Victoria BC

This is the last posting to this blog. If you want to read it from the beginning you need to go to the first posting.

You can see some of the pictures we took at

https://picasaweb.google.com/107923363810248771461/AlaskaMay2011


We put into the port of Victoria at 8 am. In fact, we had been off the port of Victoria since around 10 pm the night before. I had arranged for our friend Dunstan Chicanot to meet us at the port. Dunstan lives in Duncan about 50 miles north of Victoria. Dunstan will repeatedly tell you that Duncan is well know as the home of the largest hockey stick in the world.

We had been given a bottle of wine in each cabin by our travel agent. As neither the Fiske's nor we drank the wine we decided to donate to Dunstan. I put our bottle in my back pack and I walked through Canadian boarder control with no questions. They had cleared the whole ship so that no one needed to show passports. Nancy Fiske carried her bottle in a plastic bag. When she got to the Canadian customs officer, he asked her what she had and she said it was a bottle of wine she intended to give to a friend. Well, lights went on and things heated up about 1 bottle of wine. The Canadian officer said this was not allowed and that she would have to take the bottle back to the ship. I was already outside with Chicanot and we waited at least for 10 minutes until the wine bottle problem was resolved. Apparently, the officer finally asked whether Nancy intended to drink part of the bottle and when she said yes, the problem was resolved. One has to wonder what the bureaucracy wastes its time on when there are bigger and more important issues than a bottle of wine.

We then took off with Chicanot in his rented limo, a suv which he had organized for the day. We visited Victoria and its outskirts and then went out to Royal Roads where I had graduated as a naval officer when this facility was a naval base. It is now the home of a university but it is still a beautiful location.
We returned to Fisherman's Wharf where Chicanot has a boat. He had arranged for us to bring our lunch to his neighbor Jean who has a lovely floating house on the wharf. It was an other beautiful day and we spent several hours with Jean enjoying her hospitality and eating our fish and chips. We even drank the wine which Nancy had negotiated out of customs. Jean is a charming lady who also is well known as a foster mother for many children with disabiities. She even was written up in the Reader's Digest last year.

We then left and reboarded our ship. That evening we headed out towards Seattle but in fact we headed west along the San Juan de Fuca away from Seattle as we only had 160 miles to go and about 12 hours to do it. Around 12 pm we turned around and headed back east. In the morning, we arrived in Seattle. We had been assigned a 9.30 disembarkation time and we went through customs and immigration with not problems. Our bags had been unloaded and were waiting for us in the arrival hall. We found our taxi and headed for the airport for our 1pm flight. The flight went smoothly and we were all home by 10pm that evening.

It was a great trip and going to Alaska by ship is a wonderful experience. I would recommend it. We were lucky to be able to find a 10 day trip and to go early in the season. I presume in summer the ships are not only very full, but there are many more children. Our travel agent Erna Turner did a super job and we can highly recommend her if you need to make bookings.

It was fun travelling with Nancy and Harry Fiske. This had been their first time on a cruise ship and I think they enjoyed it. Nancy who is a die hard New Englander told me at then end:" I would not be opposed to doing this again." I interpret this as being an expression of great satisfaction for a New Englander.

The ship itself was nice but one had the impression that they have cut corners to contain costs mainly by reducing the manpower at check in and even in the dining room where service was slow as each server had to cover too many clients. At least they did not try and charge us a fuel supplement which they could have done with the higher cost of fuel.
Brigitte and I still prefer longer trips as the hassle of getting to the ship boarding and returning is the same for a short or longer stay. We hope one day to another long trip but we are not sure when we will be able to do so.

