The ExploreNorth Blog

My 21-day adventure on the Coral Princess is over. I’ve now been home for 27 hours and the ship is already so far gone from my mind that it could have been months ago that I was on her. At some point I’ll write up a full review and post it at YourAlaskaCruise.com. Here’s what the last couple of days with Princess looked like…

I was disappointed that we sailed far out to sea across the Gulf of Alaska after leaving Glacier Bay – the views of the Fairweather mountain range and its glaciers can be spectacular. On this sailing, there was nothing but water to see until we reached Kayak Island and Cape St. Elias – this photo, with a tug and barge passing the cape, was shot at 05:58 am.

Approaching the Hinchinbrook entrance to Prince William Sound at 11:00.

Being buzzed by a Coast Guard helicopter surprised many people! It made a couple of circles around the ship and disappeared – I was on the bridge at the time and they were apparently just “showing the flag”.

The historic Cape Hinchinbrook Lighthouse.

There were lots of rain showers around us as we entered Prince William Sound, but the ship stayed dry.

A great deal of ice could be seen in the water between Bligh and Glacier Islands – Columbia Glacier is continuing its dramatic retreat.

Wells Passage is a particularly scenic area, and a group of half a dozen Dall’s porpoises swam right beside the ship, directly below me, for a few seconds there. If I would have had my SLR I could possibly have gotten a photo but the little Fuji reacts too slowly.

Here’s what the “secret” viewing areas at the front of Decks 10 and 11 of the Coral and Island Princesses look like from the bridge (which is on Deck 12).

That’s me, hard at work in my office as we transitted Wells Passage These talks from the bridge are rather odd in that you get little or no feedback except occasionally from someone on a balcony – you often have no idea whether or not anyone is even listening to you. Theatre presentations are much more fun.

The MV Taku in Wells Passage.

As we crossed Port Wells, I had to get back to my cabin and pack my suitcase, then grab a quick bite to eat before getting back to the bridge.

The approach to College Fjord is impressive. Glacier Bay in miniature! This was shot at 5:00pm.

We got extremely close to this seal. Just before this, we’d sailed through a group of perhaps 60 sea otters and were close to many of them, as well as 2 bald eagles on a particularly fine-looking little iceberg.

The Wellesley Glacier.

Rain somewhat obscured the views of Barry Glacier as we left College Fjord at 9:15pm. We arrived at Whittier, our disembarkation port, at about midnight. Some people think when they see that time on their schedule that they have to get off the ship then but you do actually get to wait until morning!

A final look at the Coral Princess at 07:00.

The view out the motorcoach window as we approached the Whittier tunnel. We sat there for 45 minutes waiting for it to open at 8:00am – this train went ahead of us.

Driving along Turnagain Arm, up the Seward Highway. It’s too bad that nobody has explained to our driver (who is obviously new at this game) how to double his wages. There’s a lot to talk about on this route but he said very little and I doubt that he got any tips.

Swallows nesting in the APU exhaust of an Alaska Airlines jet! Luckily the jet is at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum

A visit to the museum is great anytime but is a particularly good way to kill layover time, and I had almost 5 hours before my flight to Vancouver. Craig, a commercial pilot I met on board the Coral, had been to Anchorage a few times but never to the museum so joined me. The excellent museum is an easy walk from the airport terminal and has everything from little models (in this case the Lockheed Orion Sirius Explorer of Wiley Post) …

… to large models (a Douglas World Cruiser from the US Army Air Corp’s 1924 circumnavigation of the globe)….

to real aircraft, restored (such as this 1944 Grumman Goose)…

… under restoration (including this 1931 American Pilgrim)…

… and future projects (such as this 1943 PBY 5A Catalina Canso).

Even the long-term storage barn is interesting (and open to the public, which is in itself rather unusual).

The plane for my ANC-YVR leg arrives at 2:10pm – it’s an old (1997) Airbus A319.

Anchorage is a great airport for plane-watching, with both unusual aircraft and an excellent viewing area.

I got a center seat and it was cloudy in any case, so just watched movies all the way to Vancouver (just over 3 hours). I had time for a leisurely dinner in Vancouver (finally a good hamburger after 3 weeks without!), and left in the dark at 10:05pm.

Descending into Whitehorse – back in The Land of the Midnight Sun!! This was shot at 10 minutes past midnight.

I said on my talk from the bridge last night that I’d be on deck looking for whales at 04:00 this morning, and there were people there to talk to me – I love enthusiastic passengers! The first hour (around Hoonah) was sloow, but there were several humpbacks at Point Adolphus and many at the mouth of Glacier Bay.

