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| 27th level apartment |
We were excited to be flying into Vancouver City and having a familiar face to meet us as we got off the plane. It was 6.00pm Monday evening so Blair had finished work and was waiting in his auto (no one drives a "stick-shift" in North America) Mazda 6 to take us across the city and into his downtown apartment that he shares with Jan. They generously offered us a part of their space and we were soon comfy and fed. While Blair and Jan worked Diana and I wandered the streets of downtown, Diana mostly looking at clothes to wear with the man with the 10 quid suit. While our sandals and shorts had equipped us well throughout our trip so far we had the impression that they would not quite cut the mustard on the Holland America Line. This shopping required more than one day so while one shopped the other geocached about the place.....I enjoyed my day. After I navigated my way home it was pretty high tech to be able to open up the iPad and track the sales Diana was making as they debited from our account and instantly showed up in the Inbox!
We had a few days of dining out downtown with a few of Blair's friends and tidying up our wardrobes. At 2.30pm on the 15th we boarded the Holland America Line's Zaandam to cruise the inside passage of Alaska. We have a nice balcony "stateroom" which in plain language means 'cabin' but stateroom sounds better. The first day and a half was spent motoring northwards along the coast which gave us plenty of time to explore our ship. There are 1500 passengers and 603 crew (mostly Indonesian and Phillipino), all very friendly and well organised. The ship is 220 metres long and 34 m wide, uses 65,000 litres of diesel per day and has a top speed of 38 kms per hour. I don't think we are at top speed as we are dodging among islands most of the time. It is fairly palacious with plush carpets, gleaming metal work and several lounges and bars. We won't go hungry as there are numerous options from burgers by the pool to full formal dining in the Rotterdam Restaurant (time to unfold the ten quid suit). Fortunately it also has a gym with an expansive sea view to take your mind off the hard work.
It didn't take too long for the motoring and the exploring to become tiresome so we were pleased to see Juneau, the capital of Alaska and our first shore excursion. The weather was not great with all flight-seeing cancelled. There are numerous options for shore excursions and fortunately we chose whale watching by boat and a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier. The whale watching was exciting and we saw over 20 humpback whales, mostly as they dived. We had seen whales while motoring on the inside passage, they were rearing out of the water and crashing back with a great splash evidently to try and remove critters off their hides. Quite spectacular but very difficult to photograph. While on our whale watch we were also taken to a colony of sea lions. Following the water excursion we boarded a bus that took us a short way out of town where we could view the receding Mendenhall Glacier. We didn't choose to walk on the glacier but it was an impressive site from the viewing platforms. We also dropped by a small creek to see red coloured salmon heading up stream to lay their eggs. Some of the track was closed as the bears also enjoy this activity and not just for viewing!
Back on the Zaandam we bedded down as the ship slung it's hook and motored away from the wharf. When we woke up we were in Skagway, a little further north. Skagway is a town of 800 in the summertime that totally relies on th the tourist trade and four cruise liners a day. There are no balls left on the brass monkeys in winter so the service people head south to warmer climes. The four cruise ships a day provide about 6000 walking wallets so I guess they do OK in a fairly isolated location. Unlike Juneau and Ketchikan, our other two shore excursion destinations, Skagway has access by road via the Yukon Highway. Sea and air are the only way to reach the other two little towns.
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| Dewey Lake Trail |
We went for a bush walk first thing in the morning for the good of our health but also to check out the native bush here. I couldn't help thinking that we were in an exotic forest, my brain seems entrenched with the idea that conifers are exotic...40 years in NZ forestry might be difficult to erase. The bush that we saw was mostly hemlock and Sitka spruce with a few cedars thrown in. Pleasant walking on well marked trails.
In the afternoon we took a train ride on the historic White Pass railroad that covered quite a bit of the history of the Klondike gold rush. As usual, a few people got very rich and many left with empty pockets and a broken heart. The journey took us back into Canada so we had to do the border crossing bit and 30 minutes later were waved back into Alaska. The train ride was excellent, rising from Skagway on the edge of the Sound and up through forest, about 35 kms, into stunted mountain vegetation (where they get 5 metres of snow lying in winter) to an altitude of 875 metres.
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| North Sawyer Glacier |
Back on our cruise liner we ate excellent food as usual, tidied up a bottle of Nobilo and sank into our very comfortable bed...and got rocked to sleep. On waking on Tuesday morning we were in Tracey Arm Sound and the cliff walls were closing in on us. We continued a long way into this Sound until we got up very close to the glacier and pretty much ran out of water. It was brilliant and a real treat to have such a big ship so close. The seals were lazing around in the freezing waters just to add to the majesty. The crew did a great job manoeuvring us amongst the icebergs and it is not very often that trips can do it due to inclement conditions. Our lucky day. We must have taken a hundred photos so a bit of culling will be required when we get home.
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| North Sawyer Glacier |
'We' (actually the eagle-eye hunter of us) spotted some wild sheep living on a cliff face on the way out so another burst with the camera.......thank goodness for digital photography
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