2015 Inside Passage – Grey Nomads Travel and Cruise

150525 Ketchikan

Ketchikan is known as Alaska’s “First City” because it’s the first major community travellers come to as they journey north. This charming waterfront town showcases its maritime history and offers picturesque scenery, quaint architecture and an abundance of cultural delights.

It’s hard to believe that not all that long ago, the entire area was covered in ice. Massive glacier action carved out the present landscape – long saltwater fjords hemmed in by cliffs that soar as high as 3,000 feet into the air.

Nowhere is this feat of nature more beautifully realized than just east of Ketchikan at the magnificent Misty Fjords National Monument. Named for the weather conditions that are normal for the area, we encountered a perfect day again.

The main source of income is from salmon fishing. There are five different species of wild Pacific salmon found in the Alaskan waters surrounding the area. And you can even view the salmon, in the town creek; complete their exhausting journey to the spawning ground.

Ketchikan’s second most important income source is the tourist. Yesterday, there were four large cruise boats in port. As we sailed up the waterway towards the port, we sailed past the local airport and a 737 was taking off just as a seaplane was landing beside our ship. Rather uncanny when you are there.

We took a 90 minutes walk around the town before boarding the Misty Fjords National Monument tour in a Jet-Cat catamaran. The water was smooth and the sky was mainly clear of clouds. Speeding around the waterways in a 30 mph Jet Boat made it so much quicker to view some of the great geological forms made by glaciers over the years.

Lyn was standing outside up the back on the top deck and noticed a well-known face that comes into our agency regularly. Our travel insurance rep was on board. We were aware that she was taking a group on a trip but hadn’t discussed dates or details of her itinerary with her. Leonie had only made a booking for the excursion we were on just the day before so the meet-up certainly was a coincidence. She was travelling on the Vollendam berthed just in front of the Coral Princess for the day. They had also been in Skagway on the same day as us.

At present, Tuesday, we are sailing towards Vancouver. Disembarkation is quite a feat as accounts need to be corrected and packing done with bags out by 11:00pm. Our disembarkation group meets at 8:55am in the morning. From there, we are on our way in a campervan for two weeks around Western Canada.

150524 Juneau

When you study the map of the area we are in at present, you find that there is not a long way between the Yakutat Bay, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. However, there is much to see. Some on board have said they have had enough of the scenery of snow-capped mountains and hills and are looking forward to leaving the ship (whinging poms). The waterways are not busy like they are in the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea.

There were 5 cruise ships in Juneau yesterday but as we were the first ship to arrive, we were able a free run from our dock to the trail we walked. After being given all the safety advice (oh dear, they didn’t tell us about the fire extinguisher today), our group was divided into the faster walkers and the slower walkers. We chose the slower group, as we wanted to have some time photographing the scenes and wilderness along the way.

The climb took us up to over 1000 feet enabling us to look over the Mendenhall Glacier. We were thinking that we were going to get close to the base of the glacier but that was not to be. Lyn had done a rubber raft trip on the lake with the group she brought over here in 2008.

Our guide, John, pointed out the changes in the vegetation that has taken place in the last 26 years. Mosses and lichens have attached to the fallen branches of spruce that have secured their locations since the regression of the glacier. Little wild flowers have also taken their place within the vegetation.

John, our guide, thought we were British as his answer to our question, “Who is our Prime Minister?” was “David Cameron.” Ah, no John.

After returning to the town of Juneau, we took a quick walk up the main street, purchased some scrumptious chocolates and returned to the ship for lunch. Today, instead of going to the lido restaurant, we had lunch at the bar and grill and were able to eat out in the warm sunshine. Nearby were some deck beds that enabled us to have a good sleep in the sun. I even took on some lost colour.

Tomorrow, we arrive at Ketchikan at around 10:00am, the last stop before arriving at Vancouver on Wednesday our time.

150523 Skagway

Skagway is yet another Alaskan town that came about because of a gold rush. It is an old looking town with timber being used for the sidewalks and old-style shops.