Sailing past Haines yesterday morning at 04:55, I was more than a little surprised to see through the heavy rain that there was fresh snow on the highest peaks.

The view up Taiya Inlet from my table at the front of Horizon Court. Oh well, a morning like this makes hot coffee taste ever better

When we docked at Skagway, I was happy that I had no major plans for the day. All I needed to do at some point was walk over to a friend’s house to drop off a wonderful Haida talking stick I bought at Arctic Spirit Gallery in Ketchikan. It would have been difficult/expensive to ship, so I’ll just pick it up from Brian next week when I drive down. I haven’t taken a photo of it yet but will show it to you when I pick it up.

Cruise West’s little Spirit of Discovery, and the Norwegian Pearl – 2 very different ways to see Southeast Alaska. Some day we’ll give Cruise West a try – for those who want “up close and personal”, they’re reported to be worth every penny of the substantial extra cost.

There must be days like this when some crew members think about taking a contract on a ship that sails in the Caribbean year round. This fellow is pushing excess water off the walking area.

Looking down Broadway at the Norwegian Star. By noon when I left the ship it had almost stopped raining – this was shot at 12:40.

It was great to see that Soapy Smith’s Parlor is finally being restored.

I got ready for my sailaway talk early and went to Steve Hites’ 7:15 show. I’ve known Steve since I started running tours in 1990, and it was wonderful to see him again. He was, of course, very surprised to find another local working on the ship! Neither of us had time for a long visit, but I thoroughly enjoyed his music-and-history show.

A final look at Skagway from the bridge as we backed away from the Railroad Dock at 8:30pm. As you can see, we were the last ship to leave, having spent over 14 hours there.

A crew member walks out to haul down the Princess flag as we sail back down Taiya Inlet.

A final look out my porthole at 10:20pm.

When I looked at the GPS map on the TV at 03:45 we were just passing Hoonah – time to get out and start watching for whales!

As usual in this area, it was impossible to say what the day was going to bring. Weather forecasts really mean nothing. A few of us stayed under a canopy while we watched for whales, but by about 4:30 the rain quit.

A giant Canada Day cake was set up outside Horizon Court when I went down for coffee at 05:30.

The further we sailed into Glacier Bay, the better the weather looked.

As we neared the glaciers, the clouds once again parted for us!

Another amazing day at John Hopkins Glacier!

By 9am drink sales seemed fairly brisk – hey, it’s noon somewhere!

The Norwegian Pearl sails out of Tarr Inlet as we enter.

The Margerie Glacier has clearly been calving a lot in recent days – there was a lot of ice both in the water and stranded on the beach by the falling tide.

There are some very impressive cliffs along Tarr Inlet in particular.

Up close and personal with Margerie.

As the captain swung the ship so that the folks on starboard side balconies could see the glacier, many folks were down at the seafood buffet and a few were in the swimming pools and hot tubs.

NPS Ranger Emma on deck after doing the first segment of her bridge presentations.

The boat coming to take the NPS rangers off got a bit distracted.

Bye-bye, Rangers Emma and Kevin – thanks!

Passing Cape Spencer and its lighthouse at 5:30, we headed out into the Gulf of Alaska, which so far is very calm.

It’s our second and final formal night – classical music and portrait photographers are part of that. Time to post this and get fancied up for my 8pm dinner reservation

Even though I didn’t get to bed until well after midnight on Monday night, I was up at 4:30 this morning. My subconscious mind must have received a message about how beautiful the morning was. This photo was shot in Stephens Passage just north of the mouth of Tracy Arm at 04:52. I find it interesting that 95% of the other people up at that time of morning are always men.

Sunrise was at 03:59, but the sun actually came up over the mountains as we passed Port Snettisham at 04:54.

Time for coffee and a muffin in Hrizon Court to get the day started.

The view up Taku Inlet to the Taku Glacier and betond is stunning. I was out in the open on Deck 15 as usual. A guy I saw sitting in Horizon Court with a huge camera on his table came tearing up the stairs to capture the scene but by then the best was past. Some scenes give you time to react like that but most don’t. You’re either on an open deck or you miss it.

It really bothers me to see large quantities of food wasted for no reason. Can you imagine what it’s like for some of the crew members who come from some of the poorest countries in the world?

It seems to me that this yacht, the Shogun, belongs to someone very famous – a movie star perhaps. If I wasn’t paying 50 cents a minute for Internet access I’d Google it to find out. Lovely vessel!

