It's all over but the shoutin'

Victoria is our last port. We arrived at about 3:00 pm and departed
just before midnight. Victoria is not very far from Vancouver which is
the end of our trip. Bade agreed to humor me and we did an excursion to
Buchart Gardens. We had about a 45 minute bus ride out to the gardens.
Our bus driver was very informative and took the time to show us many
parts of this picturesque town.

Buchart Gardens was built on a limestone quarry and is about 55 acres.
The gardens were absolutely fantastic, very colorful. One of the things
that really impressed me about the gardens was that most of the
landscaping was done with fairly common plants instead of really exotic
specimens. We did take quite a few pictures, actually way more flower
pictures than we will ever need.

On our ride back into town, the driver took us through downtown and
showed us some of the wonderful old buildings. One of these was the
Empress Hotel which was really beautiful. We arrived back at the ship
at about 7:00 pm for our last meal on the ship.

We arrived in Vancouver about 6:00 am. We had arranged to carry off our
own luggage and as such were in the first group to leave the ship. In
our concern to be sure to be able to get on an elevator, we left our
stateroom an hour before we were scheduled to exit the ship. This ended
up being a good thing as many subsequent passengers had trouble getting
in the elevators. We were off the ship by 8:00 am and this would have
been great except we knew we would not be able to check into our hotel
in Vancouver until about noon.

We did choose to walk the 5 or 6 blocks from the cruise terminal to our
hotel. Sure enough it would be noon before we could check into our room
but they let us put our bags in storage. They also arranged for a cab
at 5:30 am tomorrow so we will have ample time to get to the airport for
our 8:45 flight to DFW. We had breakfast, walked around downtown
Vancouver and sat on some of the park benches until time to go to the hotel.

We have now eaten dinner and are back in our room. Hopefully we will
arrive at the airport without difficulties tomorrow and should be back
in SA by about 6:00 pm tomorrow. This has been a wonderful trip but we
both are looking forward to getting home.

See you guys soon.

Bade here ... yep ... the tale is told and the ship has sailed.
Barring any extraordinary travel complications this is likely the last
entry in this web log. I will post additional pictures in the gallery
in the next few days including some of Buchart Gardens.

Thanks for tuning in ... now we return you to our regular programming.

Victoria without a net ... (or wasting the day in Victoriaville)

It's Wednesday so this must be Victoria ... actually we are still about
5 hours out of Victoria hugging the coast of Vancouver Island. We will
dock in Victoria at 3PM ship's time and depart at midnight on our final
leg back into Vancouver.

I'm writing this web log now because we have been advised that about an
hour out of Victoria and then well after midnight we will no longer have
internet access of any kind from the ship. Apparently there is some
sort of military blocking signal that disables the satellite signal ...
maybe Victoria is living in the "netless age" .. don't know but it means
I have to consume the rest of the internet minutes I have paid for
between now and then.

We were awakened this morning about 3AM to the ship's fog horn blaring
away ... looking outside it was obvious why ... I could barely see the
railing on the balcony the fog was so thick ... the ship's horn
continued to blast at 5 minute or so intervals so sleeping was somewhat
sporadic.

Since this is basically the last day of the voyage (we have to be off
the ship by 7:15AM tomorrow) ... Carolyn and I lazed about until almost
8AM skipping our jog/walk routine and simply savoring the last day of
the "Great Alaska Adventure of 2008". We had a nice breakfast,
realizing these were the last fried eggs and bacon we would be seeing
until probably November when we embark on the Mediterranean cruise. We
are both actually very ready to get back home and resume our "normal"
routine. The voyage has been spectacular but 16 days away from home is
just about the longest time we have spent away in many many years (early
IBM schools were the only exception).

In the port of Victoria we have scheduled a tour of the "Butchart
Gardens" .... about 55 acres of floral gardens ... I'll be posting
pictures of that either after we get to our room Thursday in Vancouver
or after we return home.

We have packed up ... decided what we needed to have available in our
backpacks and will walk our bags off ourselves tomorrow morning.

We hope the readers and subscribers to our journey's web log have
enjoyed our descriptions as we sailed along ... we enjoyed writing the
entries and then reading your comments!!

Back in Texas Friday around 6PM if all goes well.

Puffins and Whales and Capt'n Davey ... (or Otters have it all figured out!!)

5:15pm Monday (ship's time) and well underway from Sitka, Alaska.

We just finished our self imposed 30 minutes of track time up on deck 10 and are settling in for a fairly long passage ... our next port is Victoria, Canada day after tomorrow at 3pm local ... so we have basically 2 days at sea to look forward to.