Heading towards Victoria BC

After leaving Icy Strait we headed towards Victoria BC. It was daytime as we headed down the inland passage. At times, the passage is so close to each side of the ship, that 2 ships would have difficulty actually passing. These passages are the result of tectonic movement which moved pieces of land away from the mainland. They are very deep and mountains rise from the water up to snow in some places. The water is still and smooth and it is like gliding through the air. We spent hours in the main lounge and out on the deck watching the scenery go by. It was a wonderful experience. As night fell, were still navigating the passage. According to the brochure and even the navigation map at the reception desk, the next day we were scheduled to continue our passage through the channel between Vancouver Island and the mainland. In fact, the next morning we awoke not far off the Northern tip of Vancouver Island where the ship had stopped to off-load a sick passenger. At around 7am we were heading south but out in the Pacific, not through the inland passage as we had been promised. We were at sea, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I was quite upset as this inland passage of Vancouver Island is beautiful and I had looked forward to seeing it. No explanation was provided for the change in route. I visited the bridge that morning and asked the officer of the watch why we were not using the inland passage. He responded rather snootily: "We changed our minds". On board the ship, there were reps of Vacations.com through whom we had booked our trip. When I complained about the change, she told me that the line consistently promises the Vancouver Island inland passage and then opts for the easier Pacific side to Victoria. Of course, it is easier to navigate on the open ocean but the passengers do not get the promised route.

I have lodged a formal complaint with the line through our travel agent. At this time, June 3, I have still not heard a peep from the line. I have complained that they bait and switch by doing this. Of course, they have the right to do anything according to the conditions of a cruise ticket but this is deception of the kind one finds with used car dealer.

Icy Strait Point

This is stop where cruise lines stop each day in the season. The pier and the facilities were originally a canning plant. The plant went bankrupt many years ago. This is an interesting case of how a bad thing was turned into a better thing. The cannery was gutted and remodeled into a large area where there are now stores selling tourist things to cruise line passengers who are brought ashore in the life boats. In addition, from this point, a number of land excursions are available and one of the world's longest zip lines has been built. The tours employ local people and the zip line charges US$ 100 for a 90 second ride down the hill. The village itself is cannot be more than 1000 people, most of then natives. We took off in a bus to see if we could find bears. The tour went about 10 miles inland to an area which had been developed for tourists consisting of a mile long walkway with 2 or 3 platforms to 0bserve. We actually saw a bear about a half mile away but it was a leap of faith to say we saw it. We returned to the pier area, got a tender back to the boat and were ready to head south to Victoria via the inland passage.

The next morning we were going north along the coast of Alaska headed for the Hubbard glazier. The captain had promised that we would be there by 1pm and good to his word we got there on time. It was again a beautiful day with the sun shining. The captain pulled the ship into the bay and about a quarter mile from where the glacier met the sea.

A picture of this glacier can be seen at:

http://www.susanmilne.com/glacier/glacier.htm#hub

The ship nose was pointing to the glacier and the whole bay was filled with floating ice pieces. The captain then opened the helicopter pad on the ship bow for passengers to get as close to the ice as possible. It was quite a strange impression to be sitting looking the glacier and to see fairly large chunks of ice floating along the ship side. I was told that ship hull had been reinforced to allow such trips. We spent 4.5 hours sitting in the ice field. At one point, we saw a harbor seal sitting on one of the ice flows sunning himself. It was really a wonderful experience.

We then turned around and headed for our last Alaska stop in ICY strait.

Skagway

The following morning May 14th we were in Skagway where 100% of the economy is based on tourism. The normal population is about 900 in the winter but goes up to 4000 in the summer to serve the 1million tourists. This was the jump off point for the great gold rush of 1896. In fact, the gold rush did not happen in Skagway and not even in Alaska, it happened in the Dawson city in the Yukon which is a Canadian Territory. But Skagway was the the jump off point for those prospectors heading inland with their hopes and mining gear. At that time the city of Skagway grew to 10,000 people and the population of Dawson rose to 40,000. Both cities now have around 1000 persons living there year around.