I had a seat booked on a whale watch at 11:15, so took the tramway up Mt. Roberts to fill the time. On a nice day, getting into the high country quickly is well worth the $27 fare. The ticket is good for as many rides as you want all day, but I seldom go up more than once.

The twisting of these trees, called snowcrook, is caused by the gradual creep of snow downhill bending the trees when they were young.

I thought I’d be 2-3 weeks too early for great wildflowers, but our mild winter meant that I hit the peak time for many species.

Looking down on the Coral Princess.

This was as high as I went, to a rocky knoll that overlooks Father Brown’s Cross.

Beyond that, there’s no real destination for a couple of hours.

I came back down with time to kill, but I can keep myself amused on the dock for a long time. I love this statue of Patsy Ann, a dock who used to meet every passenger ship that arrived at Juneau in the 1920s.

And of course there are floatplanes!

Another of my favourite statues anywhere is on the Juneau doock – this one honours hardrock miners.

It was an off day for whale watching – none of the boats were getting anywhere near the humpbacks and the transient orcas that were seen yesterday have moved on. This humpback is seen in front of the Point Retreat Lighthouse, which was built in 1924. Rough seas didn’t help, but it certainly wasn’t an off day for scenery.

The buoy off Point Retreat was full of Steller’s sea lions as usual. A harbour seal wanted up too but was just getting lip from the sea lions instead of cooperation

Orca dropped many of us off at the Mendenhall Glacier and I hiked out to Nugget Falls again. The new trail is for some reason not open yet, and I was amazed at the dramatic change in the look of the face of the glacier.

Access to the Nugget Falls trail is back to being on this dangerous route. Very odd…

I’ve never seen so much ice in the lake. Apparently there was a lot of calving yesterday and in recent days a huge piece of ice had come off.

There’s a $150 fine for smoking anywhere at Mendenhall except at one of these canopies, which have stoves to put your butts into. I saw a guy smoking 100 feet away from one – he finished and threw his butt onn the ground. Too bad the fine wasn’t $1,000 and there were enough rangers to enforce it

We sail from Juneau at 9:00pm, just over an hour from now, so I’m going to post this and go for dinner. I’m not expecting anything photo-worthy tonight, but ya never know – maybe all the whales who’ve been hiding will show up!

As I start writing this post, it’s Monday night at midnight and the music from the Universe Lounge right above me is making the walls of my cabin vibrate. I’m willing to bet that there are a few passengers in cabins near mine whose travel agents didn’t warn them about this aspect of their cabin location and aren’t too happy.

I slept in on Monday, which was a full day at sea. When I got up just before 8, we were nearing the north end of Vancouver Island and the Canadian pilot boat was alongside to move the pilot to his next job, a southbound freighter.

The Pine Island Lighthouse.

The view from my cabin at 11:30 as I was getting ready for my first of 2 presentations.

Passing the Ketchikan Coast Guard station at 05:40 yesterday morning.

The crab boat Aleutian Ballad heads out with a group from the Norwegian Star. That excursion gets extremely good reviews – I just may try it some day.

With a beautifully-equipped boat like the Tranquility, an entire summer wouldn’t be long enough to explore Southeast Alaska.

One of the few local stores left in downtown Ketchikan.

When I left the ship there was a light misty rain falling but after about 15 minutes it starting raining very heavily. I spent quite a while in 2 shops, then when the rain stopped went back to my original plan to take the city bus out to Totem Bight Park. The bus stop is right across the street from this eagle carving.

There were a fair number of people at the park, but it looked like I’d be able to stay away from the big groups. I’d planned to spend an hour and a half there to catch the 2nd return bus. I bought an excellent book on the park and its totems entitled “Silent Storytellers”.

A small garden at the entrance has native plants that were used medicinally by the Tlingit.

The path to the totems is through a forest that was logged many decades ago.

A wonderful example of a nurse stump – the rotting stump of a logged tree nourishes the next generation.

“Man Wearing Bear Hat” is a 1995 copy of a 1930s copy of a grave marker found on Cat Island, south of Ketchikan. Note the whales painted on the hat’s brim.

The interpretive signage at Totem Bight is very good.

The Clan House is a replica of one that would have housed 30-50 members of one Tlingit clan.

Salmonberries.

The slate beach in front of the park is a great place to explore.

You have to get down and look close – these snails are only a fraction of an inch long.

