5/22-6/1 Alaska Cruise (Radiance) & Land Tour, LOTS of Photos (L.J. & Bev Part II/I)

[mollanjake]

First, I want to say a giant THANK YOU for your trip reports and pictures! I hope I am able to take pictures that are half as good as yours.

 

I am in the process of planning a DIY land trip and southbound cruise. We will fly up to Alaska on 6/29/14 and our cruise leaves Seward on 7/4/14.

 

This is in reference to your first trip report/second Alaska trip

 

After looking at your bear pics, we are considering adding Soldotna to our trip. What we are trying to figure out is if we should add Soldotna for the purpose of the bear tour or if we should stay in Seward and try to go to Anan.

 

A few questions if you don't mind...how often are the Soldotna trips cancelled? Looks like bear watch and fishing to the same spot, do you think there were too many people there? I am guessing there isn't a guarantee of bear sightings, do you know how often they see bears? I think in pictures I saw a boat that had small kids in it, do you remember seeing any kids, my DD will be 9yo. Was this trip in your original plans or did you decide to do it because you were going to Homer?

 

Thanks for any answers you can give.

 

THANKS for your AWESOME trip reports!

[Budget Queen]

First, I want to say a giant THANK YOU for your trip reports and pictures! I hope I am able to take pictures that are half as good as yours.

 

I am in the process of planning a DIY land trip and southbound cruise. We will fly up to Alaska on 6/29/14 and our cruise leaves Seward on 7/4/14.

 

This is in reference to your first trip report/second Alaska trip

 

After looking at your bear pics, we are considering adding Soldotna to our trip. What we are trying to figure out is if we should add Soldotna for the purpose of the bear tour or if we should stay in Seward and try to go to Anan.

 

A few questions if you don't mind...how often are the Soldotna trips cancelled? Looks like bear watch and fishing to the same spot, do you think there were too many people there? I am guessing there isn't a guarantee of bear sightings, do you know how often they see bears? I think in pictures I saw a boat that had small kids in it, do you remember seeing any kids, my DD will be 9yo. Was this trip in your original plans or did you decide to do it because you were going to Homer?

 

Thanks for any answers you can give.

 

THANKS for your AWESOME trip reports!

 

For the fly in bear tours, out of Soldotna, or Homer you need to have two available days, as they are canceled, NO way to predict what your day will offer, so asking for stats isn't going to mean much. Be certain, this is peak time, I seem to recall July is less so? You are pretty well peak for Anan, very high success rates.

 

Not sure, but if your "boat" question is out of Soldotna, then for bears you do NOT want to be on any boat, "only", tour, you want a landing and the ability to get out and walk, with bear tours. Less success with sightings on combo trips involving fishing. The place to ask specific questions is with the vendors. Key would be getting the times involved with combo trips, I would think you need a full day to make it worthwhile. :)

[mollanjake]

For the fly in bear tours, out of Soldotna, or Homer you need to have two available days, as they are canceled, NO way to predict what your day will offer, so asking for stats isn't going to mean much. Be certain, this is peak time, I seem to recall July is less so? You are pretty well peak for Anan, very high success rates. Thanks! the fact that you advise 2 days minimum pretty much wraps it up for me. With just 4 days I do not want to risk a cancellation. I would rather invest my time else where I have options if we have a cancellation

 

Not sure, but if your "boat" question is out of Soldotna, then for bears you do NOT want to be on any boat, "only", tour, you want a landing and the ability to get out and walk, with bear tours. Less success with sightings on combo trips involving fishing. The place to ask specific questions is with the vendors. Key would be getting the times involved with combo trips, I would think you need a full day to make it worthwhile. :)[/quote My boat question referred to WalleyeLJ's trip they flew in on a float plane and then took a small boat into fishing/bears.

