Sitka-Alaska

Sitka – 19^th May

Today our stop was Sitka where we went on a Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest. It certainly lived up to its name. No soon had we boarded our fast catamaran and left the harbour area the captain spotted two bald eagles sitting on a rock. We then sailed around the Sitka Sound where the captain then took us to an area known as the Sea Otter Nursery where female otters and their pups swam amongst the kelp.

We then set off for the next location when suddenly the captain stopped and turned as he had sighted a whale, which was eventually identified as a grey whale as it resurfaced with its traditional curve and tail flip as it dived again for food. We were fortunate that no more than ten minutes later we encountered a number of humpback whales, which were feeding close to the surface with their tail fins thrashing around as they were catching krill. Pretty spectacular!!!!!

All too soon we had to move on to other areas, where we saw male sea otters floating around on their backs without a care in the world, and seals lazing on the rocks with many birds flying around. This was a very memorable trip.

On returning to town we wandered around the shops purchasing some painting supplies for our art class and then returned to the ship by tender. The day was so successful that we have decided to cancel our whale watching cruise in Victoria and replace it with a visit to Butchart Gardens and Victoria highlights.

Tracy Arm (Endicotte Arm)-Alaska

Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm – 20^th May

This is our final day in Alaska and involved our cruise ship cruising Tracy Arm. However our captain announced that due to two other cruise ships cruising Tracy Arm he had decided to have a lone cruise down Endicott Arm. We did not realize our early this cruise would be as when we looked out of our balcony at 7.30am, the captain had

the ship just off Dawes Glacier.

Our first priority, of course, was to have our breakfast where we could view the Glacier through the restaurant windows. After breakfast we returned to our balcony to soak up the magnificent views and here we were fortunate to see and hear the thunderous roar and part of the glacier broke away (known as calving). After an hour the ship turned round and slowly sailed back up Endicott Arm.

We are now sailing out towards the open sea and steaming towards Victoria, our next port of call. Words cannot describe the last eight days in Alaska. The weather has been magnificent, the views have been out of this world and the wildlife has been abundant. What more could we ask.

Skagway-Alaska

Skagway – 18^th May

Today we arrived in Skagway, which was used as a base for the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898.

Our tour today was entitled Yukon Expedition and White Pass Railway. We boarded a coach and drove through and out of town, past all the nice souvenir ships (and jewelers) – never to be seen again.

We drove inland up the mountain to the White Pass Summit and passed through the Canadian Border into British Columbia. Whilst driving up to the summit on one side of the valley we could see on the other side of the valley the tortuous route taken by the train that we would be using later in the day to return to Skagway. As we dropped down into British Columbia we had our passports checked at the Customs Post in Fraser, before continuing down the Klondike Highway to the Yukon Territory and the small town called Carcross.

En route we had magnificent views of the partly frozen lakes and an exciting encounter with a big black bear that was eating alongside the road and the coach driver slowly drove past so that we all could get a good view. (Note photo without use of telescopic lens). Fortunately or unfortunately the driver would not let us get off the coach to take a clearer picture. Just before arriving into Carcross we encountered an area called Carcross Desert – it looked like a desert but it was actually the remains of an ancient lake. A very strange sight surrounded by mountains covered in snow.

We then had a brief stop in Carcross, where we stopped for a BBQ lunch followed by doughnuts. Here they had a museum of local wildlife in the form of well presented stuffed animals, but also had some real huskies (sledge dogs) with their puppies, which Doreen got very attached to. We then left via the Emerald Lakes back to Fraser where we joined our train for a spectacular journey back to Skagway.

Unfortunately when we arrived in Skagway there was no time to visit the shops Doreen had seen earlier.

Whittier and Prince William Sound

Cruising College Fjord – 15^th May

How wrong we were. We thought yesterday could not be bettered but today we cruised into College Fjord passing not one glacier but nine glaciers, before again stopping in front of the huge Harvard Glacier, lingering in front of it for an hour and taking in the views and spotting the wildlife, namely seals and sea otters and the occasional bald eagle and mountain goat.

As you can see from the photographs of yesterday and today, the weather has been tremendous, although temperatures only reached 7 degrees. The sun shone and showed off the scenery to its best. We are advised by the locals that this weather is extremely rare for this time of year. How fortunate we are.

This marks the end of three magnificent days in Alaska and our ship will now turn around and start its return journey back down Alaska to Skagway.

PS. We have had some difficulty writing these latest blogs as we are sitting in our cabin spotting many whales, humpback and orcas and dolphins swimming past our balcony.