I had booked our Sitka excursion way back in April or May on the suggestion of another cruiser I met online at cruisecritic.com .  She suggested a very small operation named "Puffins and Whales" run by a young fellow named Davey Lubin.  I exchanged emails with Davey and discovered that his boat accommodates only 6 passengers and himself as captain.  This sounded like the kind of excursion  Carolyn and I prefer ... small and intimate.  Sitka is the only tender port on our cruise and Davey had suggested we get the first available tender to be sure we could make our 8:30am pickup ... well, telling me to "be early" is tantamount to telling a sled dog to run ... it really isn't necessary but we appreciate the encouragement. So ... Carolyn and I were the first passengers down to deck 3 when the tenders started running ... turns out ... we were the ONLY passengers down at the tenders when they started so we got our own private tender (they probably hold 50+ passengers) into the beautiful port of Sitka.  We arrived about 8am.

Capt'n Davey showed up about 8:15am and suggested we walk with him to get coffee ... as we strolled along we had a pleasant chat, exchanged family details and got to know each other a bit.  Davey has worked as among other things a deck hand on commercial fishing boats, a commercial diver, was educated in Idaho and nowadays spends his working like providing water taxi service around Sitka sound (there are many many small islands here) and the wildlife tours like ours.  He has an expansive knowledge of the local wildlife with an emphasis on water fowl and large sea mammals.  We ambled back to the dock and met the four other passengers booked on our 4 hour excursion  ... a grandmother and 3 granddaughters aged 11,13 and 15.  We boarded the "Ester G II" (named for Davey's grandmother) and off we went in search of wildlife of all kinds.

The Sitka sound body of water is very large and surrounds many small islands including the island of Sitka itself.  Today the water was like glass ... barely a ripple as far as one could see.  Davey was amazed at the sea conditions and said typically we would be experiencing 4-6 ft seas rather than the bathtub like water we had today.  The calm water made it fairly easy to both see and hear whenever a humpback whale would "blow" at the surface and gave us ample opportunity to locate and motor towards the creature as it would breach the surface 3 or 4 times before finally "showing tail" and diving deep  for several minutes.  We got several good pictures of these enormous animals as they fed on krill in the 450+ ft deep water.  It is hard to describe what it is like to be literally yards from one of these graceful behemoths in placid seas as they break the surface in a gentle swell of grey and see the geyser of water climb in the air knowing that shortly you will be rewarded with two incredible flukes waving to you as the creature dives deep to sweep thousands of krill into its mouth.  It is breathtaking.

After watching several whales and with a promise to return on our way back in Davey took us to St. Lazarious island.  This island is among many that are part of the federal game preserve in the area (there is a more official sounding name than game preserve but I can't recall that at the moment).  I can say without equivocation this is one of the most beautiful places I ever hope to see ... it has a raw and unscathed beauty one would expect to see in a pre-historic era.  There are spruce trees high above the water line, grasses flowing down the rocky cliffs, thousands of various water birds nesting in the vertical rock faces, star fish and anemones all along the waters edge and brilliant colors due to coral and sponges just at and below the waterline.  We have pictures to be posted because words cannot describe the absolute beauty of this very special place.  We spent a good bit of time slowly circling this 65 acre island just observing the interaction between the sea and the avian inhabitants.  There were hundreds of puffins, murres and auklets ... all water fowl of the area.

As we headed back towards Sitka we stopped at another small island to observe several harbor seals lounging on the rocks and swimming in the icy water... all very unconcerned about the tourists snapping pictures and pointing excitedly.

Of all the creatures we saw today I have to say that my personal favorites are the Sea Otters.  The Whales are magnificant, the Puffins are beautiful and the Seals are comical ... but to my mind the Otter has the perfect attitude.  We regularly saw several of these animals laying out on their backs, heads either resting on their chests or poking up observing their current situation basically thumbing their noses at the rest of the world.  The expression on their face is one of absolute disinterest ... basically they have staked out their patch of ocean for the current while and life is more than welcome to pass them by ... they simply don't seem to care.  A couple of times we would see one eating (still on its back and chomping away on whatever it had snagged for lunch) casting an unconcerned eye to the boat and crazy people snapping pictures of what it does every day .. all day .. as if to say ..."what's the big deal?? Nothing to see here ... nothing to see at all ..."  ... I am fascinated by these critters.

All to soon our four hours were up and Capt'n Davey dropped us off at the pier making a quick turn around to pick up his next 6 very lucky guests.

Finally a short note about Sitka ... the village of Sitka has approx 8,500 citizens all living on a spectacular piece of this planet that is almost unspoiled ... they have purposefully NOT built a large dock that can accommodate cruise ships because collectively the town does not want to turn into another "Skagway" where tourists out number the citizens almost every day during the summer.  The town itself looks very much like you might picture a small, quaint fishing village.  As we walked to get coffee with Davey it was clear the citizens know one another and genuinely care for each other ... they support each other by promoting local business over the "national chains" and seem very protective of the environment they are fortunate enough to call home.