 

Thanks Budget Queen, your insight is very helpful. I am thinking we will likely stick to our original thought of the train to Seward, of course that may change:)

[Budget Queen]

For the fly in bear tours, out of Soldotna, or Homer you need to have two available days, as they are canceled, NO way to predict what your day will offer, so asking for stats isn't going to mean much. Be certain, this is peak time, I seem to recall July is less so? You are pretty well peak for Anan, very high success rates. Thanks! the fact that you advise 2 days minimum pretty much wraps it up for me. With just 4 days I do not want to risk a cancellation. I would rather invest my time else where I have options if we have a cancellation

 

Not sure, but if your "boat" question is out of Soldotna, then for bears you do NOT want to be on any boat, "only", tour, you want a landing and the ability to get out and walk, with bear tours. Less success with sightings on combo trips involving fishing. The place to ask specific questions is with the vendors. Key would be getting the times involved with combo trips, I would think you need a full day to make it worthwhile. :)[/quote My boat question referred to WalleyeLJ's trip they flew in on a float plane and then took a small boat into fishing/bears.

 

Thanks Budget Queen, your insight is very helpful. I am thinking we will likely stick to our original thought of the train to Seward, of course that may change:)

 

I had a 4 day window, with NO flights going out of Homer, this year. I still haven't made any bear trips out of Homer. :( I also have a friend who last year, got stuck at Katmai for extra days and missed their cruise ship. They had poor plans to begin with, putting Anchorage at the end of a week land trip, then, expecting to make it to Seward the next day for boarding. They also, went the "cheap" route, picking a vendor based on price only. I had a specific vendor recommendation, they ignored, and that vendor was the only one who got his people in and out. It was just about an auction to try to get a seat on his plane, which was full, adding only 1 person. They tried to "buy" seats off from confirmed passengers. I got an email, asking me to "help" them so they could make their ship. They were out of luck, they owned their decisions. They boarded their ship in Haines, missing Glacier Bay, and a good chunk of change to get there. No insurance, but I can't talk about that, I don't get trip insurance either, I do have an annual medical world wide policy. Anyways- too much rambling. :)

[WalleyeLJ]

For those who’ve never seen one, a funicular is a cable drive rail system which guides the cars up and down steep inclines. Found around the world, there are not many left in operation in the United States, and the one at Creek Street is the only one in Alaska. It’s only a few dollars and in about 60 seconds or so, you’re at the top of the bluff right at the Cape Fox Lodge, with cool views of Ketchikan and the cruise ships on the way up. I know everyone has their opinions when it comes to restaurants, and I’ve seen both positive and negatives reviews of the Cape Fox Lodge. While I can’t remember what else I had to go with the fantastic French Onion Soup, I remember being pleased with the lunch as whole. The ambiance in the Lodge was nice, as were the views of downtown. I wish I had known at the time that if we had gone out the other side of the Lodge that that have a very nice totem pole collection. Something to check out next time! We had a fairly short amount of time before we had to board (2:30pm last call), so once we finished up lunch, we rode the funicular back down to Creek Street to finish the loop and make our way back to the ship.

 

 

 

In the cabin of the funicular looking up the hill at the Cape Fear Lodge

 

 

 

 

 

Bev and the sites of Ketchikan out the window of the funicular

 

 

 

 

 

 

The perspective looking back down at the bottom of the track where we started our brief but fun ride to the top…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A shot of the fantastically tasty French Onion Soup!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got down to the bottom again, we checked out a couple more shops (what – I can never have enough travel t-shirts!). These we among the cheapest ones we found the whole trip – with many $9.99 or less.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

First, I want to say a giant THANK YOU for your trip reports and pictures! I hope I am able to take pictures that are half as good as yours.

 

I am in the process of planning a DIY land trip and southbound cruise. We will fly up to Alaska on 6/29/14 and our cruise leaves Seward on 7/4/14.

 

This is in reference to your first trip report/second Alaska trip

 

After looking at your bear pics, we are considering adding Soldotna to our trip. What we are trying to figure out is if we should add Soldotna for the purpose of the bear tour or if we should stay in Seward and try to go to Anan.

 

A few questions if you don't mind...how often are the Soldotna trips cancelled? Looks like bear watch and fishing to the same spot, do you think there were too many people there? I am guessing there isn't a guarantee of bear sightings, do you know how often they see bears? I think in pictures I saw a boat that had small kids in it, do you remember seeing any kids, my DD will be 9yo. Was this trip in your original plans or did you decide to do it because you were going to Homer?

 

Thanks for any answers you can give.

