Our time in the main region of Alaska is coming to an end. We have a few hours at the lodge before our motor coach departure to Whittier. On the way we stopped off at a refuge for wild animals that have been in ‘hospital’ recovering from some accident or sickness. That means that the photo of the bear was not taken in ‘the wild’ like you thought it had. There were also a couple of brown bears in a separate enclosure awaiting release back into their own habitat.
Prior to arriving at Whittier, we had to travel through a 2 and half mile tunnel. They need to take notice of Europe when it comes to tunnels as this one was just the one lane in each direction at a time, as well as railway tracks. Pretty ancient really, but at present the only way to where our ship was ready for us to board. There had been quite a number of reported Norovirus on board the previous cruise and so we were delayed embarking as the crew needed to clean the ship a second time.
After the lengthy boarding requirements were fulfilled, we boarded the Coral Princess and had to wait a further two hours before our staterooms are ready for us. So we had a late lunch looking out, over the little town of Whittier. Our stateroom is a mini-suite which really means it is a little longer than the basic stateroom with a queen bed and longer lounge to use for the second TV in the room. Not luxury, but at least there is more room to move. (Looks like it will be the order for all cruises in the future though) We are on the top accommodation deck and so our balcony looks over all the others below. The view of the Hubbard Glacier should be spectacular when we arrive later today (Thursday our time, Friday Australian time).
Doing the motor coach tour of Big Alaska prior to the cruise, means that we already already made friends and can catch up every now and then. Those of us up ‘the back of the bus’ are able to give each other a hard time. There are quite a few Australians on board from various parts. We met up with a couple from Alstonville who knows friends of ours who used to be in Warburton. In fact, he painted out their new house and is their doctor in the town. So the world becomes smaller each and every day.
Once on board, I headed with a couple of bags of clothes to put through the laundry. Forgetting the time for dinner was 15 minutes later, I was able to take the long walk to the back of the ship a number of times to change clothes to the drier and collect the completed task during the meal – my house husband role still goes on.
Our room is ready and it is time to enjoy the activities on the ship for the next 7 days. Stay with us.
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Loving all your posts and photos…..enjoy the cruise…..you still have so much to see…..hope you get to witness the “Calving of the glaciers” an amazing sight to see and hear…..
Good to see you having a great time. Your posts have brought back many memories of our visit to Alaska- You have retraced our journey for us visiting a lot of the places we went. We leave Sunday for Bali for 5 weeks to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.
Well enjoy. We are on board now. Approaching Hubbard glacier