Safe and Sound with Following Seas

No worries. The earthquake and tsunami warnings in Alaska did not affect us. We were just quiet because it was a day at sea getting to Vancouver to disembark.  Just hanging out. Eating and drinking, playing bingo and trivia. Blessed with following seas because it looked pretty rough out there. 

The morning started out dreary. Another of those days where the photo looks like it’s black and white when it isn’t.

As the day wore on we started to see some sun again along with a few humpback whales.

Already looking towards our next trip in less than two months. In the meantime, once again Happy Trails / Sails. (There is another cruise ship also leaving Haines right there in the middle of the horizon.)

Klawock - last stop before disembarking

This morning we woke up in Klawock. Population estimated to be a smidge above 700. We decided to stay on board even though tomorrow is an at sea day powering down to Vancouver.

The terrain is definitely different now.  From the low lands of Katmai, to the glaciers, down to the mountains and now this view with so much blue I don’t even know how to photoshop the pine trees to green…:

Sitka

Yesterday we stopped in Sitka.  The weather remains sunny and clear.  By the time we reach Vancouver it will be in the 80s again.

We had a nice little tour around the nice little town, population about 8,000. Including a visit to the tribal community house…a modern version of the traditional long houses where entire families lived together on terraces inside around a large fire pit. The higher your clan status the closer you were to the fire.  The chief’s living space was behind the elaborately carved screen.  This one depicts the lovebirds at the top.  A raven and an eagle, the two moieties or descent groups in Tlingit culture. I cannot see any difference at all in the two carvings. Maybe that is intentional as the distinction in the tribe is spiritual not physical.

This is also the city where Russia signed the final documents selling Alaska to the United States followed by the lowering of the Russian Flag and the raising of ours.

We visited the raptor rehabilitation center. And saw a bunch of totem poles.

Sitka’s other natural, towering landmark is the volcano, Mt Edgecumbe, affectionately referred to as their Mt Fuji. So for comparison purposes I offer both:

On A Clear Day…

 Life is so much nicer…

Woke this morning in Haines with this view. We could see the tops of the mountains!

And that thing called sky. Disembarking into Fort Seward.

Our excursion today was a drive up the Haines Scenic Byway to the Summit which took us into Canada and back. Gorgeous scenery as we drove from temperate rain forest through forest and then tundra.  At one point the trees disappeared in the blink of an eye. ( Of course I can’t load video so trust is key. )

And then up high

At the summit, we thought we would be at a peak and be able to see, well, Russia maybe. But the road doesn’t go that high.  About 3400 ft.  So there are still a whole lot of mountains around…

Still really stunning and a beee-you-ti-ful day.

I did try to spot bald eagles since this is THE place for them. During the Chilkat Eagle Festival in November the late run of chum and coho salmon here brings over 3,000 bald eagles to the area.  Today I only spotted one juvenile. And I only recognized that brown bird as a bald eagle because I was obsessed with the bald eagle nest cams in the Lower 48. (Thanks to Sunny and Gizmo and brave little T3.)

Seeing a Theme Here

First, we are, at least temporarily, past the rough seas. Yay!

And last night before dinner, the bar we were going to was full. So we continued on to the Observation Lounge and were rewarded with seeing a pod of three orcas and then three more singles (or the same single three times). No pics though. Those guys don’t stay on the surface long but at least they contrast well with the color of the sea.

Now here in Juneau. This morning’s view…overcast and drizzling. One could be led to believe that we are in the Pacific Northwest or something.

Today’s excursions took us to the Mendenhal Glacier. 

Where, I saw this: purportedly a porcupine.

Then a quick ride up the tram and back down again.

Hubbard Glacier

 Today was all/only about seeing the Hubbard Glacier.

It’s still mostly overcast, and our expectations were low. This is what the view looked like this morning.

But at least the glacier didn’t disappoint.  It is definitely a glacier - a huge, very impressive glacier.

Oh and some folks asked us to play team trivia with them.  Then they didn’t show. And we won!