 

THANKS for your AWESOME trip reports!

 

Laura,

 

I know BQ already gave you her perspective, but I'll share my thoughts. If you're based in Seward from 6/30-7/3, Soldotna is an easy day trip. For the trip we took to Wolverine Creek, we booked the 12:00pm trip, returning at 5:30pm. We checked in at 11:30am, and returned just a shade before 6pm. The easy drive to and from Seward was a little over two hours. While you certainly might run into some road construction (we did!), it only held us up 10 or 15 minutes. So you could easily leave Seward around 8am, have plenty of time to account for traffic issues, and lots of light to drive home in when the trip is over.

 

I really can't speak to how often the bearing viewing trips out of Soldotna are cancelled. The folks at Talon or one of the other companies that that do those trips could certainly give you a good idea about that. As long as you don't fill your 4 full days pre cruise with scheduled events, you could book any of your first three days there, leaving the day after open in case there is a reschedule. If it goes as planned, then you can use the flex day for Exit Glacier, the SeaLife Center, or any number of other options. We loved our trip into Kenai Fjords this first trip (if you read last year's review you know we got cancelled), but being the 4th of July week you'll likely want to pre-book that as well (BQ can give you a lot more tips on that - I asked her for guidance last year before we left;)).

 

Getting back to the bears at Wolverine Creek, the flight across the Cook Inlet was pretty brief - 25 minutes or so. The De Havilland Otter was a nice plane - plenty of room, relatively speaking, for a nervous flyer like me! Plus, I always like the idea of having those pontoons. IN terms of if there were too many people - it's a hard question to answer for someone else. At it's peak there were 10-12 boats with 3-5 people in them, all close to each other. However, when the bears appeared, they really seemed like they could have cared less - they were all about the Sockeye. When the bears weren't around, watching the people around us hook into those acrobatic Sockeye and then try and land them was a hoot - plenty of entertainment from the humans when the bears were absent, which might be good with a youngster. I kow BQ advised against a boat only tour, but having done both types, they each have their own charms. The thing about the Wolverine trip is that the bears specifically come to that little bay due to the concentration of staging salmon, and it's a very small space, but with the security of the water and the boat (that may or may not be an issue with your DD) you get pretty close pretty safely.

 

In terms of how many bears, I know we ran into family when we were leaving Homer that had a rainy day at Wolverine the day prior to our trip, and ended up only seeing one bear. From looking at some reviews before we left last year, some folks saw many more bears there than we did. We saw 4 different bears in total, but each of the Browns (the two adults and the twin cubs) several times. We ended up with about 4:40 of time onsite at the Creek.

 

As for children, there were several boats there with children ranging from 6 or 7 through early teens. The boats are really very stable, and the waters there only a few feet deep. Here is a shot of a couple of young sisters that were fishing when the bears weren't there to watch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In terms of when we booked, we actually booked this trip to Wolverine first, and had Anan Creek booked as well. However, when the Groupon buy 1 get 1 showed up for the trip out of Homer to Hallo Bay in Katmai, we decided we just couldn't afford three bear watching outings in one trip, and figured that generally speaking we'd have a better chance of getting back to Ketchikan and Anan someday than Katmai.

 

As for taking the train from Anchorage to Seward - absolutely do it if you can. I'll cover our experience with that later this trip, but even though the weather was pretty grey and socked in for the train ride, it was a terrific experience. Once in Seward, you can just pick up a rental car there, which will work well since you won't have any one way rental costs/hassles to worry about! If you have any other question that you think we may be able to help with, just let me know - have a great time planning your trip!

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

We continued around the second half of Creek Street, moving a bit more quickly as our time was getting short. The shops along the lower half of Creek Street we a bit more artsy and/or jewelry based, which wasn’t a big loss for us – but certainly might of interest to others. One of the other neat things I’d wished we’d had time for was a stop of Dolly’s House museum. Dolly Arthur was one of the most infamous and successful madam’s in Creek Street’s red-light district, from the 1920’s to 1953. You can walk through the house, which contains lots of period pieces, photos and even a video history of Dolly’s life on Creek Street. There are even live “ladies of the night” to interact with on your visit!