We had organized to join a local travel agency tour to go from Skagway up through the White pass to the Yukon. We found our driver on the pier and loaded up with 10 others in a nice little bus. We had a great driver and guide who had been doing this tour for many years. Again, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. We drove through Skagway which is literally a one street town with a saloon, a museum brothel and a library and headed east on the White pass highway. It was a beautiful drive. This road connects Skagway Alaska and Dawson City Yukon, heart of the Klondike. Beginning at Skagway, the road climbs for 14 miles/22.5 km to the 3,292 foot/1003 m summit near the Alaska/Canada border. Between Skagway and the border the road roughly parallels the old White Pass Trail, an alternate to the Chilkoot Trail which ultimately proved more popular as it was the shorter of the two climbs. The only population center along the 114 miles/183 km of connecting routes between Skagway and Whitehorse is the small community of Carcross. The road passes the US custom house and goes through the Tormented Valley. The Canada US border is somewhere in Tormented Valley but the winters in this huge glacier formed valley of over 10 miles long is so bad that the boarder stations are actually placed at both ends of the valley. We stopped at various places to admire the scenery. There is a bridge on this road which is only attached at one end. The other end sits unattached on a platform allowing it swing with the earth movements. It is over a huge crevice so that crossing for the first time is a little tense. There are so many strong earth quakes in this area that this bridge solution allows the bridge to sway and give and has withstood the test of time. We stopped in the Carcross Desert, which is the smallest desert in the world, had lunch at some tourist camp and headed back down the road to Skagway. On the way, we saw some mountain goats and mountain sheep on the hills which were still partially snow covered.

The drive is unique and well worthwhile. One can do part of the way on a train which runs along the same route but the train does not allow as much flexibility to stop along the way.

We returned to our ship early and had a few hours to rest before heading off to our next destination, Hubbard Glacier. The trip down from Skagway was breath taking as it was at sunset and the mountains took on a pink coloring from the reflections. Alaska is uniquely beautiful and one has to be there to really get the full impression. Around about 10pm I was sitting on our balcony watching the beautiful scenery go by when I noticed that we were going around in a circle. On the public address system, they had been paging some women for over an hour. I found out the next day that the lady was elderly and had not heard the page. They found her and we continued on our way.

Juneau

The next morning we arrived in Juneau which is also reached by a narrow Fjord which ends at Juneau. Both Juneau, the capital of Alaska and Ketchican have no road connection to the outside world and can only be reached by air or sea. Airplanes are constantly landing and departing these planes from land and more often from the water. 20% of Alaskans fly planes which apparently does not mean they all have licences...

Juneau is a town of 30,000 people which is built between towering mountains and the water. It is not a very pretty place. We headed out to visit the Mendenhall Glacier which is about 10 miles from Juneau. On can almost walk up to this glacier. I took a walk up to the Mendenhall Falls which took me across an expanse of sandy beach on which there were bear footprints everywhere. Luckily none were out when I was there as bears are really not a friendly animal, despite our culture of Teddy bears and Whinney the pooh... Bear kill. Bears have bad dispositions. Even playing dead will not ensure that you will not end up being dead. The story is told that if you see a bear chasing you and you climb a tree with the bear coming up with you, it is a black or American bear. If the bear grabs the tree you are in and uproots it, you are dealing with a grizzlie bear. If you start to run and find that there are no trees, you have got a polar bear on your tail. Either way, you are probably toast. While in Juneau we saw a mother and 4 cubs on a hill right in front of our ship and just behind a T-Shirt shop. They were grazing hapily and hundreds of tourists were staring at them.

On our day in Juneau, our travel companion Nancy Fiske could not join us. The day before she had reported to sick bay with an upset stomach. Ship doctors do not like stomach problems on ships as they are very contagious. He told Nancy to stay in her cabin for 24 hours. Less than 12 hours later, in Juneau, Madame tried to come ashore with us to go to the glacier. When she swiped her ID card, lights went on and she was told she could not go ashore and was ordered back to her cabin. Harry and Nancy were not happy but the system worked.

