After 2 travel days getting to the cruise we were well and truly ready to relax.
We decided the get the skytrain to the cruise terminal (2.50 each instead of $40) as Vancouver doesn't have Uber!
Our check-in day for the Cruise was mostly spent waiting as the entire national border control system for US Immigration went down and they couldn't process anyone. Although we were in Vancouver they do immigration before you leave port so you dont have to do it on the cruise when you arrive in Alaska. It was quite amusing that there was an older Englishman helping mange the crowds said the ship was sending a message to all of the Aussies that they had run out of beer 😉
The cruise out of Vancouver Harbor was nice and we sailed under the Lionsgate Bridge, quite picturesque so we are looking forward to heading back in a week or two.
Day 19 was a sea day so we made the most of relaxing. We went to a seminar by the Naturalist on the sea creatures of Alaska, what to look out for and how to spot them from the ship (this proved very useful later on). Later in the day we went to a presentation for Captain Jack Molan (off Deadliest Catch) about being a fisherman on the Bering Sea which was fascinating! Hes has turned into quite the animal photographer after capturing bald eagles that would always hang around his boat using a camera he got from an airport vending machine.
Most of the rest of the day was spent orienting ourselves with the ship, getting spruced up for formal night and enjoying some normal familiar food! The big show on the first night was a full production show, which was only 30 minutes max. It was pretty food, the dancing is very slick with great choreo but some of the singing is not as hot as it should be.
Day 20 was spent in Ketchikan. Our first glimpse of it was from the top deck of the ship on the way to breakfast at 6am. It's quite a quaint little place, the waterfront is quite distinct with the colorful weatherboard buildings that line the boardwalk. The sky always has at least two or more floatplane buzzing around and there were 5 cruise ships in port so it was bustling while we were there. The population is 13k and they joke that they are outnumbered by the 15k bears.
Our floatplane tour started at 7am and we had to be off the ship by 6.45am so it was quite an early start. We got bussed out to Tarquan Air about 10 minutes through the other side of town. The omens for the day were set from the start with a random seal hanging around the pontoon as we were heading our to the planes. It followed us along the length of the walk swimming beside us and checking us out. It was a fairly bumpy take off from the water but once you are in the air is is like any other flight. The plane only fits 7 adults plus the pilot so they are pretty small. We headed out over the little harbour and towards the Misty Fjords where we spent most of the flight. The view was beautiful and wants from newer formed mountains that were quite pointy through to quite rounded mountains that have had many more years of glacier erosion. We landed in the middle of the fjords and jumped onto the floats of the plane to take it all in. In the winter months when there is no tourism the float planes are used to deliver goods to the more remote areas as there is no other way of getting there. It was an absolutely beautiful day with no clouds in the sky so we didn't get to witness the reason it is called 'Misty Fjords' but you can see the watermarks on the rocks where the waterfalls all spring up when it is raining. We had hoped to spot some wildlife from the air but we only managed to see mountain goats and sealions.
Because it was such an early tour we were back in town by 9am and already needing to strip off to tshirts because it was so warm! Ketchikan gets around 16 feet of rain a year so getting a day like that is unusual even in summer. We went for a wander to Creek Street where the salmon head upstream to spawn. We had learnt about the process during the naturalist seminar the previous day so we were schooled up on what to look out for. It's a pretty fascinating process and there are hundreds of them all jammed together heading up the stream. We even had a couple jumping for us. We managed to spot our first bald eagle hanging out on a tree above the creek, it was still slightly mottled so was just transitioning from teenager to adult we think.
We carried on up towards the salmon hatchery where they keep and fees up the babies for over a year to help build the salmon population and took a little back road. It ran along the side of the creek and on the other side were houses so probably a private way. There were cars parked on both sides and bushes lining the side of the creek so it was pretty quiet. As we were heading up this little walkway/driveway we came up beside a big Ford van, and I was walking slightly ahead of Logan. As I approached the back of the van I was greeted by a young black bear!! I got the front half of it in my sights and my blood ran cold, then I immediately turned and very calmly started walking back towards Logan. All I could get to come out of my mouth was 'Bear' and signalled for him to walk the same was as me (afterwards he admitted he didn't believe me as I was too calm, he thought I was joking). At this point I had no idea if it was following or not, but we hadn't made eye contact so I could only hope it hadn't seen us. Next thing we heard a massive crashing nd shaking through the bushes beside the van and my heart nearly stopped, and as we looked through the bushes in front of us the bear was running across the creek away from us. Logan managed to catch a glimpse of it as it was running. It was the cutest thing ever, but it took a good half an hour for my heart to return to normal speed!! Some of the locals had come out of their house that backed on to the area and when we let them know there was a bear around there response was 'oh, I'm glad we didn't put the rubbish out yet'😂
After that experience we went and found a pub as we needed a drink! It all happened so fast it was quite surreal, and we weren't expecting a bear in the middle of town in the middle of the day. Safe to say we were on high alert for the rest of the day!