 

 

 

A creekside view of the buildings along the south end of Creek Street, including Dolly’s House.

 

 

 

 

 

Dolly’s House

 

 

 

 

 

One last look at Creek Street

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving the south end of Creek Street, we started making our way on foot back to Radiance. Along the way we found a neat little gift and candy shop (the name escapes me), where I was able to stock up on one of my favorite but rare treat – white chocolate and white chocolate almond bark. A few minutes later we made it back to the ship, but saw a unique and memorable sight that I’ll always remember from our first trip to Alaska. Between Celebrity Infinity which was behind Radiance, and Radiance herself, we saw a freight barge heading north. That by itself wasn’t unusual or unique, but the way that it was loaded – totally stacked up on the bow and the stern, with nothing above deck in the middle – coupled with the unusual cargo (shipping containers yes – but boats on trailers, RVs and cement mixers?!?!?!), it made QUITE a sight! Take a look!!!

 

 

 

A full barge view…

 

 

 

 

 

The bow cargo stack…

 

 

 

 

 

The aft cargo stack…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since Ketchikan is island locked with no roads in, boats are the only way to get vehicles there – but I just figured they would ride on the Alaska Ferry – not a cargo barge! Back on board with just a few minutes to spare, Bev headed back to the room to freshen up before our first ever Meet & Mingle at 4pm, while I headed up top to watch our departure…

 

 

 

L.J.

[mollanjake]

Laura,

 

I know BQ already gave you her perspective, but I'll share my thoughts. If you're based in Seward from 6/30-7/3, Soldotna is an easy day trip. For the trip we took to Wolverine Creek, we booked the 12:00pm trip, returning at 5:30pm. We checked in at 11:30am, and returned just a shade before 6pm. The easy drive to and from Seward was a little over two hours. While you certainly might run into some road construction (we did!), it only held us up 10 or 15 minutes. So you could easily leave Seward around 8am, have plenty of time to account for traffic issues, and lots of light to drive home in when the trip is over.

 

I really can't speak to how often the bearing viewing trips out of Soldotna are cancelled. The folks at Talon or one of the other companies that that do those trips could certainly give you a good idea about that. As long as you don't fill your 4 full days pre cruise with scheduled events, you could book any of your first three days there, leaving the day after open in case there is a reschedule. If it goes as planned, then you can use the flex day for Exit Glacier, the SeaLife Center, or any number of other options. We loved our trip into Kenai Fjords this first trip (if you read last year's review you know we got cancelled), but being the 4th of July week you'll likely want to pre-book that as well (BQ can give you a lot more tips on that - I asked her for guidance last year before we left;)).

 

Getting back to the bears at Wolverine Creek, the flight across the Cook Inlet was pretty brief - 25 minutes or so. The De Havilland Otter was a nice plane - plenty of room, relatively speaking, for a nervous flyer like me! Plus, I always like the idea of having those pontoons. IN terms of if there were too many people - it's a hard question to answer for someone else. At it's peak there were 10-12 boats with 3-5 people in them, all close to each other. However, when the bears appeared, they really seemed like they could have cared less - they were all about the Sockeye. When the bears weren't around, watching the people around us hook into those acrobatic Sockeye and then try and land them was a hoot - plenty of entertainment from the humans when the bears were absent, which might be good with a youngster. I kow BQ advised against a boat only tour, but having done both types, they each have their own charms. The thing about the Wolverine trip is that the bears specifically come to that little bay due to the concentration of staging salmon, and it's a very small space, but with the security of the water and the boat (that may or may not be an issue with your DD) you get pretty close pretty safely.

 

In terms of how many bears, I know we ran into family when we were leaving Homer that had a rainy day at Wolverine the day prior to our trip, and ended up only seeing one bear. From looking at some reviews before we left last year, some folks saw many more bears there than we did. We saw 4 different bears in total, but each of the Browns (the two adults and the twin cubs) several times. We ended up with about 4:40 of time onsite at the Creek.

