Part 2: Vancouver and Alaska & Canada's Inside PassageWe arrived at Calgary Airport in good time for our flight to Vancouver and after checking in our luggage we had ample time for a meal. The flight was short and uneventful, although we did cross into another time zone making us now eight hours behind UK time. Our pre-booked taxi was waiting to collect us and our luggage and a swift journey through the crowded streets of Vancouver was made and our hotel for the night was reached.
An arrangement had been made to leave two suitcases at the hotel while we were on the cruise, an arrangement they were well used to judging by the ease with which the operation was handled. Having arrived in early evening we did not have time to explore any of Vancouver on this occasion and settled on a light evening meal and a couple of drinks at our hotel before an early night and preparation for the cruise.
Sunday 27/7A taxi was ordered for the journey to the docks, our driver was an avid cricket fan and played the game regularly in a local league, at least he and I enjoyed the conversation, Josie may well choose to differ!
We have never been on a cruise before, or been to the USA or Canada, and when all UK passport holders were summoned to a separate queue we somewhat naively assumed we would be getting special treatment... we were, instructions on how to fill out a USA Visa Waiver as we would be sailing in US waters and landing in Alaska. The instructions were being given by a special team of ladies who were probably trained by either Special Services or Retired Headmistresses, or more probably a combination of the two. Any attempt at leaving your chair without first having your application checked by one the ladies was met by a loud "Where do you think you are going? Sit back down immediately and wait while you are called". "Called what?" I wondered. It was however common-sense as any slight error was being seized on by the US customs which led to delays for some, not us though as our intensive training in form filling proved successful. Boarding and finding our cabin were accomplished and we set off on an exploration of the ship. It seemed like a maze, when below decks it was not always easy to work out which way we were heading, this should be fun!
As we left the harbour some guests were already sitting down to eat in the fine sunshine, as our luggage had been delivered to our room we chose to get the unpacking out of the way. We were still in the room when a compulsory safety drill was announced and at least our previous reconnaissance was rewarded when we found our section's meeting point at our first attempt. Having proved we could successfully fasten our life-jackets we were dismissed, the crew's efficiency in marshalling people who just wanted to get on with their holiday was splendid.
Monday 28/7The beautiful weather lasted into the evening, much longer than the mobile signal, and we watched the sunset from the open deck. The next morning as we made our way steadily north and slightly west into yet another time zone, rain... lots of it too, no outside diners today and not many outside explorers, I ventured out a few times to scan the seas on the opposite side to our cabin but I met very few people. We spent most of the day on our balcony reading and further exploring the ship. We paid a set fee for internet access which bought us quite a large amount of time, that time seemed to be being spent staring at unmoving screens and my impatience did not go un-noticed. A kind gentleman from the communications desk offered some advice which basically meant that going slower may prove more fruitful than hammering away impatiently at the keyboard! He was to be proved correct and communications with home were established, all was well. Returning to the room and the balcony we were lucky to see whales in the distance, probably Humpbacks judging by the blow and the fin. Our first landing in Alaska which would be tomorrow at Ketchikan necessitated getting up at 5.00am so an early night was essential and the alarm clock was checked at least twice!
Tuesday 29/7What chaos at breakfast as what seemed like the whole ship full of guests sought breakfast at the same time, I seemed to be constantly reminded of the virtues of patience. We had done some research before our trip and one of the benefits of that research was to be reaped today – waterproofs! Jealous looks were cast our way as we donned our gear and boy was it needed, great swathes and squalls of heavy rain fell as we left the ship to await our transport. One of the locals told us Ketchikan gets between 13 and 16 feet of rain a year, Wikipedia quotes the average as 12' 8" so if he was exaggerating it was not by much!
Our chosen trip today was to a temperate rain forest area and a guided walk, first we had a short bus trip to the small boat harbour. An exciting ride in an inflatable yellow boat with very powerful engines was the prelude to the walk, plentiful sightings of Bald Eagles and a very knowledgeable skipper Gretchen made the journey full of interest.
