Juneau

 

Today we went whale watching. We watched one group of humpback whales including a baby playing on the surface for 30 minutes (the maximum time allowed) and then went searching again. We found another whale spouting about a mile away. They typically spout 3 to 4 times and then dive deep for food with their tail rising in the air. Later the whale approached our boat. Humpbacks come to Alaska each summer because the cold water and abundant sunlight lead to lots of plankton, which starts a rich food chain. The whales feed here and then head to Hawaii to mate and raise their young.

St. Nicholas 

In the afternoon, I took a quick walking tour of Juneau. First was St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church was built in 1894. The local Tlingit leaders invited the church to this area of Alaska, long after it was part of the U.S. Then I visited the state capital, housed in an office building with marble columns in front. It had several historic pictures including the 1958 newspaper when congress passed legislation making Alaska a state on January 2^nd, 1959. Since then, there have been numerous attempts to move the capital out of Juneau, since the city is isolated from the Alaska population. You can’t drive to Juneau, you must take either a boat or an airplane.

Ferry leaving Juneau

Haines

 

Haines

Haines is across the Lynn Canal from Skagway. We’re the only ship in town, compared to 3-5 ships per day at Skagway. Today, we’re boating along the shoreline of the canal between the two towns to see the waterfalls and any wildlife we can spot. The canal is typically 1500 feet deep. Sawmill waterfall had the most volume of water. It used to fall directly in the canal, but over the years, the land rose, rebounding from the weight of nearby glaciers. We continued to Long falls, Hidden Falls, Twin Falls, Lightning Falls, and Sisters Falls. 

Sawmill Falls

On the way we spotted many eagles and a two different groups of harbor seals.

Harbor Seals

Hubbard Glacier

 

Hubbard Glacier

We entered Yakutat Bay at 7:30 AM with fog and cloudy skies. This entire bay was ice 500 years ago. About 10 AM we reached Disenchantment Bay, named by Alessandra Malaspina in 1792 when he saw Hubbard Glacier and not an entrance to the legendary Northwest Passage. Hubbard glacier is the largest tidewater glacier in North America: 9 mi wide, 76 Miles long, 400 feet thick, 160 feet below water. The ice flows for 400 years reach the ocean. The ice is 10x denser than an ice cube causing it to look blue. We lucked out, the sun shone on the Glacier as we approached. 

Carol took the catamaran to get within half a mile. We could hear the occasional crack of calving ice, they saw four. The glacier here is advancing because climate change is causing more snow to fall in this valley. That night we had an Indonesian dinner and our servers dressed in traditional costume.

Meylia and Kliss

Day Two at Anchorage

 

Alaskan Masks

We woke up to find that we could see Mount Denali from our ship in the harbor, then we went to the Alaska museum. The second floor was the most interesting. Here we were introduced to tools, baskets, clothes, ceremonial masks and hats from the many native people’s of Alaska. I was particularly impressed by the winter clothes and boots made from squirrel skins, bird plumage, moose fur, seal intestines, or other animal products. The artwork was also very different in each culture.

Parka made of squirrel pelts

They also had an exhibit on the cold war. Recalling our history of testing atomic bombs in Nevada or the Marshall Islands; learning to duck under your school desk if the air raid siren sirens go off, and the backyard bomb shelters. Other exhibits included native and modern artwork as well as lots of Alaskan jokes.

Earthquakes in Alaska

We had learned that the largest recorded earthquake was a magnitude of 9.2 on March 28^th, 1964. We started our city tour viewing the 30 foot drop at the marina, that is a result of that earthquake. Our city tour continued at the International Airport (the third busiest cargo airport in the world), the float plane lake/airport, and the Alaska Wild Berry Chocolate Factory.

30 foot drop from 1964 earthquake

Anchorage

 

Anchorage is the population center of Alaska, it has a population of 290,000. We moored in the industrial port, one of only 4 ships that will moor here this summer. This led to a problem: our bus driver had to find his way in and out of the port. Many roads dead ended in stacks of storage. We had the same driver as we had in Valdez, a talkative guide named Patrick.

Bear at Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Our first stop was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, where they have kept most of the big animals native to Alaska. On the way we encountered a moose and her calf. Here we saw Musk ox, black and brown bears, caribou, elk, buffalo, and an arctic fox. We initially drove by most of the enclosures but since we were running late. That left little time for a closer look at the animals. We ended up leaving 20 minutes late, missing our scheduled boat at the next stop. So, we visited the Begich Boggs Visitor Center, which told the natural story of the area.