Sailaway was 2pm from Ketchikan so a short action packed port! But at 5.30pm we were heading through Snow Pass which is where the Humpback Whales and Dall's Porpoises hang out. We had been told in our seminar how to spot the spouts of Humpback Whales in the distance, but that we needed to be at the front of the ship as they normally dive deep when the ship approached as they dont like to be too close. We had also been educated on what bubble-netting is(a form.of group feeding....google it if you dont know as it is fascinating) and how to spot it but that we would be very lucky to actually witness it and lobtailing, which we would also be lucky to witness as the Male whales only do that when they have eaten enough to gain 6 feet of blubber and are ready to head down to Hawaii or Mexico to mate.
Our dog sledding excursion in Juneau had been cancelled at the beginning of the cruise due to the glacier being unstable so we were still deciding what to do in Juneau the following day. Apparently that is the best place to see whales bit we also wanted to see the glacier so we decided to see if we saw whales in Snows Pas and if not we would book a whale watching tour in Juneau. If not it would be kayaking on Mendenhall Lake to see the glacier.
The first lot of action was a pod of dolphins on Port side and we were Starboard, but we stayed put hoping patience would pay off.
We started off seeing one or two spouts in the distance and as we got closer there seemed to be more. The naturalist was narrating on the decks so you knew where to look and what you were seeing. As we approached the whales didn't dive and we realised they were actually bubble-netting. There would have been a group of around 7 whales involved and you could clearly see the process...spouts then breaching, then the dive down where we saw the flutes and all of them coming up with their mouths full of herring. We just followed the seagulls as they hang out above all of it as it happens to try and get the jumping herring trying to escape. They were so involved in their feeding that they carried on as we sailed past them so we got a great view!
Still on a high from seeing that a decent sized pod of Dall's Porpoises approached and some of them came right up to the ship to ride the wake directly under were we were perched. They just look like baby Orca, absolutely beautiful.
Then another lot of spouts off in the distance, and it turned out to be another group of Humpbacks bubble-netting. Probably about 6 in the second group, and again we sailed past and got a great view from our side of the ship. They would have only been 100m away if that, you didn't need binoculars that's for sure!
Our naturalist told us we were unlikely to se more because they are traditionally solitary and with 2 highly concentrated groups so close together there probably wouldn't be many more around.
We waited it out (only another 5 minutes) and there were more! Another couple of loan whales lobtailing! We were just on such a buzz seeing everything we had been told about and in such large numbers and so close to the ship is unheard of. Our naturalist said it is the best display she has ever seen....she's been doing it for many years and even she was buzzing. So kayaking on the lake it would be 😉
Our wind down for the evening was performance from Teacake (yep that's her real name) doing a tribute to Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. She was absolutely stunning but after such and emotionally charged day were were too tired to fully appreciate it!
Day 21 we arrived in Juneau, Alaskas capitol city. Well I dont really think you can call it a city by any stretch with a population of 32k. We spent the morning exploring town which is a litte reminiscntnof Dunedin with super steep streets and some of the streets are just pedestrian access as they are literally a massive set of steps from one street to another. We went into the Red Dog Saloon where all of the servers were dressed as saloon girls and the floor was covered in sawdust. We had tickets to the Mt Robert's Tramway but the queue was huge so we decided we would do that after our tour. We had booked the kayaking tour which headed off after lunchtime to Mendenhall Lake. It was a nice drive up to the lake, mainly bush, and the first thing you are hit by when you arrive is the glacier. The morning was a brilliant sunny day, but by the time we for to the lake it had clouded over. This is apparently the best weather to view glaciers as they appear bluer. We got into all of the wet weather gear they provided as there was apparently a storm coming in so it was going to rain (this unfortunately meant we didn't get any photos). Out on the lake we saw some Bald Eagles quite a distance away on the shoreline, the last Arctic Swallows of the season as they are migrating and Harbour Seals!
There were about 5 seals and at one point they formed a bit of a circle around us. One curious seal got within about 5m and keep hanging out with us, which our guide said was really unusual for them to get that close. E were enjoying the seals and were were told to head back in quite abruptly by our guide. Within a minute of us paddling towards shore a massive change in weather hit us! Failing winds working against us, torrential rain, waves breaking over the kayak and slapping us in the face, and ominous black clouds. It was a rough paddle back into shore and it felt like we weren't moving for most of it! Boy did that give us a workout! We didn't get as close to the glacier as we hoped but we got a few other things we hadn't bargained for.
When we got back and got into dry clothes we headed up the tram on Mt Robert's. Unfortunately the weather had really closed in and the top was shrouded by clouds so we couldn't see much, bit we didn't want to waste the tickets.
The show on the cruise was Motor City, so a smaller production show. Quite entertaining, and another exhausting day so we were pretty tired! We did learn as our new Cruise Director took over that New Zealand is the 5th most represented nation on the cruise..there are 38 of us!
Sorry about the lack of photos but wifi is scarce and internet is slow up here!
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