 

As for children, there were several boats there with children ranging from 6 or 7 through early teens. The boats are really very stable, and the waters there only a few feet deep. Here is a shot of a couple of young sisters that were fishing when the bears weren't there to watch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In terms of when we booked, we actually booked this trip to Wolverine first, and had Anan Creek booked as well. However, when the Groupon buy 1 get 1 showed up for the trip out of Homer to Hallo Bay in Katmai, we decided we just couldn't afford three bear watching outings in one trip, and figured that generally speaking we'd have a better chance of getting back to Ketchikan and Anan someday than Katmai.

 

Thanks, so much. that all makes great sense and is good advice as well! Love the extra pics of the little girls fishing, can totally picture my DD doing this. MY DH would love to go fishing at some point, but I was thinking he would do that and I would take my DD and do something else. I still think we will have to chose btn this and ANAN though, because I want to go Glacier Dog Sledding as well and 3 excursions at this price point is just too much!Sure would be nice if I could score a GROUPON!

 

As for taking the train from Anchorage to Seward - absolutely do it if you can. I'll cover our experience with that later this trip, but even though the weather was pretty grey and socked in for the train ride, it was a terrific experience. Once in Seward, you can just pick up a rental car there, which will work well since you won't have any one way rental costs/hassles to worry about! If you have any other question that you think we may be able to help with, just let me know - have a great time planning your trip!

 

L.J.

 

I think we are going to take the Train to Seward and rent a car there. Some many options! Thanks again for your awesome review and pictures. I am sure I will have more questions

[WalleyeLJ]

So, I don’t have a lot of description to go along with the departure section from Ketchikan, but it was both a little sad and a lot exciting to be leaving. Sad of course because we had a great first day in Alaska and had much more we would have liked to have seen and done, but excited because we had so much more to look forward to – the Meet & Mingle, dinner in Chops, and tomorrow – whale watching in Juneau!!!

 

One thing on note about transiting through Ketchikan is that we approached from the south this morning, and there was a lot more development north of Ketchikan to check out as we left in the afternoon. It’s something to keep in mind when you visit depending on how interested you are in checking such things out and which way you’ll be approaching. On our 2012 Radiance cruise, we were sailing south, so the experience was reversed, and I knew what I’d be getting to see on our morning arrival that trip.

 

For me, since this was still all so new, I was fascinated with seeing what the waterfront of an Alaskan town looked like, and how different it was from other smaller coastal towns I seen. The most interesting thing by far was confirming all the reading, videos and television shows that indeed, airplanes, and float planes in particular, are indeed EVERYWHERE. Obviously there is a large business side to the use of float planes, but the majority of waterfront homes we passed either had a float planed tied up/docked or pulled onshore just like the rest of us pull cars into our driveways, and the majority of those that didn’t have a plane at them at the moment clearly had a dock or launch track for a plane. So, now that I’ve had nothing to say about departure, check out some of the pics as we slide away from our moorings and headed north…

 

 

 

As we began to push away from Berth #3 with our thrusters, HAL’s Ryndam had already cleared Celebrity Infinity behind us and was full steam ahead. We’d be following her wake for hours…

 

 

 

 

 

A closer view of Ryndam

 

 

 

 

 

 

For fans of “The Deadliest Catch”, this is the boat, the “Aleutian Ballad” that they’ve converted for the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour, which seems to get high marks from what I’ve seen from other postings here on CC and on TA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view of part of the northern Small Boat Harbor with homes lining the hillside above

 

 

 

 

 

A wider shot of Islands Wings, the Moose Lodge, and Carlin Air next door

 

 

 

 

 

A closer look at Islands Wings “Lady Esther”…and the Moose Lodge, along with the floating dock that flexes up and down depending on the tides. It was a much steeper climb when we wrapped up our trip earlier in the day…

 

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

I work in transportation, so I have a bias towards its importance in our everyday lives, but I think it’s easy for most of us living in the Lower 48 to forget about its impact. Everyday millions of cars, trucks, trains and planes carry us and our stuff all over, and we’re just use to it, because generally speaking, it all happens so easily. Maybe it doesn’t feel that way in a traffic jam at 5pm, but in general, we get where we want, when we want, and what we’re going there for is usually easy to find. Transportation in Alaska, especially when you live on an island, is a little more important, and involved, to the everyday activities of life. Steaming north out of Ketchikan, the hustle and bustle of life in the north, and the myriad transportation modes involved, was on full display. The earlier shots of the barge bringing in the different types of boats and vehicles was one example. Here are a few others:

 

 

 

Tugboat pushing a freight barge into the shipping yard

 

 

 

 

 

One of the Alaska ferries that are a primary means of connecting coastal Alaskan communities using the Alaska Marine Highway system if you don’t want to or can’t fly. You can take the ferry system all the way from Bellingham, WA to Dutch Harbor near the middle of the Aleutian Island chain.