On reaching Betton Island our party was split into two groups, the boarded pathway in the forest was narrow and small groups were recommended to help stay with earshot of the guide. We were in the first group and our guide was Ryan, chatting to him as we walked I discovered he was an ex-serviceman, having served with the 101st Airborne Division he thought guiding people through the forest was much more relaxing!
One of the features of the area is the lack of soil, 3 to 4 inches at most, but it is highly nutritious as all the trees and vegetation are eventually rotted back into the ground. This leads to recently fallen trees becoming home to other trees or at least saplings, it really is an amazing sight as they grow sideways and at all angles. Giant slugs and fungi thrive in the forest along with an occasional squirrel and Ryan also showed us the impressive skunk cabbage leaves.
When a bear is preparing to hibernate it eats lots of gravel and other things to stop it doing what it normally would in the woods! After waking in Spring it needs a little help to start the process up again, skunk cabbage is evidently one of nature's strongest laxatives.
It was a fascinating walk, full of interest and over all too soon. Our return to Ketchikan left us with a couple of hours to explore the town, one interesting area raised on a boardwalk above the river was a good place for a walk. We were visiting at the wrong time to see fish on the salmon ladder but we could now shed the waterproofs as the rain stopped and the sun came out. The local history disclosed that the area on the stilts was built circa 1900 and until 1950 it had been the red light area, it was now mainly cafes and restaurants. There was one building where you could go upstairs for 5 dollars... it was a museum!
Some shopping concluded our time in Ketchikan and then it was time to get back to the ship ready for departure. Some time sending and collecting email from home revealed that there was no developments yet although Lisa feels it will not be long now. Tomorrow morning, Wednesday 30th July, we would arrive in Juneau where we are booked on a four hour whale watching trip on a catamaran. The evening passed quietly on calm seas. There are many different excursions when a ship docks, today most of them had started at around the same time which may have explained the breakfast time chaos, a look at the schedule for the next day showed trips at all sorts of times so hopefully an improvement will be seen.
Juneau sits in Sun Dum Bay, and for a while it was the home of the great adventurer John Muir after whom the 211 mile trail from the Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney is named.
Wednesday 30/7
And so it proved, a leisurely breakfast in not too crowded surroundings preceded our departure from the ship to seek our bus pick up. We spotted a young lady holding up a sign which corresponded with our trip details, and so we met Erin, a young lady with as crazy a sense of humour as I have ever encountered. She drove the bus meticulously while entertaining us as she chatted over the microphone, "Welcome to Juneau" she announced " If you didn't know already Juneau is on an island, there are three ways to get here... plane , boat or birth canal!" and as we went down a steep narrow hill with a right angled bend at the bottom... "This bit of road is a little scary, it's OK to shut your eyes though... I usually do!" were just a couple of the snippets that made the journey a joy to be part of.
Our catamaran journey started from Auke Bay and went around Shelter Island with a small detour into Lynn Canal along the way. The reason for our booking this particular trip was because Humpback Whale sightings are almost guaranteed and we were not disappointed. Very soon into the journey a female and her calf were spotted and very obligingly they stayed close to the surface for a good while, the grace and power of these creatures is fantastic as they rolled and almost played in the water. A cluster of Sea Lions on a navigational marker spotted as we passed the half way point on our journey, and then we came across a group of large adult Humpbacks. At up to 60 feet long and 30 tons these are very large creatures to be close to, this group of 8 or 9 came very close to our craft, with their characteristic blow being heard, seen and smelled very clearly. We returned to Auke Bay very, very happy and then had another splendid journey with Erin, including a guide to the quality shops in Juneau.
As tourism has developed around the ports the shipping companies have bought up properties and opened their own shops, for us at least the local shops beat them hands down for quality. Back at the ship another exchange of e-mails with Lisa disclosed that she was starting to feel some labour pains but felt well so we felt re-assured.
As we sailed on the captain announced we were heading to the Tracy Arm Fjord hopefully to see the Sawyer Glacier, but that would depend on the amount of debris i.e. icebergs in the water. As we sailed into the narrowing inlet small icebergs appeared, the sea became more turquoise from the glacial melt and it just got more and more beautiful. Dozens of waterfalls pounded into the sea from the near vertical cliffs and more and larger icebergs became visible. All too soon it ended as we felt the ship slow almost to a stop, the captain announced that he felt it would be too dangerous to proceed and so we turned and the journey to Skagway resumed.
