September 15-22 - Cruising south through the Inside Passage
Most of our trip pictures were taken from the inside of a plane, train, boat, or bus. Since it was hard to get perfect images on a moving vehicle, it was tough to find really good images, but alas, I have found and chosen some of the better ones. Please excuse and understand any glare distractions, or blurred foregrounds. I am setting up this site in three parts: pre-cruise - Denali; cruise/excursions - Inside Passage; and post cruise - Vancouver, BC. I will try to hold the number of pictures to 50 or less on each page. So scroll away with us on our wonderful trip.
Our stateroom with veranda. This proved to be a great place to be when we were visiting the Hubbard glacier.
Our first night on the cruise was getting to know the ship. We also had a safety
exercise showing us the proper way to put on the life preserver and where to go to our life boats. Luckily
we never needed any of them except when we anchored off shore and had to use the life boats as taxis.
Next morning we would be sailing towards Hubbard Glacier.
Oh, look, Bob! The Hubbard Glacier! Our first day at sea, scenic cruising to the glacier where we
will spend over an hour about 1/4 mile from the foot which breaks off into the ocean. It took over an hour for
our ship to get there from where we are in this picture.
We are getting closer. Anticipation is getting the better of me. Flashbacks to my geology
instructor explaining what a glacier is and how it is created.
There are a couple feeder glaciers adding to the ice sheet.
Incredible color blue of this ice. You can also see the layers of gravel that have been picked up while creating the valley
it is moving down. The ship slowly maneuvered in circles so all on board could have a good look at the glacier.
Standing out on our veranda, I was taken back with the stillness and almost silence -- it was a little eerie. Then ever so nonchalantly
an amazing sound of the monster's creaking, groaning, cracking broke the stillness. Sometimes it sounded like a jet
breaking the sound barrier or a bolt of lightning slowly cracking the evening air.
After one of those tremendous cracklings and groanings you would hear a splash as
part of the giant's foot would calve off and plunge into the sea. The ship had to stay about a quarter of a mile
away which was deemed a "safe" distance. No telling what the size piece of ice would break off, but most weren't as
huge as I imagined. The pieces of ice floated calmly out to sea.
This piece of ice looked like a little piggy on its back.
This was a beautiful end to our first full day at sea. Tomorrow we go whale watching!
Every evening Bambang our steward would turn down the bed, create an interesting towel animal, and give us a couple chocolates.
Elephant.
Right after breakfast, the "tenders" started taxiing people to their various excursions from Icy Strait Point.
Some went early to fish for halibut and some like us went whale watching a little later. The tenders were several of our
life boats. Our ship had to anchor quite a ways out because the harbor wasn't deep enough.
This is a salmon cannery which has been restored and has a museum. It opened to cruise lines in 2004.
Icy Strait Point
It was sad to see the clear-cutting on the side of the mountain. Really doesn't make for a very
picturesque scene. From Seward to Icy Strait Point we traveled about 549 nautical
miles (1 NM = 1.12 statute miles = 1.85 Kilometers).The Statendam is powered by
5 diesel generators, has two propulsion motors, and consumes 72 tons of diesel fuel a day.
The potable water production is 100 tons a day with consumption of 500 tons a day.
It weighs 55,819 tons, is 719 feet in length,111 feet wide, carriers 1,313 guest, and
575 crew members. Its maximum speed is 20.9 knots. Our cabin steward
was Bambang from Java; our dining waiter was from Bali.
Three humpback whales are showing off. The one in the lead is "sounding" which is where they will
dive to great depths. Once they do this, you don't know where they will come up next.
Quite a sight to behold.
Here is a short QuickTime movie of our whale sightings. I don't have a video camera.
This little clip is actually three edited clips put together and sound added.
(My first attempt... be kind now.)
We were given a wood chip by one of the Indian hosts. If you make a wish as you drop the chip into the fire....
it just might come true... or so legend has it.
As we put our cedar chip into the fire, this raven cawed "Good Luck!"
Thanks for visiting Icy Strait Point... now go home and leave me alone!
We were thrilled to see a piggy on our bed.
Our cruise ship seems to be coming down Main Street, Skagway! The cruise companies are really the "gold rush"
for these towns. We were on one of the last cruises for the season... everything was on sale
in the stores. Money flowed like the gold rush days. We did stop for lunch at
the Red Onion which was a saloon and brothel.
The Artic Brotherhood Hall, built in 1899 and restored just recently. The front is entirely
covered with sticks which create this interesting pattern.
