We are on a boat, well actually a cruise ship – so a really BIG boat! It is the luxury experience that we have looked forward to since leaving New Zealand. It is also the start of the end: the next time we enter a country it will be for work purposes.
Getting on the ship on Canada day was perhaps a bit of a mistake. There were parades, events, and crowds of people all along the waterfront – perhaps next year we will attend them. But all of this made it that much harder to roll our suitcases down to the dock. But after in inordinate period of time waiting to go through customs for the United States (why does it always take so long?), we finally made it onboard – just in time for our first buffet lunch. Food will become a theme for this cruise – breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner are all included, we can either go to the buffet or to the three-course dining room. Either way, I am pretty sure that we all put on at least 5 kilograms, maybe even more. We went to the Steak speciality restaurant one night – it was four courses – where we actually had to come back the next night to eat the dessert!
We set sail pretty quickly once we were all aboard. It was to be a full day and a half of travel before we made it to our next port – an immediate test of our stomachs and our likelihood of getting sea sick. Luckily for us, no one seems too far bad off. Later in the trip I would experience a short spell of slight greenness, but it passed fairly quickly. It was nice sitting in the dining room and watching the shoreline go by.
That shore was soon to disappear on the full day at sea. But not to worry, I had everyone sorted out and in line so as not to get bored. I think cruise ships are made for people like me, always somewhere to go, something to see. That first morning I had everyone up and at the “Introduction to Cruising” seminar. Before you groan – this is where Lindsay and Rosanne won an upgrade to elite status (free washing, free minibar, access to the member’s lounge, invite to the captain’s party, and a free wine tasting), so the whole thing was well worth attending. Unfortunately, they were only giving one away – so Laurence and I could only share with them instead of having our own. Over the day we attended a few seminars, looked at some artwork, and ate (a lot). I think we all went to bed ready for port in the morning (I don’t think any of us would be good at weeks between ports – the ship is a limited amount of space and even with the events, there is only so much you can fit into the day).
Our first stop was Ketchikan, Alaska. We had decided in advance what we were going to do in each port and this one was allocated to relax, shop, and have a general look around. We did a little bit of shipping (Laurence and his t-shirts), found some places for coffee (Laurence and his espresso, Rosanne and her flat whites), but there was not much to do. Ketchikan is a small little town, it has an ‘old’ part (quite old) that is basically one street where all the hookers hung out. But apart from that it is set up for the American tourists – jewellery, coats, knick-knacks, etc. Nothing that we were likely to buy. We did hear a story (which will become the second theme to this trip) about a bear walking through the town that morning (photographic proof and all), but we did not see it. Instead we went to the member’s lounge for a cocktail and a couple of hands of cards. We did manage to see the whale breeching (launching up out of the water and then belly flopping on the water – we were told that this is extremely rare as it is something that they do when they are mating in Hawaii, not in Alaska. They said that the whale was probably itchy and scratching its barnacles).
After another evening of eating, we made it to Juneau. Unfortunately, it was a rainy and misty day (apparently, they have a lot of those up there). We had planned on going up the cable car and exploring a mountain path that morning, but we limited ourselves to the inside portion of this plan. Once up the cable car, not much could be seen – I definitely think that this would have been worthwhile on a sunny day (if they get any of those). After a quick lunch on the boat Rosanne and I we to our Glacier and Whale Watching Tour, Lindsay and Laurence went to the pub to await our return.
Once again, there are normally bears in the area (especially when the salmon is running – which we late this year because of a late thaw), but we only saw bear scat. The whale watching would prove to be much more eventful. We saw quite a few humpback whales doing various things; launch fishing (launching itself across the top pf the water to catch all the little fish there), deep diving (where you see their tail flick up out of the water), and bubble net feeding (when they hunt in a group -our group had five or six whales – which is done by blowing bubbles out of their blowholes beneath the surface of the water while circling the fish. The fish tighten up into one area and cannot escape because of the bubbles. One whale will then sound a call, all whales will the swim from underneath with their mouths open – catching the fish on the way up). It was really fun to see the whales complete these varied actions, I think that we were very lucky.
Our last port of call prior to the land portion was Skagway. We spent the morning wandering around the little town, enjoying the sunshine (I know – sun!). In the afternoon we took a drive up the White pass and caught the train back down. We were really lucky with the weather as it was stunning to see the drive and rail portions of the pass. The landscape was beautiful, but I would not have wanted to be one of the many gold miners trying to come through the area in the dead of winter with no transportation except for my own two feet.
Over the next few days we were treated to glaciers and wildlife – otters (some with little babies on their tummies), seals, eagles, and I am sure many others that I can no longer remember. We were, once again, lucky with our choice of cruise liner as we could enter Glacier Bay – an incredible place that is very hard to get to if you are not on a cruise.
Our final port of call, and the beginning of the land portion, was Whittier. We hopped off the boat very early one morning and promptly entered a glass-roofed train to McKinley. On the way we saw Dall sheep, various birds, and an eagles nest (but not Laurence because he was kindly buying me some chips to eat – oops!). We had a short stay in town (long enough to eat giant burgers) and then took the bus to our lodge. As, once again, the weather was not the best we spent most of our time inside. Rosanne unfortunately came down with the sickness (like quite a few people who had been cruising around going from heated inside, to freezing outside on a regular basis) so she spent most of the time in the room. Lindsay, Laurence, and I entertained ourselves by eating some more.
As we only had a very short stay here (more like a stepping stone to our true destination) I took a walk around the property early the next morning, once again there were not any bears – not even bear scat. We attended a presentation on a red-tailed hawk (a live one) and very much enjoyed it when people tried to get too close. Soon after we boarded the bus to Denali National Park. On the way we saw some moose, just hanging out – watching us go by.
Danali National Park was a pretty cool place. It was like a resort on one side and an old gold-mining town on the other – quite a stark difference. Lindsay and I headed out pretty early the next morning for a walk in the forest. We saw some beaver dams, some bear scat, some squirrels, a couple of moose, but no bears (we did not really expect to as we were only just in the forest, but it would have been nice).
We then met up with Laurence and Rosanne to see a dog sledding exhibition. The dogs were excited and seems to be well taken care of, but I think that it was just the wrong time of year (no snow) – next time I see dog sleds, it better be in winter!
That afternoon we took a HUGE bus ride into the wilderness. We did manage to see a couple of caribou, but no bears. We did hear that some people that went about 50km further into the park saw a bear with her two cubs, but alas – that was not us.
Making our way to Fairbanks, our final stop, was uneventful. A couple of cool stops for photos, but no bears. Our first stop in Fairbanks was the riverboat. We cruised down the river on an old paddleboat while quite a show was put on for us – a float plane taking off and landing a few times, another dog sled demonstration, and a one nation village demonstration. In the village we could see the traditional areas that they had for their summer camps (fishing camps); the smokehouse, the reindeer enclosure, the living quarters, etc. It was very interesting and well worth the time.
After a quick look around the town, at the big pipeline there, and at the community centre with local artists we headed to the airport with another state ticked off the list (13 so far!) See ya later Alaska!