It’s a shame that most folks on cruise ships never see how rich these seas are. It surprises most people, who think that warm water must have more life.

“On the starboard side you can now see Totem Bight State Park…”

A few drops of rain fell at the park but it was raining heavily further down Tongass Narrows.

This large tour group soon moved past me.

This is Master Carver, wearing a necklace of ten faces representing ten lessons that Master Carver taught the Haida. This pole was designed for the Mud Bight project and was raised in 1941.

It’s early for fireweed but a few stalks had bloomed. In another month there’s a lot of it fringing the grassy totem pole area.

Due to the sunshine, I suppose, most people waited until the last minute to return to the ships, and the boarding lineup was very long. Our departure was delayed by half an hour as it took that long to get everyone on.

Tongass Narrows is a busy place. Two of the airport access ferries are mid-stream.

We had no luck with whales even at Snow Pass, but seeing Sumner Strait like a millpond almost made up for it. There were a line of showers ahead but they cleared as we approached.

The dramatic limestone peak of Mt. Calder on Prince of Wales Island. “PoW” is yet another place I’d like to see in detail – the karst formations there fascinate me.

Cape Decision Lighthouse, at the junction of Sumner and Chatham Straits, at 9:41pm. Evenings on the water don’t get much more beautiful than this – but few people on the ship saw it.

Sunset over Baranof Island, shot a minute after the photo above.

I went to hypnotist Kelli Karl’s 10:15 show – it was good fun, but I think it’d be cool to be one of the volunteers on stage, to see how it actually works.

What a way to end the day!! Moonlight over Kuiu Island at 11:24pm.

It’s now 6:40am and we’re an hour out of Juneau. Time to post this, get some breakfast and get ready for another whale watching trip with Captain Larry and then a hike at Mendenhall Glacier.

It’s now Sunday morning at 06:20, and we’re sailing on calm seas past Malcolm Island near the north end of Vancouver Island. I’m on my way home, though on a roundabout route that will take 7 days.

For the past couple of days the Coral Princess has been sailing in the best part of the Inside Passage – southbound on Friday and then northbound yesterday. People who sail into or out of Seattle miss most of these wonderful views, as they sail in the open ocean to the west of Vancouver Island. To the east of the island you get both great views and sheltered waters. The first photo was shot at Port Hardy at 4:50pm on Friday.

There are a lot of lighthouses, smaller lights and buoys along this route, contrasting sharply with the rather sparse number of navigational aids on the Alaska coast. This is the Pulteney Point Lighthouse.

The view from the bridge at 6:20.

The Alert Bay Trumpeter is by far the funniest thing I’ve seen at sea, and everyone on the Coral loved him. He races up and down the length of the ship, stopping occasionally to play the Canadian and American anthems and other assorted tunes. If there was some way to throw toonies so he could catch them he’d do very well

The trumpeter’s home town, Alert Bay. As you can see, we got very close to shore, but this narrow channel past Sointula and Alert Bay can only be used in perfect weather when you’re not in a hurry. The captain wanted to hit slack tide at midnight:15 at Seymour Narrows so it was a great bonus for us.

There were very few people at the late show in the theatre, but the bars and lounges were all busy.

MUTS (Movies Under the Stars) on a particularly fine night.

This was the view from my cabin at 04:41 yesterday morning, as we passed Sechelt.

When I got up on deck 15 minutes later, dawn was developing some lovely colours.

There are homes being built in some spectacular locations in recent years. During our after-grad when I graduated from high school, a few friends and I kayaked out to that little island for a day – there were no homes then, just a lovely, very private cove with a beach.

A 35-knot headwind added to our speed of about 20 knots made both photography and raising flags difficult!

A classic Vancouver image – freighters and the English Bay skyline.

Approaching the Lions Gate Bridge. After sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge last month, it doesn’t impress me as much as it used to, but it is a lovely structure

The screaming winds kept all but a handful of us indoors for the sail-under.

Passing Prospect Park and Stanley Park. The half-mast flags apparently mean that another soldier killed in Afghanistan has returned home. One was too many…..

Container ports fascinate me, both from an artistic perspective and a logistical one.

The lovely little Silver Shadow, an ultra-luxury ship owned by Silverseas.

The changing face of Vancouver – old buildings with real character and new ones without.

The calm between the storms – a corner of the atrium and the Guest Services desk after everyone from the last cruise had disembarked and before the new passengers boarded.

