Chapter Two - North to Alaska

Hello there and welcome to our second post for our tour diaries for 2017. In this edition we cover the voyage of the Holland America Line MS Vaandam from Vancouver BC to Seward in Alaska and some of our adventures in the largest state of the USA. 

We departed Vancouver on a Sunday afternoon under gloomy skies and steamed out of the harbour on our way northwards between the myriad islands off the coast of Canada and through the seaway known as the Inside Passage. Our first 36 hours were "at sea" meaning that although we were passing many, many islands and were close to the mainland, we didn't berth at any ports.

Our first port day was early on the Tuesday of the trip at the tiny South Eastern Alaskan township of Ketchikan. Here we left the ship and travelled to Clover Inlet for our first shore excursion - sea kayaking - which obviously wasn't on shore at all!. 

After getting kitted up, Anne, I and Laurie jumped into our 2-person sea kayaks and launched out from the pontoon into the frigid waters of the inlet. Unfortunately Denise was crook that morning and Laurie had to buddy up with another Zaandam voyager who was also by herself.

No sooner had we left the dock than we saw our first rather large hunk of wildlife - an adult humpback whale that breached just in front of us and then tail slapped the water to say hello! Magnificent - even if the cameras weren't on hand for the first closeup photo of the morning.

The township of Ketchikan on Alaska

The statue on the dock celebrating the pioneering people and spirit of the town

The intrepid sea kayakers near Clover Island

Some of the wildlife on the island - Mum and her littl'uns (White Tail deer)

Ketchikan town centre

Anne on the dock at the stern of the Zaandam

Downtown Ketchikan

Our next port of call was in the capital of Alaska - Juneau. Here we took a trip up to the Mendenhall Glacier and its spectacular falls, trotted through a rain-forest garden (underwhelming) and took the aerial tram up to the top of Mt Roberts right in the middle of town.

Anne and Denise in Juneau

The dock area and township beyond

The Mendenhall Glacier and Nuggets Falls

Rugged up for the chill of the day at the Glacier

Laurie's friend near the visitors centre at Mendenhall - an inquisitive porcupine!

Looking back at the docks from Mt Roberts - our ship (middle) dwarfed by the other behemoths

In Juneau we went walking in the town and stumbled upon the Red Dog Saloon. Anne and Denise suggested that we have a beer.....Laurie and I weren't all that keen. As we entered, it was apparent that the 50mm of sawdust in the floor to catch the spilled swilled beer, the buxom waitresses and the wanna-be Willy Nelson crooning away on American C&W standards weren't everyone's cup of tea!

Laurie in the Red Dog Saloon - now who doesn't want to be there???

Despite all this, the atmosphere was interesting to say the least!

Overnight we cruised up another inlet to the town of Skagway and the start of the White River Railway line. Our excursion was a journey up the railway some 30 miles to the border with British Columbia - Canada,

Three quarters of the team in Skagway

One of the original steam locos that pulled the White River train

The train to the top of White's Pass

One of the trestle bridges on the route

Entering one of several hand hewn and blasted tunnels on the trip

An old and thankfully disused trestle bridge

At the top - the border between Alaska and Canada

After the train expedition, we walked into town and sampled the beer at the Red Onion Saloon - this establishment was one of Laurie's choosing and until we saw the bed-pans lining the walls and glimpsed the start of the brothel tour we thought he had hit on a really sophisticated joint.

The Red Onion Saloon - a classy joint in Skagway Alaska given the thumbs up by Laurie

The crew in the Red Onion Saloon - note the smile on Laurie's face
and the grimace on Denise's and mine!

After a couple of local brews, we rejoined the Zaandam and headed out from the port.

Of course, the voyage wasn't just about the stopovers - there were lots of things to do on board like bingo, eating fabulous food, wine appreciation, bingo, night entertainment with the multi-talented crew, bingo, guest entertainers - did I mention bingo?? Actually we didn't go to bingo, but it happened pretty well everyday - but we did most of the other things whilst we were on board.

Anne and I enjoying some time before dinner 

Our next stop was not in a port, but at Glacier Bay - the inlet leading right up to the foot of the Margerie Glacier which we arrived at around 11.30am on Friday morning. Nearing the inner-most extreme of the inlet, the ship nosed right up to within 100 metres of the seaward face of the ice.

The experience was quite mesmerising and surreal - to see the glacier calving virgin icebergs into the sea was fantastic.

Yours truly on the on of the ship near the glacier

Anne all rugged up against the cold

The Margerie Glacier in slumber mode

Looking across the deck to the crowds observing the glacier

The start of an iceberg calving event

More ice-wall collapse

Just before the new iceberg collapses into the sea

The way the ship's crew jockeyed such a big ocean-going liner so close to the face of the glacier was amazing.

However, pretty soon it was time to depart and we steamed out of Glacier Bay and set course for Seward - the deep-water port across the peninsula from the largest city in Alaska - Anchorage.

One and a half days of sailing later and the Sunday morning saw us dock in Seward thereby marking the end of our voyage on the MS Zaandam. The cruise was certainly memorable, the service and food were great and the sites and experiences we had on the way were unforgettable.

However, it was time to leave the cruise part of the trip and board an Alaska Cruise Transport bus for the trip to Anchorage. This trip had a number of quite fascinating side excursions as shown in the photos below.

The four musketeers in front of the Exit Glacier - our first excursion stop

Stop Two - the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge Centre

A Black Bear

Brown (Grizzly) Bear

Grizzly Bear at play in the water

A Bison chomping on some fodder

Reindeer (domesticated Caribou) being friendly

Our last stop was for lunch (provided by the bus company) at the ski resort of Alyeska. We also took the aerial tram up to the top of the resort which was pretty special.

The girls having lunch in the gardens of the Alyeska Resort Hotel

View from the top of the aerial tram on Mt Alyeska

Soon we were back on the last leg of our trip to Anchorage - only to be stopped in a huge traffic jam near Bird Creek. There were emergency service vehicles and helicopters everywhere and the reason for the gridlock - the drivers in front were all rubber-necking at the scene.

The actual reason for the incident was much more sobering - a young 16 year old cross-country runner competing in a fun-run was mauled by a Black Bear and had died at the scene. This is a most unusual occurrence for these kind of bears and a very sad time for his family and the community.   

Finally (2 hours late) we arrived in Anchorage and checked into our hotel. The next couple of days were spent in and around Anchorage - with 20 hours of daylight at this time of the year, there was plenty of time to suss out just about everything in the largest city in the largest state of the USA.

The statue of the lead dog from the
famous Iditarod cross country mercy dash in 1925

Capt James Cook - Along with claiming Australia,
he claimed Alaska for the Brits as well

We checked out the Museum and the other sights of Anchorage before it was time for us to grab a taxi and head to the international airport for our flight back to Vancouver.

Alaska is an interesting place with wild scenery and interesting towns and cities - a memorable part of our trip probably highlighted by our time at Glacier Bay.