 

 

 

 

 

As we were leaving Ketchikan, and Alaska Airlines jet was landing on the runway of the Ketchikan Airport, which lies on the other side of the channel from Ketchikan proper right next to and parallel to the water. So, flying into Ketchikan is not unusual from most other places. However, you can’t drive from the airport to Ketchikan – you’ll have to get on a boat to cross the channel to get to downtown.

 

 

Touchdown - welcome to Alaska!

 

 

 

 

 

As we got to the end of the main development on we passed the Taquan air float plane “hanger”/dock. In addition to the planes, you can see the Alaska Queen paddlewheel tour boat in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We we’re now north of Ketchikan, and it was getting close to 4pm, so I headed back down to the room to get Bev and head to the Meet & Mingle. Here’s a shot of Celebrity Infinity still in port, and the Ryndam leading the way to Juneau in front of us…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

The Meet & Mingle on this trip was our first (and so far still the best) that we signed up for. The reason for that I think was that so many of us were SO active on the Roll Call message board. A number of us chatted on the board for almost a year before the trip. It was a group that was particularly stoked to head to Alaska – much more than the board from our trip up last year, but for some reason we never got the invitation/info on the M&M last year, so it might have also been a great group in person.

 

In any case, it was a very cool experience because when we finally met some of the folks, it felt like we really weren’t strangers. In addition to meeting our dinner mates and agreeing to share a table with them without having met them before, I meet this cool guy online, Patrick. We started chatting after everyone was sharing their ideas for shore excursions on the message board, and we both realized that Bev & I, and Patrick and his wife Shannon wanted to go halibut fishing in Icy Straight Point, but none of the charters would take out less than 4 people. So, having never met each other before, we decided to join forces and set up a charter. Some people may do that kind of thing all the time, and others may never consider it, but for us it just worked out easy for some reason. We even set up to have dinner at Chops after the M&M so that we got a chance to know each other better before we made it to ISP a few days later.

 

The RCI staff did a very nice job with the event, with a nice assortment of door prizes, and cheese and cracker platters and drinks. We also had a part of the group, us included, that brought something that represented home. We brought some NASCAR gear to swap, and as it worked out, we ended up getting Patrick & Shannon’s gift, which were ID card holders from North Dakota State, which we used for our Sea Pass cards the rest of the trip, and every cruise since. Here’s a look at some of the festivities…

 

 

 

Drawing for door prizes. I actually designed the white long-sleeved shirt t-shirt in the photo and put them up on Café Press for folks to buy pre cruise – and a number of people actually did! This one ended up being shipped to us in error, so we brought it to be another door prize.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting a snazzy new hat!

 

 

 

 

 

Shannon winning a Radiance cruise DVD (Patrick is wearing the ball cap on the left).

 

 

 

 

 

Some of our lovely Cruise Critic ladies!

 

 

 

 

 

Our fantastic Meet & Mingle member shot (glad I brought a tripod and glad I was fast enough to make it back in to the picture!)

 

 

 

 

 

Next up – dinner in Chops!!!

 

 

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

So, I was derailed yet again, this time by this year’s cruise, which we finished up last weekend. For all the adventure and potential dangers exploring Alaska, it was in the Caribbean, during an onboard game show challenge that I managed to tear my ACL. My most relaxing and laidback cruise ever, and in a brief 30 seconds I go and get the worst injury I’ve ever had. Well, at least that means I MIGHT manage to get this thing done yet!

 

For folks that may not have tried Royal Caribbean yet, Chops Steakhouse is one of their signature specialty dining restaurants that they have on most ships across the fleet. We went on our very first cruise and we have gone at least once every trip since then. Your choice of proteins (not just red meat), with sides served family style, it’s always the best meal of the trip, which we just confirmed yet again two weeks ago. Best Filet on the high seas – and pretty much on land too!