On arrival at 6:30am, we quickly had breakfast and uploaded the post for the day before. That done, I did the usual ‘logout.com’ and it seems that I didn’t give the computer long enough to properly get off the Wi-Fi Internet. On our return at lunch time, all the time we had purchased was ‘chewed up’. The guy in charge of the network has been kind and given us credit so we can upload our posts during the rest of the cruise.

The old Skagway railroad train was waiting for us to get on board for a picturesque trip up into the hills nearby to around 3,000 feet. It is a narrow gauge railway and the carriages are from way back, from pre-historic days. There were a few tressle bridges to traverse which made the train trip rather nice. It’s not long ago since they used to use steam engines but now 3 diesel engines did the task of hauling us up the gorges. The round trip was over 4 hours.

After a quick lunch and a short rest, we were met by a young lady who took us up the only road into, and out of, Skagway for a 15 mile down hill bike ride into the town. There were just 3 couples and after the ‘safety drill’ and ‘this is how you use and ride our bikes’ talk, we started the down hill run.

There was very little peddling with the brakes on most of the way. We stopped to view the valley from the other side to which our train journey had taken us. Magnificent! Within just a short distance of one another, we encountered a black bear then a brown bear. The black bear was behind the guard rail and hard to photograph and the brown bear worked out he shouldn’t be so close to humans and ran off down the steep embankment before I could get the camera ready.

The ride was a nice way to see the district and now we can say. “We saw a bear or two’.

We tried the buffet dinner and then went to a great show put on by the ship’s entertainment crew. Some texan folk have really taken to us as ‘our friends from down under’ and always greet us with handshakes and hugs and happy conversation.

Tomorrow, we are doing the Mendenhall Glacier Guide’s choice trail hike. It’s a 6 mile hike exploring the wonders of the Tongass National Forest. Check it out tomorrow.

Seniors Moment

I know that some of you have been waiting for our Senior’s Moments section. Well, we havent had one until we were told about one by an Australian couple from Brisbane. When she was going through boarding procedures in Seattle, the guy at the boarding gate said, “Could I see your boarding pass?” With hesitation, she presented her fingers thinking he had said, “Could I see your body parts?”

150522 Glacier Bay

Yesterday was what has become ‘just another day of sunshine’; perfect for viewing more glaciers in a beautiful region.

We slowly sailed up the Fjord and found Margerie Glacier and then moved around to the Johns Hopkins Inlet to find Lamplugh Glacier. The sun was warm and made some great photos. The day was spent just cruising by glaciers, some white, some well darkened by the debris that it had gathered along the slow journey down to the waters edge.

I don’t have much time to write today (Saturday morning) as we are about to catch a train in 30 minutes so I hope the photos do justice to our perfect day in Glacier Bay.

150521 Yakutat Bay

Yakutat Bay is often known as Hubbard Glacier. The Glacier is 6 miles wide and faces right on ocean water. The face of it is higher than our ship is.

We ‘crept’ into close proximity to the face but were still well back so we could view the splendour of glacial wall. Calving is the term used to describe when parts of a glacier fall into the water. We saw, but didn’t capture on film or movie, about 8 different calving moments. They just happen. First you see it, then you often hear the bang of the ice exploding off the face of the glacier into the water.

We found a good viewing position up the front of the ship but it meant we had sore bottoms at the end of the 90 minutes or so we spent approaching the glacier. As the front of the decks of the ship is ‘walled’ with glass, it is hard to find a spot where you can poke the camera lenses through to capture the moment. And, you have to ‘fight’ your way to that spot where 100’s of other viewers want to be too.

The ship stayed up close to the glacial wall for about an hour, spinning around for those who were viewing from their balconies to enjoy the sacredness of the slow movement of the glacier. I’m sure that if the weather was not the fabulous sunshine we had, the scene would not be as awe inspiring. You probably are wondering why there isn’t more photos in the post – many of them are the same, lol!

Tomorrow, we visit Glacier Bay National Park and get up close to two other glaciers, Margerie and Lamplugh, and pass by John Hopkins.