At Portage Lake

The highlight of the day was the boat tour of Portage Lake, which in 1911 was completely ice. The Portage glacier has retreated over time, leaving the lake with lots of waterfalls.. We approached the 4 ½ mile long glacier. It is ½ mile wide and 600 feet deep. We had several large icebergs in front, big enough for the blue color to stand out. Our commentator was funny and informative. We made a wrong turn trying to return to the ship again and ended up about 20 minutes late for dinner.

Portage Glacier

Kodiak Island

 

Going crazy after all the fog days

We are extremely tired of hearing the ship’s foghorn. The last four days have been foggy for most of the day. The temperature was between 43 and 47 every day. We are eager to get off the ship. The last few days, we’ve played a lot of trivia, enjoyed the dinners each night with our table mates and had a show each night. 

Carol, Sue, Ray, John, and Mary 

Today I went on a rainforest hike in Abercrombie State Park on Kodiak Island.  This is a Sitka Cedar forest with moss everywhere. 

Sitka Cedar Forest

This part of Kodiak island is protected from the wind. We hiked around Lake Gertrude, which pours into the ocean. Some managed to spot puffins and other water birds. Two-thirds of the island is within the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, home to 3500 Kodiak bears. The town itself was quiet. It is another big fishing center.

View of ocean shoreline

Arctic Circle

 

Crossing the Arctic Circle

We sailed north from Nome and at 8:10 AM crossing the Arctic Circle, about 8:30 we started heading east, and then turned south, leaving the circle a little after 9 AM. The wind was about 40 mph, the temperature was in the low 40’s so a very cold day. Mary woke up about 2 AM, I woke up at 4 AM and took a picture out our balcony door. Yes, it was light, but very cloudy, so not very impressive. We had a Arctic Circle crossing ceremony at 10 AM, where you could officially join the Blue Nose Club by diving into the aft pool which they filled with ice. Most everyone stayed in the pool for quite a while since it was 66 degrees, much warmer than the air outside.

Nome Alaska

 

Nome at 11:00 AM

I got up this morning to do a hike near the town of Nome. In 1898, gold was discovered here and the town grew to 10,000 people. Today, it only has 3700, but gold mining remains it’s primary economic driver. This is a tender port and the tenders started running at 8:15 in the morning. A few excursions made it to shore and then we were told that a tender had hit an unmarked dredging pipe at the mouth of the channel and was blocking the channel. They eventually towed the tender off the pipe, but then the fog rolled in. You could not even see the harbor from the ship, which made it unsafe to operate the tenders. At noon, they cancelled tender operations, but that left 14 crew members and 229 passengers in the town of Nome. The fog lifted about 2:30 PM, and we saw 3 tenders immediately leave for the harbor to ‘rescue’ the passengers. They had been well served snacks and well cared for in one of the churches waiting for the fog to clear. We caught a glimpse of the town, but within a hour the fog came in again. Two days later, they were doing some cosmetic repairs on the bottom of the tender. It was totally operational.

Rescue fleet for our Nome passengers at 2:30 PM

Dutch Harbor, Amaknak Island

From the fog to Dutch Harbor

 Since leaving College Fjord, we’ve sailed in foggy conditions until we reached Dutch Harbor, where the sun broke out and we were greeted by several sea otters in the water. The harbor is the top fishing port in the U.S. We walked 2 miles into town to visit the Museum of the Aleutian Islands. The winds were blowing and we could smell fish from the nearby canneries. It told the story of the native people and how they lived as well as the Harbor’s World War II story. The Japanese attacked the harbor on June 3^rd, 1942 to destroy the oil tanks here.  

Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor

On June 6 and 7, the Japanese attacked Kiska and Attu islands and occupied the islands. In August 1942, the U.S. established a naval base on Adak island and managed to block almost all the supply ships to the Japanese held islands. In May 1943, the U.S. retook Attu island and after bombing Kiska island, they found it deserted by the Japanese. Unfortunately, we moved most of the native population in this area to warehouses in the Juneau area. The roofs leaked, there was no heat, and the water was unreliable. Another terrible example of how we treat native Americans.

Cannery barracks 

On the way back, we encountered lots of bald eagles, feeding off the nearby waters as well as the leftovers from the canneries.

Eagles soring 

College Fjords

 

We entered the College Fjord with lots of fog around us at about 6 AM. I woke up about 7:30 and we were at the end of Fjord, staring at Harvard Glacier. (All the glaciers are named for U.S. colleges.) The blue ice burgs surrounded the ship.