 

While there are sometimes larger groups in Chops, most of the groups are 2-6. It makes for a nice location to have a great meal and just relax. It was the perfect setting to spend some time with our new friends Patrick & Shannon before our fishing trip. Patrick and I had struck up a friendship on our Roll Call, and had been talking back and forth for months but hadn’t met until we got on board. We spent a nice couple of hours getting to know each other as they celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary, while enjoying a great meal with a terrific window seat. We were really able to take advantage of the late summer light and we were able to watch the amazing scenery. I even was able to spot several whales while we were at dinner, including one breaching off in the distance. We topped off the meal with some terrific desserts. The one thing I personally find lacking on cruises are the desserts – I’ve had a few good ones over the years in the Main Dining room, but in general I don’t find them too appealing. That too is a difference in Chops – the desserts match the main courses. Our bellies finally full we topped off our evening with a quick swing by the Casino Royale (big gamblers that we are we finished up $10) and a couple minutes listening to the band in the Main Atrium, and then we were off to bed to get ready for Juneau and our whale watching adventure the next morning!

 

 

 

Patrick & Shannon and Bev & I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My delicious Chops Tiramisu!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was 70’s Night at the Casino Royale!

 

 

 

 

 

Smooth tunes from the house band in the Atrium…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, off to bed – we have high hopes to see some whales up close tomorrow!

 

 

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

Well, instead of spending weeks on the computer while I recovered from knee surgery, I spent weeks NOT in front of the computer, and then it was the holidays, and suddenly it’s February. So much for making a lot of headway! Facing a second surgery in less than 3 weeks – this time shoulder – I wanted to get back into the grove again for a bit before I’m unable to use the computer again for a few weeks. At least our next trip to Alaska isn’t until next year! So…onto Juneau we go!

 

The next morning I woke bright and early, a theme for this trip. I headed topside to Deck 11, got some coffee, and roamed the upper decks of the ship, taking in the beautiful views of the Inside Passage as the sun came up and Radiance steamed north through Stephens Passage on our final approach to Juneau. The weather appeared to be in our favor again as sunshine and blue skies were mixed in with the morning cloud cover. Given the reputation for rain in Southeast Alaska, we’d really lucked out on weather so far! Since we were doing our whale watching trip first thing this morning, I was feeling pretty good that the weather would cooperate, at least for the morning.

 

 

 

A first glimpse of the massive Juneau Ice Field and some of the imposing mountains around it…

 

 

 

 

 

Clearing blue skies at dawn along Stephens Passage

 

 

 

 

 

A charter fishing boat provides a bit of a sense of scale as the mountainsides rise right up from the waters edge…

 

 

 

 

 

The view from Deck 13 forward, starboard/right side looking back

 

 

 

 

 

As we got closer to port, signs of civilization started to appear along the shoreline in the form of large waterfront homes. Even just a little bit off the waterline the homes are well up the hillside – check out the meandering set of stairs from the house on the right to the beach below…

 

 

 

 

 

One of the cool things about the run into to Juneau was the number of waterfalls that tumbled down the mountains along the Passage from the snow pack on top. While not a sheer drop that high, these waterfalls spilled well over a thousand feet down from on high, and every draw and seam along the hillside seemed to hold one, some thin and thready and hard to see, some a rushing torrent taking multiple paths to the ocean below.

 

 

 

 

L.J.

[luv2sail7]

Yay LJ and Bev are back!! And thinking good thoughts for your next surgery. I had my left shoulder scoped (spurs) Dec 2012. So glad I did it and wished I had done it sooner. Take care and feel better soon!

[WalleyeLJ]

Thanks! I feel bad about having left this thread hanging so long. My shoulder actually started bothering me last spring well before I hurt the knee, but once I did that, the knee took priority. I have some bone spurs and arthritis to take care of, but the two biggest issues are a small rotator cuff tear, and a partially tear of one of my right bicep tendons where it attaches into the shoulder joint:eek::(. So once the surgery happens, I'll likely be limited on being able to even move it enough to work on a keyboard for the first few weeks from what I understand (never mind take photos for a couple three months). So I figured I need to get cracking before if was 6 months between posts:D!