Having the ship empty makes it easy to get laundry done. The cost is very reasonable – $1 for soap and $1 per washer and dryer complete cycle (ca. 40 minutes). There are self-serve laundries at the aft of every deck with cabins.

There’s always work to do for the crews – this fellow is sanding the handrails on the Silver Shadow in preparation for varnishing.

The Lido Deck is the place to be for sailaway on a sunny day. “Buckets of Beer” and “Drink of the Day” specials (as well as good music and lots of good prizes) help get things going.

This is by far the youngest crowd I’ve seen on a cruise – there are lots of young families, hundreds of kids and hundreds of people in their 20s.

How’s that for an interesting mix of vessels? A sternwheeler and a tug at the floating gas station and a schooner motoring by.

We’re heading north again, off on a new adventure!

Stanley Park, with the seawall promenade and Siwash Rock.

The ship got very quiet early last night – many people spent all day travelling, so right after dinner, just before 8:00, I went to my cabin. I shot this picture was we passed Nanaimo, then decided it was too nice to not be on deck.

A wide-angle view off the stern.

I met some of my dinner companions on the Promenade, and made 3 circuits (a mile) with Glen, a retired cop from Ontario. I got rewarded for being on deck by a little rainbow over the mountains.

This was shot at 8:50 from the secret viewing deck at the front of Deck 11 (there’s a similar one on Deck 10). For some odd reason you go have to go through doors marked “Emergency Use Only” to reach these 2 decks, but they’re by far the best forward views on the ship. The bridge officers can see you out there and there’s no problem despite the signage.

Back to my cabin for a nightcap and some photo sorting.

It’s now 09:05 on the final day of this sailing – we’ll be “At Sea” all day. At the moment we’re in the open ocean off Bella Bella, British Columbia – between Vancouver Island the the Queen Charlottes. The seas are fairly calm and the sun is trying hard to come out.

This was the view from my cabin at 06:50 yesterday morning, a couple of hours north of Ketchikan. This is certainly not the weather I wanted to see on a day that I had flightseeing booked for but it was ragged enough that the potential for the clouds to break up was there.

On Deck 14, looking towards the entrance to the Lotus Spa and the gym.

Just south of the Guard Islands in Tongass Narrows at 08:30.

This bald eagle had one of the better perches overlooking Ketchikan’s harbour.

The Ketchikan Fire Department’s fireboat Harry Newell.

The working end of the seiner “Lake Bay”.

This looks like an excellent candidate for a proper restoration project – it appears to be all original.

I walked over to Island Wings to see if any seats were still available for the 28th if today’s flight was cancelled, but the attendtant was confident that we’d fly today so I went back to the ship for a pizza lunch. My timing to get back on deck was good, as I got a few shots of owner/pilot Michelle Masden and the attendant launching “1-7-Foxtrot”.

In a couple of hours I’d be doing exactly that!

At 2:18, off we go! I volunteered to take the back seat, so I could shoot out both sides of the plane (only 1 person sits back there).

Just below what looks like a solid cloud layer – but there were lots of holes straight ahead.

A look at the outskirts of Ketchikan before heading off into the wilderness. We each had high-quality nose-cancelling headphones, and for a few minutes until we got out of Ketchikan’s controlled airspace, listened to music and Michelle’s communications with the tower.

Once we were out in the backcountry, Michelle had lots to say about the country.

Michelle is particularly knowledge about the forests and how logging practices affect them (beyond the obvious). These cut blocks have been logged at various times over the past 40 years or so.

Eddystone Rock, a dramatic volcanic plug in the middle of Behm Channel, which arcs through Misty Fjords National Monument.

The further in you go, the more spectacular the fjords get.

There are waterfalls everywhere.

We’d be landing on this postcard-perfect lake in a few minutes.

The approach to the lake landing.

Having a fair bit of experience in flying my own plane in the coastal mountains, I’m very fussy about who I fly with and what I fly in – Michelle is simply a superb pilot, in charge of a magnificent aircraft.

Michelle helps her “co-pilot” onto the beach. The other passengers were 3 generations of a family from Toronto, and we spent a very pleasant 40 minutes or so surrounded by some of the most magnificent country on earth.

Michelle has all the best angles for “I-was-here” photos figured out

A couple of Turbo Otters landed, but their stops were very different that ours. The passengers got out on the floats for perhaps 5 minutes, then back in the plane and they were gone.

For the flight back, I got the front seat. Michelle says that “the boys” call this a “chick plane”. This is what half a milliion dollars will get you – every comfort and convenience feature you can think of, from leather seats to iPod system, cargo upgrades and fish-spotting equipment. The folks at deHavilland who built this bird in 1959 would be impressed!

