel animal.  Every night is different. Aimee loves them.  So much so, she attends a towel folding class.