49th = 50th

After a lazy morning in Seward, we got to the Silversea ship, the Silver Nova just after noon. For all of our travels, we have not been cruising people. The cruises we have taken in the last couple years have been to places you have to see by boat: the Galápagos Islands, Antarctica, and the Kimberley coast of Australia.  Those trips were also all on small expedition ships with 200 to 250 passengers. This ship can hold 728 passengers. It seems enormous.

As I type this, the Captain just made an announcement that we will be encountering 13 ft waves that may impact our comfort and our it itinerary.  🫣. We will be underway soon.

There isn’t much more for me to write today except to post our view here in the Harbour. And to take this belated opportunity to point out that Alaska, the 49th US state, is Michael’s 50th state visited. He has now been to all 50 states and earlier this year all seven continents. 🎉

Over The River And Through The Woods

A more scenic travel day today on the scenic coastal train from Anchorage to Seward. The 5:45a check in was a bit of a downer but the seats were comfy. Breakfast in the club car was nice, and the scenery was stunning. Also saw a moose, a beaver, eagles and swans. Yes, swans. Not sure why that surprised me, but it did. As it turns out, though, Alaska hosts tundra swans and is home to 80% of the world's trumpeter swans. 

Hanging now waiting to embark on the cruise tomorrow. Seward provides a free shuttle that loops around town (about two miles long and just one loop) and one of the stops is right outside our window. 

Meanwhile some pretty pics. One mountain and a few glaciers.

The Bear Necessities

Today is an another gorgeous day here in King Salmon but a travel day for us. No more bear viewing 😢. Just hanging out waiting to head to the airport to fly back to Anchorage.  We will take our salmon filets to have them shipped to our neighbor who has agreed to keep them for us until our return. He does not guarantee that there will not be a tariff (in the form of some salmon) levied on the shipment. 😉

I thought I would just post some bear facts.

These brown bears and grizzly bears and the Kodiak bears are actually all the same bears. In bear school they stress that their rules for their bears, however, do NOT apply to any other bears anywhere. The bears here are very well fed and are not inherently aggressive towards people.  I don’t know what one is supposed to do if one encounters, say, a grizzly bear; but I gather it is not calmly walking away while chanting, “Hey, Bear. Hey, Bear”.

In fact, these bears are so well fed that they can waste most of the salmon. They are crazy adept at skinning the poor creatures alive and crunching their skulls open to eat their brains. If they are fortunate or savvy enough to get/select a female, they will feast on the roe. Those three bits are the fattiest highest calorie parts. Then they toss the harder to digest, less energy efficient remnant and move on to the next victim. 

The reason that we aren’t seeing multiple bears at the actual falls snagging the jumping salmon is because it’s been very dry here coupled with the record number of salmon in this area. (An aside, when we were on the Naknek River we passed the Counting Corner where two guys apparently stand on little platforms with little clicker counters and count the salmon as they go by. No joke.  That’s a thing!). Anyway, the river is low which is why we are seeing so few salmon make it over and why there is such a massive ‘logjam’ of salmon backed up all along the river. As we have seen, the bears don’t have to congregate at the falls with other bears. They can just step in wherever they please and eat their fill. 

Take a little nap.

 Wake  up and do it again.

So Many Bears

Another fabulous day in Katmai. What a magical place. So beautiful. So serene. No words. Just images. 

Mom and Cub

Bears, Bears, Everywhere.

 First, I know I said I was tired yesterday but I was wrong,  this is tired.  I honestly don’t know when I was ever this tired before. Up at 4:45 to eat and get to the first boat to brooks falls. It was a picture perfect, “chamber of commerce” day. 

First, bear school.  Basically make yours presence  known but don’t be annoying and stay 50 yards away. Then we made the mile and a half up walk to viewing platforms.There was only one bear eating at the falls when we arrived. That was a bit of a disappointment. But he was entertaining and the salmon were plentiful. It is hard to believe that any of them make it beyond the falls.