Off we go at 3:45, through another rain shower.

A closer look at Eddystone Rock – 2 bald eagles could clearly be seen in a nest right at the top of it.

Another pilot had told Michelle where a black bear could be seen. We found him, and Michelle made a couple of tight circles so everyone could have a good look. A couple of minutes later I spotted another and we made another couple of circles. The may be little dots but I love seeing them anyway – just knowing that they’re there is all I need.

A good look at the airport – Michelle took this route to we could see Sarin Palin’s “highway to nowhere” and another bald eagle nest.

Final approach.

I went for a late dinner last night (the lamb was “nothing to write home about”), and even went to the late show in the theatre, which was very good (but I nodded off a few times anyway – it’d been a tough day!).

Mother Nature never did cooperate today so instead of being an “Explore Juneau” day (in my case Mt. Roberts hiking day) it was a ship day for a lot of people, including me. I was actually surprised at the number of people who did venture forth – pleased, but surprised as well.

The highlight of the day was to be a presentation by Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod (in 1985). I got to the Universe Lounge half an hour early and picked a seat at the rear center of the main level, leaving the best seats for paying passengers.

I probably could have taken a much better seat, as the place was only 2/3 full when Libby came on stage. Her personal presentation was excellent, the video not so much but very interesting for folks Outside I’m sure.

I’d been wondering how much she gets paid to do these presentations for every Princess ship that docks, but once I saw her book sales, it’s a safe bet that she doesn’t get paid much, if anything. She’s an excellent addition to the program and it’s obviously working for her in any case.

As was the case on the last sailing, there was a meeting of folks from CruiseCritic scheduled for 4pm today. On the last sailing nobody showed up – today only 1 other person did. Too bad, the group had a lot of fun on our Infinity sailing.

This is the Explorers Lounge all kitted out for the 4:30 “Under $500 Art Auction”. There’s nothing that I’d hang in my house (just not my style), but I should go to one of those auctions to see what the action is like.

Boarding is simple – show your Cruise Card a couple of times …

… walk through a scanner and you’re home

Whenever I visit Juneau, I wonder how large a lottery win it would take to buy the “Discovery” – I love those classic cruisers!

This photo, shot as we sailed away at 4:00pm, is for my friend Marie in New Zealand – the ship on the left (the Ryndam) is the one that Susan and John are on right now, Marie

This old cannery wharf down Gastineau Channel was barely visible through the heavy rain.

My fingers are crossed that the weather forecast for Ketchikan tomorrow, which shows light rain, is either reasonably accurate or better yet pessimistic, as I have a Misty Fjords flight booked.

We docked at Juneau a few minutes ago, right at 6:00am. The clouds are low, the rain is coming down in buckets. I expect that a whole lot of people will be doing the same as me today – staying on board. If it was my first or second time here I’d certainly be putting on my rain gear and heading out, but my only plan here today was to go up Mt. Roberts for a hike, and that’s not likely to happen.

Yesterday was the day I’d been waiting for – Cathy took the day off work and brought Kayla and Monty down to see me.

This is one of the more distinctive peaks along Taiya Inlet, seen at 4:34, about half an hour before docking at Skagway.

The sun was trying to break through the clouds, but it wasn’t clear what the day would bring.

The Western Titan was backing out with an AMS barge. Note the scale – there’s a tiny Kenworth right above the pilothouse of the tug.

Another example of how tiny we are in this world. When you hear of a small aircraft going missing up here, this is what the search crews are dealing with.

The Golden Princess arrived just after we docked, the Infinity, the Zuiderdam and a small Cruise West ship within the next hour or so. That’s a fairly busy day, but not the busiest.

A look at the ship signature wall – the Canadian National Steam Ship “Prince Rupert” was added on July 19, 1930.

“Soapy Smith’s Skull” was added to the wall in the early days, though nobody seems to know exactly when.

The first gangway being put in, at 05:37.

The walkway that’s been built from the Railroad Dock to town over the past few years has been beautifully executed.

Shuttle buses run constantly for those who would rather ride.

Cathy arrived at 10:30. We had an early lunch at the Bonanza Bar & Grill, then drove over to Dyea to let the fur-kids play on the beach. The wildflowers were wonderful.

This is my favourite of the handful of historic sites left at Dyea – the rotting pilings of the wharf used by stampeders 112 years ago.