Icebergs in the Fjord

Valdez

 

Coming into Valdez

Valdez is most well known as the end of the Alaskan Pipeline, which we could see across the Bay. The pipeline begins in Prudhoe Bay on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.  The pipeline is over 800 miles and crosses a major fault line. Because of the huge temperature variations, the pipe is designed to stretch and shrink without breaking. They also have radiators to disperse the heat from the oil in the pipeline without affecting the permafrost underneath the pipeline.

Horsetooth Falls

The town started thriving when the Richardson Highway was established connecting this ice-free port to Fairbanks, Alaska, providing a supply route to the interior of Alaska.  Since 1950 the highway has remained open in the winter. We did a bus tour along the highway. We stopped for two beautiful waterfalls: Horsetail Falls and Bridal Veil Falls in Keystone Canyon. Then we went over the pass to Worthington Glacier, one of the few accessible by road. This glacier has been retreating for the last 150 years. On the way back we stopped at Thompson Pass (elevation: 2600 feet) for a beautiful view of the Sawtooth Mountains.

Worthington Glacier

Icy Strait

Icy Strait was established as a cannery. Today, it attracts tourists to many outdoor activities. Our activity was to go whale watching. We first stopped to observe sea otters with their pups. 

Sea Otters and Pups

While searching for whales we came across sea lions playing in the sea. 

We continued the search for whales. Usually, you see them spouting in the distance and then approach closer, hoping to get there before their deep dive. After a deep dive, they will usually surface about 5-10 minutes later. But you need to estimate where they will surface.

Whale video

When we got back to shore, we walked into the shore facilities for the cannery museum and a beautiful eagle right above our heads. 

First sighting of a Bald Eagle

Sitka

 

Voyages of Vitus Bering

Sitka has been settled by the Tlingit clan for thousands of years. The name comes the native name meaning “people on the edge of Shee”, the name for this island. Catherine the Great of Russia chartered Vitus Bering to explore Kamchatka, the easternmost region of Siberia from 1733 to 1741. He discovered the Aleutian Islands and the coastal regions of Alaska.  In 1799, Alexander Baranov came to Sitka as head of the Russia America Company and created a settlement.  The Russians traded western goods with the Tlingit clan for “soft gold”, animal furs. He built a fortification and storage buildings, but the Tlingit noticed that the cannons of the fort were aimed at the Indian village, not the sea.  In June 1802, Tlingit warriors destroyed the original settlement, killing many of the Russians. Baranov came back with soldiers in 1804. The natives had built their own fort and at first repulsed the Russians. After two days of bombardment from the ships and the chance destruction of their gun powder, the Tlingit deserted their fort. Sitka became the unofficial capital of Russia America. 

St. Michael's Cathedral

Today, you can see St. Michael’s Cathedral and the Bishop’s House as evidence of the presence of Russia.  Eventually, the fur trade declined, and Russia needed money to pay for the Crimean War. In, 1867, William Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State paid $7.2 million dollars to purchase the Alaska territory from Russia, approximately 2 cents per acre. 

Eagle Ceremonial Hat

We visited the Sheldon Jackson museum, filled with artifacts from throughout Alaska and were entertained by a dance troop that celebrated the history of Sitka.

Ketchikan, Alaska

 

We flew into Seattle on June 7^th and upon arrival had dinner with Dick and Char who live there and Carol, who is joining us on the cruise. We left the next afternoon from the port in sight of the Space Needle.

Richard, Char, Carol, John and Mary

Our lecture series on Alaska started with a history of gold in the territory. There were eight gold rushes from 1862 to 1887 in the Alaska/Yukon area. The Klondike gold strike of August, 1896, was the biggest strike. 24 million of gold was shipped to Seatle in 1897 causing people to rush to Alaska by sea to hike into Canada. Most had no experience with wilderness. To control the situation, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police required a year’s worth of supplies (1500 pounds worth) to enter Canada. This meant that people had to walk up Chilkoot pass 30 to 40 times. In the Spring of 1898, 7000 homemade boats attempted to leave Lake Bennet down the Yukon. Of course, all the good claims were already taken. In 1899, there was a similar boom in Nome. Even today, many people try to make a living by finding gold.

The Routes to Dawson City

After two days of sailing through the inner passage along the British Columbian coast, we reached Ketchikan. I walked the short distance to Creek Street, the red-light district. During prohibition they made more money from liquor than prostitution. The town closed the houses in 1953 and today they are shops and restaurants.

Creek Street

In the afternoon, we went to the Lumber Jack show, a contest between Canada and the US. It was both fun and funny. It was amazing how quickly they could chop through the logs. Then we went out to Saxman Village to see the dancing in the Beaver Lodge and the totem poles outside the lodge.