Thursday 31/7We reached 59º 27.00N 135º 19.64W which is the small town of Skagway, and for a small town it has a lot of history back in the days of the Klondike Gold Rush. The current population fluctuates between one and two thousand people, depending on the season. The number of visitors per year is close to one million so no prizes for guessing that tourism is the main industry! The White Pass to Yukon railroad started from here and it was that which revolutionised the Gold Rush providing the necessary means to transport people in and gold out.
The wonderful book by Jack London "The Call Of The Wild" is partly set in Skagway.
For our eight hour stay in the town we had booked one excursion, intending to spend the rest of time exploring and savouring the area. The excursion was to a dog mushing camp in the Chilkoot Mountains, a small bus was waiting by the docks and our driver Toby introduced himself as he checked our tickets and invited us to take our seats. As the mountains rise almost straight from the water's edge it did not take long to reach the camp. The dog camp is a breeding and rehabilitation centre for the sled dogs, a circuit has been prepared which can be used either on the traditional sleds on snow in winter, or on wheeled buggies in summer which is what we would be experiencing shortly. We met our sled team leaders who explained how the dogs are trained and fed, not too much uphill work is undertaken as they do want the dogs to be over muscled, it is more distance and endurance, almost like a marathon runner. The food is the same idea, special preparations of slow release food are the norm together with reasonable portions of meat.
The ride was exhilarating, fast and bumpy and not too many opportunities for photographs apart from the brief stops while the dogs were watered.
Back at camp we had the opportunity to listen to a talk by a young gentleman by the name of Joe Gans who had completed the Iditarod Sled Race at his first attempt. He explained that substitute dogs were not allowed, you started with sixteen and finished with whatever you had left. Mandatory health tests on the dogs were carried out at checkpoints along the way, what happened to the excluded dogs was up to the sled rider – Joe was rightly proud of the fact that he had only three dogs excluded during the race and he had them all transported back to his base, and they had now fully recovered. What was left unsaid, but understood, was that not all the mushers treated their dogs so compassionately.
In temperatures that reach both plus and minus 40c and over a distance of 1100 miles the dedication of both man and dogs were to be applauded. They were, and warmly. On our return to Skagway we found a pleasant saloon to enjoy a couple of drinks, there was no piano player and no batwing doors, but the wooden boardwalks and the old buildings lent themselves to the feeling of being somewhere that had seen some real history.
We took a walk around the town enjoying a good lunch along the way and then spotted a small booth advertising local adventures, all these places are licensed by the boat companies and all the trips fit in with the departure times so after disclosing the name of our ship a small number of opportunities were offered. Train ride? No don't think so... Well there is a four seater plane trip over some glaciers and there are normally good wildlife sightings along the way... Mmm, can we take a few minutes to discuss that one? Josie and I took a short stroll along the boardwalk turned towards one another, smiled, and almost as one said "Oh b^**&r it! Let's do it!" We booked, found that the runway was five minutes' walk from the ship, and our return was fifteen minutes before last boarding time. Perfect hopefully.
All previous thoughts of how the hell do those things stay in the air were banished as our dream holiday gathered some unthought-of pace! We still had some time to kill, so we shopped and bought some beautiful gifts for those at home and one as yet unborn.
Just enough time to return to the ship with the gifts and then we found the small airfield and watched our little craft land. We had the info... Canadian made Bush Hawk, fairly new, right I feel more confident by second. We were soon being introduced to the pilot Paul and our co-passenger Craig then it was time to board.
On a four seater plane with one very important seat pre-designated for the pilot, the seating choice was easy: Josie and I took the rear seats which had huge windows to enable sight-seeing and photographs. We were provided with headsets to enable conversation during the flight, given a brief insight into where we would be flying, a final request to avoid touching the windows and then we were off.