The bugs were really bad on the beach so we didn’t stay as long as we had expected. There was an occasional light mist of rain, but it was barely noticeable.

Snack time for the kids.

The irises are certainly at their peak. We’re always thrilled by the richness of the coast after getting used to the dry interior forests.

There was a great deal of money being made at Dyea yesterday – buses were constantly bringing people to the dog sled and horse trail ride operation.

I hadn’t been in to the Dyea townsite for many years and Cathy had never seen the famous “false front”, so we took that short walk through the forest.

All of the buildings were bulldozed by the guy who owned the land 50+ years ago, but this one false front somehow escaped.

Back to Skagway, where we gave the kids dinner before hiking up to Lower Reid Falls.

Lower Reid Falls.

Me with Monty and Kayla.

Devil’s Club – lovely to look at, nasty to touch. I well remember this stuff from when I was a kid living on the coast – I got nailed by it many, many times.

The fast-cat dropped its last load of passengers and headed back to Haines for the night. It’s passing a breakwater that was built last year. The Golden Princess was the first to leave. The Infinity was supposed to be next in line but was having “propulsion problems” and couldn’t move, so we left next. I hope that the problem on my favourite ship was quickly solved.

Passing the mouth of the Katzehin River, 18 miles south of Skagway, at 10:15pm. There may some day be a highway from Juneau to this point, to make it easier for Juneauites to get Outside. All Alaska needs to do is find $400 million to make it happen – they’ve already spent $25 milliion studying it in recent years.

I slept like a log last night – 8 solid hours. That’s very unusual for me when I’m on a ship. It’s now 07:50 and it’s still raining hard, but the clouds have lifted substantially, so I’ll post this, go for breakfast and see what Mother Nature has in store for us.

We docked at Skagway just after 5:00am this morning, and I’m killing time now until 10:00 when Cathy is going to meet me. She’s taken the day off work and is bringing the dogs down to see me.

The past 2 days have been our glacier viewing days. Hubbard was a huge disappointment as we stayed back from it at least 3 miles. Glacier Bay was excellent – with sunshine, lots of whales, a couple of brown bears, and many mountain goats.

I awoke Sunday morning to the sight of Kayak Island, Cape St. Elias and Pinnacle Rock out of my porthole. By 6:00am when I took this photo, I was up on deck looking back at it.

We met the little Nippon Maru coming out of Yakutat Bay at 2:00pm. I’d never seen her before – she’s a budget ship out of Japan, on a 52-day circle-Pacific cruise.

This was as close as we got the Hubbard Glacier due to heavy ice conditions (this photo was shot at 4:25pm). We only saw a couple of skittish sea otters and a few seals while we were there. Few people stayed up on deck very long.

A closer look at the sea conditions and the face of Hubbard Glacier. There’s obviously been a great deal of calving in recent days, and the face is so sloped now that there may not be good calving again for weeks.

Monday was another gorgeous morning, though it wasn’t clear what was going to happen when we sailed closer to the coast. This photo was shot just west of Cape Spencer at 06:20.

This was the view from my cabin as I got ready to head up to the theatre at 8:30. On deck, a handful of people were watching sea lions and whales – I should have been on the bridge talking to people, not in the theatre.

Heading back to my cabin to get rid of my computer and get changed, I glanced out a window I was walking by and a bunch of active humpbacks very close. I rushed out the nearest door but the bubble-feeding frenzy was over and they never re-appeared.

Just before 10:00, just as the whale show ended, the National Park Service boat arrived and the rangers boarded.

How’s this for a welcome to Glacier Bay?! The Zuiderdam can be seen close to the far shore (right above the girl in green), heading into John Hopkins Inlet.

A closer look at John Hopkins Inlet – the Zuiderdam is just rounding Jaw Point.

I didn’t stand in line the get to the seafood buffet last sailing, but yesterday I waited until the line had almost ended and then joined in, then found a lounger to sit on to enjoy the meal.

The glacier viewing areas on the Coral Princess leave a lot to be desired. There’s blue tinted glass everywhere and no opening windows in this area of Deck 14, so people are crowded at the short sections of open deck that have low railings.

The Margerie Glacier.

I could spend a week in Glacier Bay just focussing on waterfalls!

The variety of light was near perfect yesterday – an enormous range from sun to dark clouds that offered photo ops in every direction.

More waterfalls….

A small river runs from under the Lamplugh Glacier. It’s hard to judge scale but I’d guess it at about 50 feet across.