That evening we left for Skagway. To get to Skagway, we need to go back down south on the Gastineau Channel before heading north to Skagway as the channel ends in Juneau.

Ketchican

On May 11th, we awoke at sea off the west coast of Vancouver Island heading north to Alaska. (Sound like a song...) The sea was quiet and the sun was shining. As a matter of fact, during the 10 days of our trip, it rained only 1 day and we were at sea that day. We were told repeatedly that this was unusually good weather for a trip to Alaska.

We decided to have our breakfast in our room as room service on the ship is free, except for a small tip one gives to the person who delivers the food. That morning I went to the gym to get some exercise. I find this important on a ship where one tends to eat more because it is always there. My routine is never to use the elevators on a ship so that I get to climb and go down some 20 floors on any given day. Tough the first few days, but it gets easier with exercise. The day at sea was relaxing and we spent it partly in our cabin reading and partly in the main forward lounge where the view is always spectacular.

We met the Fiske's for dinner which was formal that evening. This means that one needs to put on a tie. Our 6 pm sitting was a good time as it allowed a long evening. Waiting for the 8 pm sitting can be tough for may people. We did not try any 3 or 4 of the specialty restaurants as one has to pay for dinner there and the food comes from the same kitchen. It is just an other way for the ship companies to increase revenues and in fact cost passenger double what they charge as food is already paid for in the ticket costs.

The next morning, the sun came up at around 5am so I was able to see our approach into Ketchican which is along a beautiful fjord not much wider than 30 yards. The water is deep but on that morning is was mirror clear. We pulled into the new cruise ship pier and within 15 minutes of our arrival 3 other cruise ships arrived. Thus between crew and passengers, the population of Ketchican which is 7000 had just doubled in about 30 minutes!

Ketchican used to live off logging, pulp and fish canning. The pulp industry has disappeared and salmon canning is done by one modern cannery which operates only 2 months a year. Thus tourism is the main industry now. Ketchican is also known as the town which would have got the "Bridge to nowhere" which was being pushed by the Alaska senators. The bridge would have been longer than the golden gate bridge and higher than the Brooklyn Bridge. It would have gone from the town of Ketchican to a small island on which 50 people live and where the Ketchican "International" Airport is now. The airport is called International as it has a flight once a week to British Colombia in Canada. The airport is currently served by a ferry which takes about 350,000 cars across to the airport per year compared to 43 million across the Golden Gate bridge. This bridge would have cost US$398 million. Luckily, this project was thrown out by congress.

We had booked a tour through the ship to take a 4.5 hour boat trip down to Misty Fjiord National Monument located some 40 miles east of Ketchican. We boarded our fast boat just across from the pier at which our ship was tied up. This boat can travel at 30 knots which is superfast. The trip out was beautiful as one traveled through calm water with mountains rising right out of the water. The scenery in Alaska is certainly more impressive than anything we had seen and far more beautiful than any pictures show. It is also a place where one sees more wildlife than anywhere in the world outside of Africa. During this trip we saw many types of fish and water birds, bears, moutain sheep and goats.

The trip to the Misty Fjiord took about 90 minutes. We then stayed in the fjord for 30 minutes before heading back to Ketchican. This trip was worth the money we paid. When got back to town we still had time to visit the many shops catering to tourists. I found one which was selling authentic, made in Alaska native art. I was fascinated to see the beautiful pieces this store had which were made out of Walrus tusk ivory. The walrus ivory is worked on in two small islands off Nome and certainly rivals any ivory work I have seen in my travels. I got Brigitte a piece as a souvenir of our trip. It is expensive but beautiful.

That evening we headed out of Ketchican north towards Juneau, our next stop. We passed the Ketchican airport, sorry International airport where the terminal is about 200 below the level of the runway. This means departing planes have to go up a steep incline to get to the one runway of the airport which does not seem very busy. Who knows, a US$400 million bridge could have made all the difference?