With no experience of flying on anything remotely close to a plane like this it was novel for us both, and it was superb. As soon as were airborne it felt like being at one with the sky and cloud, any nerves about speaking into the microphone were soon lost as we gently climbed and turned to head down the bay, our ship down below us. "Wow" turned to "Fantastic" as our vocabulary recovered from the pre-flight nerves, the Tatya Inlet led us to the Rainbow and Davidson Glaciers and sightings of black bear on the hills below us. It was around this point that the microphone near my lips became somewhat of a hindrance... I had just taken an obviously not good photograph and thinking I would delete it straightaway turned out to an unwise move.
With my glasses tucked safely in a zipped, safety harness tightened pocket, I could see what looked like "Delete all pictures – confirm" on the camera screen, squinting did not help, swearing loudly surely would! I kept as silent as possible while I managed to extricate my glasses and retrieve the situation. Phew! Explaining the situation to my fellow passengers as I cancelled my self imposed radio silence, I realised that my earlier lessons in patience had not been totally absorbed.
We flew amongst some magnificent scenery with the occasional turquoise melt pool visible and glacial debris close beneath, mountains towered around us as Paul skilfully manoeuvred his craft to get us the best views. The Chilkoot and Mead Glaciers were visited with the views no less outstanding. All too soon the trip was nearly over as Paul announced it was time to return, a sighting of moose as we flew low over the bay was wonderful. The flight had been a brilliant experience and hearty handshakes were exchanged as we left the aircraft. The short walk back to the ship was achieved in comfortable time for the last boarding warning.
A message from home awaited us as we checked our email, more pains but still no sign of a baby arriving. We sent a message detailing our activities hoping the shock may help get things started!
We stood on our balcony as we sailed from Skagway, a small drop of moisture perhaps spray from the sea, or perhaps from within, fell to my cheek. A place dreamt of for a long, long time had not only lived up to expectations, it had exceeded them by some distance.
Friday 1/8Now we had two days' non-stop sailing to look forward to and our return to Vancouver before the last part of the trip on Vancouver Island. Clocks were put forward by one hour, and as we awoke on Friday morning a beautiful sunrise greeted us. We had a day of reading and relaxing. Occasional whale sightings were enough incentive to keep at least one eye on the ocean. Emails from home still gave promise of a new arrival soon, but not quite yet. Saturday 2/8Our journey south continued on Saturday with more whales to enjoy and a hot sunny day to welcome us through Price Rupert and Queen Charlotte Sounds and ever nearer Vancouver. We prepared for disembarkation that evening as we were due to dock early in the morning, and unbeknown to us as we slept, disembarkation was taking place at home too! Sunday 3/8 We must have sailed back into mobile friendly waters during the night, as at approximately 4.00am local time Josie's mobile rang with a receipt of a text message... We had a new grand-daughter Jaime, 7lbs 13oz. Mum Lisa and baby were both doing well. That was all we needed to know for now, a brief message of congratulations was despatched and no more sleep was necessary. We somehow managed to eat breakfast and then we were in dock and it was time to get moving. We had chosen to "self depart" which meant basically carrying our own luggage, the bill was settled and we were off! Taxis were plentiful and we were soon back at the Metropolitan Hotel to find that our room would not be ready for another three hours. The luggage joined our other bags which were already there and we were in search of a public telephone. The public phones in the hotel were all in use with queues waiting so we took the rather unusual action of taking a taxi to a public phone! An enquiry at the hotel desk revealed that Stanley Park was only a short ride away and that there were public callboxes in the park... perfect. And so it was that on a hot, sunny Sunday morning in Stanley Park, Vancouver we were finally able to speak to Lisa. I am not ashamed to say that a few tears of joy were shed, and yes we could have called from the hotel, but it would not have been the same.
Just to speak to a loved one at a time like this was so much more re-assuring than a text or email. We enjoyed a walk round part of the park which is enormous. The gentle exercise allowed us to relax after the last few hours and then we were able to enjoy a day in Vancouver topped off by a wonderful meal at an Italian restaurant within walking distance of our hotel.
Early the next day we had coach pick-up for a transfer to Victoria, Vancouver Island and more adventures to look forward to! |