Carolyn here - This has been an absolutely awesome trip.  We have had some thrilling adventure excursions,  seen unbelievable unspoiled scenery, and have been fortunate enough to view some of the really special creatures that call this part of the world home.  Of all the port calls we have made, Sitka was my favorite.  We may have had more excitement on some of our other excursions but the town itself is truly unique.  It reminds me of the fictional town of Cecily, Alaska on the TV show "Northern Exposure".  Everybody seems to know everybody else and the citizens seem to have a mutual goal - show the tourists a little glimpse of the last frontier that is Alaska but don't make it too convenient.  I have a hope of someday returning to Sitka, spend a week or so, and get to explore this wonderful little community.  Something to dream about in the future. 

In the mean time - on to Victoria and then shortly back to Texas.

Juneau - What to do? What to do? Soooo - you're afraid of heights!!!!

We arrived in Juneau this morning to another beautiful day, just like Kodiak.  In other words, cool, cloudy and foggy.  I am really glad we did not have some kind of flying excursion planned. 

We had planned to walk this morning on the upper deck but as Bade's back was still bothering him, we opted out of the morning exercise.  Decided we better save up for the adventure ahead.

We departed the ship at 8:30 to meet up with the rest of our fellow passengers to partake in the Alaska Canopy and Rain forest Excursion.  Now, if you don't know what a canopy excursion is, it is a zipline adventure.  Wooden platforms are placed varying distances apart up in the trees.  Steel cables are strung from one platform to another at heights between 45 and 180 feet above the ground.  The distances between the platforms ranged from about 150 feet to about 700 feet. 

There were only four hardy souls in our little group of adventurers.  Bade, me, Ray (who had been on the whitewater rafting trip with us), and Paul.  Paul was the only member of our group who had not done a zipline trip before.  We took a short 10 minute boat ride over to the little island where the zipline course is.  Arriving at the base of the zipline course, we were fitted with the equipment that would be used to attach us to the steel cable.

After a short hike, we arrive with our guides, Zippy and Dan and were given an excellent orientation.  We were given instructions on how to keep going straight on the zipline, how to brake, and what to do if we braked to quickly and did not make it to the next platform.  We then did a little short practice run to make sure we were comfortable with the equipment.  Zippy always went first, would then get situated at the next platform to prepare for either catching us, if we didn't slow down enough, or helping us get to the platform if we stopped too soon.  As luck would have it, I was the first to try the practice run - oh yeah, did I mention, I'm afraid of heights??  Now I know this doesn't make sense that I would agree to jump off into the air, attached by a harness to a steel cable and speed through the tree tops at as much as 35 miles per hour,  when I am afraid of heights.   But for some reason,  because I am attached to this cable, it doesn't seem to bother me all that much.  Maybe it's because I am so focused on looking ahead to make sure Zippy is going to catch me, that I don't look down at the ground.  We all successfully managed the practice run and we are ready for the "big league". 

In all, there were 9 ziplines covering approximately 6000 feet.  Also included in this adventure were two suspended wooden bridges that we had to walk across.  This, for me, was the most unnerving part of this excursion.  I think that's because I had to look down to see where I was walking and realized that I really was 100 or so feet up in the air.  The bridges are really not that bad in that we are attached to the steel cables and there are ropes on each side of the bridge to aid us in walking over the bridges.  On the second bridge, Zippy decided it would be fun to jump up and down to make the bridge really move around a lot.  I reminded him that his tip was getting smaller and smaller by the minute and he assured me that a big gust of wind had caused the bridge to swing back and forth.  RIGHT.

All to soon, our adventure was coming to an end.  There was one last challenge.  We were to repel 45 feet from the last platform to the ground.  While this had also been a concern for me,  along with the bridges, it ended up being really easy and fun.  This excursion was a lot of fun and I will certainly look forward to more zipline adventures when the occasion arises in the future.

We did get to do a little shopping on the way back to the ship.  We have found many really wonderful Alaskan made totems, carvings and woven goods.  Unfortunately, like everything else in Alaska, they have proven to be very expensive.  I was lucky enough to find a needlework store and bought a couple of counted cross stitch patterns that will have to serve as our souvenirs of our Alaska cruise instead of the pottery I normally try to get.

We returned to the ship and were treated to a presentation by Libby Riddles.  She was the first woman to win the Iditarod dog sled race.  When I was here nine years ago with my Dad, she happened to be the dog musher when I did my dog sled excursion.  She gave a wonderful talk and did a powerpoint presentation on her preparation and running of the Iditarod race.

We had a really wonderful and fun day.  We are on to Sitka, the next to last port on our trip.  I can't believe that our trip is almost over.  While I will be glad to get home, this has been a fabulous trip.  In Sitka, we have a private boat trip planned for whale watching so hopefully, we will have some really awesome whale and wildlife pictures tomorrow.  Bade will be posting a few pictures from our zipline trip.