I wandered around the ship until almost midnight last night, and there was a lot of good music being played. It was old time rock ‘n’ roll night in the Universe Lounge. I didn’t stick my head in there but most other venues were very quiet – the piano player at Crooners had half the tables filled, though.

I actually went to my cabin just after 10:00 but the TV was on the bridgecam channel, and when I saw the sunset light ahead in Icy Strait I went back up on deck. The next 2 photos were taken at 10:24 and 10:32pm.

MUTS (Movies Under the Stars) is a very cool concept but no doubt is much more popular in the Caribbean – only 8 people were bundled up on the loungers watching The Invention of Lying.

I thought that the popcorn wagon was a great touch until I had some – bleh! I suppose putting butter and salt on it would make it hardly to clean spills up.

This was the view from my cabin at precisely midnight last night – June 21st, the longest day of the year. As many years as I’ve been seeing this, I still get a thrill from it.

It’s now 8:00, time to post this and get ready to meet my family for a fun day in Skagway. It looks like a good day to go over to Dyea to play on the beach with Monty and Kayla.

I talked to Cathy on the phone for a few minutes today. It’s very cool that she can follow along on the ship’s bridgecam – seeing exactly what I’m seeing during my bridge time.

Cruising though Wells Passage, we met the Alaska State ferry Aurora, which was sailing from Whittier to Valdez.

Prince William Sound is spectacular, but that doesn’t really look like summer, does it?

Whittier has about the worst weather in Alaska outside the Aleutians. Directly ahead in the darkest part of that storm on the opposite side of Port Wells is Passage Canal – Whittier is at the head of it. Of to the right is College Fjord.

Our first look at College Fjord. Multiple glaciers and sunshine!

The Barry Glacier, in Barry Arm of Port Wells. Off to the left of the glacier is Harriman Fjord, another spectacular fjord studded with glaciers.

The “Qayak Chief” passed us on its way to drop a few kayakers off for a week-long paddle in College Fjord. That intrigued me enough that I went to talk to the operator when we were in Whittier today.

The Barnard Glacier is the exception to the naming convention in College Fjord – it was named for a geologist who did a lot of work in the area.

The Wellesley Glacier with it’s forested terminal moraine is very different than the vast majority of Alaska glaciers.

Harvard Glacier fills the head of College Fjord. The face is a mile and a half wide and about 225 feet high. There were a dozen or so seals on pans of ice just off to the left.

The Yale Glacier at the head of Yale Arm, a short body of water at the head of College Fjord.

This was as close as we got to the head of College Fjord and the Harvard Glacier. A captain who’s afraid of ice can sure disappoint a lot of people. We got spoiled sailing to Hubbard Glacier on the Radiance of the Seas with a former Canadian Navy captain who seemed to enjoy ice. We have a new captain on the Coral for this southbound so maybe we can do better at Hubbard tomorrow afternoon.

The peaks above the Harvard Glacier.

At Whittier, the people I’d spent the last week with disembarked, many to go on tours of interior Alaska, and 2,200 new people boarded. This sailing is completely sold out, as was the northbound – the ship holds 1,970 people with double occupancy but there are many families with triples and quads on this sailing.

For Anchorage-area residents, Whittier is the gateway to Prince William Sound, and there are hundreds of boats moored here. This view is looking towards the tunnel that allows both rail and road access.

Most of the 180-odd permanent residents of Whittier live in this one building.

The newest hotel in town, and in the background a huge former military building that’s been abandoned for decades. The population of Whittier now is about 1/8th of what it was in its heyday.

It always amazes me how fast the ship can be emptied of people and re-filled. I took advantage of open doors during the mass cleaning to have a look at some other cabin configurations – this Oceanview is ready for 3 people to arrive.

There are some really nice bars on the Coral Princess – this is the Wheelhouse Bar on Deck 7.

Crooners Lounge, also on Deck 7.

Here comes another trainload of new people for the ship.

I went for a long walk around Whittier mid-day. I got lucky and the rain held off until I was almost back to the ship.

A closer look at the Buckner Building, with a thundering waterfall close behind.

And a closer look at the brooding presence that overlooks the town.

I spent an hour on the bridge tonight after we sailed. It’s now 10:45 pm. We’re crossing the heart of Prince William Sound – Valdez is hidden behind some islands that I can see out my porthole (it’s raining but is still bright daylight, of course). Tomorrow is a busy day – with 2 theatre presentations and commentary on our Hubbard Glacier cruising, I’ll be on duty for almost 5 hours.