They used what they had plenty of.
Other cruise lines in port. The town was crowded mid morning. Another smaller one will come in around that time also.
We hurried off our ship to catch the excursion to White Pass by train.
Soon our train will be crossing that wooden bridge you see in the middle of this pictures. We are on the other side of
Dead Horse Canyon on our way through White Pass. This is the route the gold rushers took first by pack horse then by train.
A closer look at the bridge. Looks a little shaky to me. We did not go very fast over that thing! We will be
going through a tunnel as we cross this bridge.
This is a portion of what remains of the trail the gold rush stampeders took to get to the Yukon.
Thousands of gold seekers walked single file with their hoses ladened with provisions on this narrow path.
Read about Alaska's Gold and Gold Rush Stories at the Alaska State Library
Dead Horse Canyon is appropriately named since the pack horses were easily losing their footing and falling to their death
from the trail. There are still bones found in the stream.
Rapids rushing through the canyon.
Our ship is barely seen docked at Skagway. We are climbing towards that rickety wooden tressle bridge and the TUNNEL!
Still climbing.
We can look across the canyon to see a train coming up where we were awhile back.
Our train crept ever so slowly... not because it was steep track, but because the
old rickety wooden tressle bridge was OLD! and RICKETY!
The inside of the tunnel.
Back down in Skagway is this old rotary snowplow. I'm sure it saw a lot of use.
A lobster.
Can you find our ship? We are docked right in Juneau harbor.
Juneau, the capital of Alaska from our stateroom veranda. It rained most of the time we were there. I didn't care, I found
an internet cafe with the most wonderful mint tea. Bob and the stamp group went to a meeting hosted by the
local stamp club.... I ran back to the ship, got my laptop, and went back to the cafe. I caught up
on my emails, drank hot mint tea, and watched people outside getting wet!
First stop before a little sightseeing. It hadn't started raining yet. We decided not to take an excursion and just walk around
town. Bob and the stamp group had that meeting to go to. We had a leisurely walk about town.
Being a state capital, I had to take a picture of the capital building. There is no dome!
Just an interesting art deco front entrance.
This totem is very old and has been reinforced at the base. The building it is standing in front of is the Juneau Museum.
It is a nice city museum. We went inside to look at the displays. It had started to drizzle.
Some of the art done by native and resident artists.
Ancient salmon trap in the case. Hanging above is a new one.
Silly me, taking a picture of a Victorian etched window and door. This window reminded me of the one
on our front door of the house I grew up in. My grandfather built the house for my grandmother's wedding
present. The door isn't all that different either.
As we were leaving the museum, I spotted this cut-off from this tree. Doesn't it look a little like a pig?
This is the Russian Orthodox church which is still in use today. It shows the influence of this once-owned by Russia territory.
Would you say this is a snake?
Welcome to Ketchican.
I thought this church's whiteness was a beautiful contrast to the darkening sky. It also shows that the sun does come out
once in awhile in Ketchican. Our tour guide said very seldom is it sunny in Ketchican. Ketchican is a rain forest.
A Tlingit Indian beaver lodge. This is where the Indians would hold their ceremonies and town meetings.
We will go into the lodge a little later.
Just a little history of the totems.
Restoration in progress. This is one of the largest and oldest totems in the area.
There are some really wonderfully carved totems. This Saxman village has the most totems in Alaska.
OUCH!
Old Abe symbolizes the ship USS Abraham Lincoln which supposedly the crew saved the area natives
from their enemies. The image of Lincoln was carved because the Indians didn't believe in portraying inanimate
objects. The person sitting on a box is depicting Sec. of State, William Seward who
purchased Alaska for $7,200,000 from the Russians. At the time it was called "Seward Folley"
or "Johnson's Ice Box" -- but who got the last laugh, it became a very rich resource for the US.
Totems on order. It takes about 6 months to carve one.
Inside the lodge we were given a demonstration of the Tlingit Indian dances.
The dancers are from different families within the tribe... the back of their costumes depict which
family they are from. One of the dancer's little girl is allowed to partake in the ceremony. This is the way
she will learn to do traditional dances and songs. She stole the show.
(I don't have the native dance sound track, so you will hear John Denver singing "Wind Song.")
On our way now to Vancouver, British Columbia. We will dock in the morning. Bob and I decided to stay in Vancouver for
a couple days to see the sights.
Our last sunset at sea.
Swan.
Copyright 2006 Karen Porteous Glass. All rights reserved.