Later,  Carolyn


Bade here ... Carolyn covered the day very well ... the zipline adventure was really pretty cool ... somehow I never thought about a rain forest being in Alaska ... but during our visit it was raining and it is a forest ... so I guess by definition if nothing else.  Actually we didn't do the 6am jog/walk because I was really sleeping ... my back in fact is much better and was no problem on the zipline.

Obviously we didn't post anything yesterday ... it was basically a dreary foggy day at sea with only a couple of whale sightings right before dinner (formal night) and thankfully calm seas as we crossed the Gulf of Alaska from Kodiak to Juneau.  I think sea days are scattered in these itineraries to give one some down time to recover from the last adventure and gear up for the next.  As Carolyn mentioned the cruise has slipped by very fast so far ... we are looking forward to being home of course but it's been an amazing adventure.

Sitka tomorrow to see Puffins and Whales ... HOPEFULLY lottsa whales ... I am only posting a few pics from today's adventure ... it's hard to manage a camera while zipping along at 35mph at 100+ feet in the air seeing a giant tree coming at you head on and knowing the poor fellow waiting to catch you on the next platform weighs120lbs soaking wet ...

No air ... No bear ..... (it's a foggy mountain breakdown ...)

Always ... ALWAYS ... have a plan "B" ... sadly for this day there was
no plan "B".

I awoke about 4am expecting to see the typical early morning dawn light
filter through the drawn shades of our balcony window ... oddly ...
there was barely any light at all ... remember dawn comes very very
early here and sunset is around 11pm. This did not bode well for our
Kodiak bear watching adventure. Back to sleep ...

At 6am ... I walked out on the balcony after being awakened by several
loud and insistent blasts of a ship's horn .. OUR ship in fact ... I was
greeted with a scene out of the "Hounds of the Baskervilles" ... a
dreary morn on the Scottish moor ... fog so thick I could barely see the
ship's bow. Once we were docked ... I could just barely make out the
green mountains alongside but only a few hundred feet up; their upper
halves (or more) shrouded in thick billowing fog.

Knowing things did not look promising we ate a quick breakfast, again
looking at the foggy scene from the dining room and then disembarked for
our 8am-8:15am pickup by Kingfisher air service. 8:15am rolled around
with no "silver van with a red stripe and the name Kingfisher air" in
sight. So I called them ... said I was at the dock waiting for pickup
... they responded with .."we could pick you up but we likely won't be
flying today ..." --- RATS!!! ... we agreed to wait another 30 minutes
to see if the fog would lift (it wasn't likely) and make contact again
... back on the ship ... after 30 minutes I called again ... nope ...
can't fly in this soup ... they offered to take us "flightseeing" if the
fog lifted by noon ... "no thanks ... just came to see the bears".

And thus ends the sad story of our Kodiak bear watching adventure ...

So ... with no real plan B ... we decided to see what the town of Kodiak
City had to offer. The ship was running a continuous shuttle from the
dock to mid-town for the princely sum of $6 per round trip. As we
waited for the next shuttle the little lady in the dockside information
booth came out and told us the walk was only about fifteen minutes
"right down that road" ... I think she saw two reasonably healthy adults
NOT in wheelchairs and not using walkers or canes and decided we should
save the $12. So ... off we went "down the road" ... it's appropriate
to mention at this point that the main driving force behind the Kodiak
economy is fishing ... big time commercial fishing ... and as a result
... Kodiak is host to several very large and very odious fish processing
plants ... as it turns out ... that 15 minute stroll from the cruise
ship pier to "downtown Kodiak" takes you right beside virtually ALL of
those fish processing plants ... the trek to town was neither scenic nor
"pleasant" olfactory wise ... turns out FISH STINK!!

Once we made it into downtown Kodiak city we discovered it to be similar
to Valdez ... not really a "tourist" kind of place ... it isn't on many
(if any other) cruise ship's itineraries and thus doesn't really cater
to the "pod people" we have become.

We walked around a bit, went into 2 or 3 shops, visited a local "arts
and crafts fair" (which I suspect was organized solely because there was
a cruise ship in town today) and then walked back to the ship ... past
those same lovely fish processing plants ...

It turns out ... if you can't fly to see bears in Kodiak ... the next
best plan is to do your dirty laundry ... an activity I am engaged in as
I write this sorry tale.

Tomorrow is a sea day as we make the long passage back to Juneau so it
is unlikely there will be much if anything of merit to post tomorrow ...
I've been dealing with a severe back spasm problem since after the white
water rafting trip and hopefully it will abate before the zipline tour
day after tomorrow in Juneau ... I went to see the ship's doctor
thinking I could get some muscle relaxants but it was going to turn into
a bigger ordeal than I wanted to mess with so I'm hoping time, rest and
aleve will come to the rescue.

Time to go check the dryer ....

Bade