 

Michael settled in on the platform and our guide and I trekked on down to the river just below to try trout fishing. But reported record numbers of salmon made snagging one of those easy but catching a trout hard.  Not just for me but apparently for a lot of frustrated real fishermen on the river,  that and the fact that we could hardly stay 50 yards away from a bear. They were everywhere. So we were constantly moving … occasionally with the current but mostly across it or against it. When the guide said, “come on we have to move up stream now, fast!”  I could have laughed.  I might just as well have been on Mt. Everest trying to take a step. I told him, “safe yourself. I have had a good life.”

The great news was that I wasn’t there to fish. I was there to see bears and it was amazing. Honestly, we were almost always surrounded by four to six of them. Juveniles roughhousing, a mom and a one year old cub, lots of adults and one massive, big male submerged except for his head “snorkeling” for fish.  

However, the constant moving landed us way downstream where, surrounded again, we ultimately were forced to skirt one last bear by only about 20 feet.  Get upon the bank. Walk back a ways to find the trail. Walk back down to camp. And book it all the way back up to the platforms to get Michael.  Back down for lunch.  Back up for more watching and wading. And then back down again.

Had a great dinner of king crab and scallops and halibut and then were quite happy to snuggle into our little den and collapse into sleep.

It was a wonderful day. 

Call Me Ishmael

 Got into Anchorage, Alaska late last night….even later Florida time. I only managed about 3.5 hours of sleep. Just could not get back to sleep after I woke up at 2:15a Alaska time which is my normal waking time of 6:15ish in Florida.  Back to the airport again. Flew to King Salmon only to find that the water taxi over to Brooks Falls for the bears wasn’t running due to high winds and rough water. 

The lodge had scheduled us to go salmon fishing instead. I have never fished for anything in my life before.  Shocking how exhausting it is to stand around on shore or in the water repeatedly tossing a string out in front of you.  But we caught these five fishies which our guide later informed us worked out to 13 pounds of filets!

Dinner and now to bed. We are both beat and hoping for more than 3 hours sleep this time. More some other time.  ZZZZZZ

And We Are Off Again

Packed and waiting on the Uber.

Guess the destination.

Will take two flights and  11 hours to get there.

We will still be in the United States.

The stuffed animal is not coming with.  It is the final hint.

Recap (just like every day on the ship)

Lessons learned:

Even if you skip crossing the potentially tumultuous Drakes Passage, visiting Antarctica can still be filled with a lot of ups and downs. Flight delays but hopefully not cancellations. Itinerary changes due to weather, sea conditions and unfortunately sometimes injuries (hopefully not your own). It says all of that in the disclosures, but you never think it will happen to you. So you have to be able to roll with it all (pun intended).

And regarding the weather, if you are blessed with a sunny day full of gorgeous, colorful icebergs and stunning glaciers, go ahead and take 600 pictures. They are digital after all. Don’t cost you a dime. And you may never see anything like that again. 

And every day, a picture of the view from your suite…our last

Finally, life is short. So no matter what…when an opportunity arises to experience something new, don’t hesitate….just jump right in.

Happy t(r)ails!

Winter is Coming

 Or Be Careful What You Wish For

Feb 16th we were, indeed, blessed with going ashore on excursions. But woo hoo it felt colder.  The guides are well-schooled on spinning circumstances.  The expedition leader was eager to point out that he hadn’t seen the weather turn so wintry quite so early in February before. And according to our zodiac driver, it was apparently our good fortune to not be cursed with any more blindingly bright sunny days.  Cloudy, snowy days provide much better lighting for appreciating the finer details of glaciers. Yeah, us!  

In all fairness, this is Antarctica….that’s the whole point.

The morning excursion was a one hour ride around looking at said glaciers and icebergs

and then some time on a rocky beach seeing more gentoos and several elephant seals.

The afternoon landing was billed as being a bit tricky. Some strong swells out onto big round rocks on an incline up to the flat part. It might have been good to have been in a later group. The folks returning as we were heading out were drenched. But it wasn’t bad at all. And there were half a dozen or so chinstrap penguins to be seen in amongst all the gentoos and fur seals. 

And the view