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

Juneau is a beautiful city that spreads out in a sort of 90 degree arc along the right side of the waterway with mountains and waterfalls towering above, with West Juneau located on the left side on Douglas Island, the two connected by a bridge across the Gastineau Channel. While the Pacific Princess had to anchor and tender their passengers into shore, we were fortunate enough to be able to utilize one of the waterfront berths, making boarding and alighting a snap. I got to spend a few minutes shooting our approach and docking.

 

 

 

Downtown Juneau waterfront

 

 

 

 

 

The Pacific Princess with West Juneau and Douglas Island in the background

 

 

 

 

 

Princess tender boat getting ready to head ashore

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the colorful shops, restaurants and other attractions along the cruise ship docks

 

 

 

 

 

One of the fish processing and ice houses scattered along the waterfront

 

 

 

 

 

The Mount Roberts Tram is a popular attraction for visitors to Juneau. Located right along the cruise ship docks, a six minute ride will spirit up you 1,800 feet up Mt. Roberts. At the top, the main draw, assuming weather cooperates, are fantastic views of Juneau and West Juneau below. Once up there, though, there is also food available, the Chilkat Theater showing a film about local Native Alaskan Tlingit culture called Seeing Daylight, gift shops, walking/hiking trails (some of which are ADA accessible) and a nature & raptor/bird of prey rehab center. Here’s a shot of one of the Tram cars headed up to the top.

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

[mollanjake]

Glad your back! Hope your knee is all healed and will cross my fingers for a successful shoulder surgery! Just love your pics still!

 

 

Laura

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Shazzah]

Glad you're back. Ouch, I feel for you - 2 surgeries to get through. But, you have to get fixed up so you can hold the camera!

[WalleyeLJ]

Thanks Laura, thanks Shazzah! The knee is doing very well so far, and the same sports orthopedist is doing my shoulder (those are the two things he specializes in), so here's hoping round 2 goes as well as round 1. Everyone around here keeps telling me the shoulder will be worse...:eek::D

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

So, as the ship pulled in tight I headed down to get Bev and head to have a hearty breakfast and head out for our 9:30am pick up. After reading a number of reviews here on CC, we had decided to go out with Harv & Marv as we decided we wanted to go out on a small (no more than 6) passenger boat, and they had a great reputation. We were off the ship and in the vehicle pick up area at the designated time, and so was out ride. Our driver was either Harv or Marv’s father-in-law (I can’t remember which), but he kept up a pleasant running commentary, giving us a nice little tour along the way, showing us points of interest and telling us what life in Juneau was like. A quick 20+ minute ride later and we arrived in Auke Bay, the main marina for whale watching out of Juneau. A quick pit stop at the restrooms, we meet Harv AND Marv (they were both taking out groups), and we headed down the gangway to the boats. Our Captain for the day was Capt. Harv – aka Pete Nelson.

 

As it turned out, our intimate 6 passenger boat experience was even better as we only had one other couple that were on our boat, so there was plenty of room to go around. After a quick safety briefing, we shoved off and made our way out of the Auke Bay marina ready to begin our quest for the mighty Humpbacks and hopefully even a few Orcas! As lifelong recreational fisherman, I really enjoyed seeing all the different sized and shaped boats in the harbor, especially the landing craft style boats that I’d never seen before. We also go to see a bit of wildlife in the form a few Bald Eagles that we hanging out in the harbor looking for an easy meal!

 

 

 

One of the cool landing craft style boats. Very handy for accessing remote sections of coastal Alaska without docks (which is pretty much everywhere!). We’ll get to use one of these a bit later in our trip!

 

 

 

 

 

A local family heading out to do some fishing…

 

 

 

 

 

A fine feathered friend high atop one of the dock pylons with his head on a swivel looking for his next meal…

 

 

 

 

 

A look back at Auke Bay marina with just a glimpse of Mendenhall Glacier nestled in the snowcapped mountains above…

 

 

 

 

 

One of the nice things with the small boats that Harv & Marv run is that they run quiet, clean, FAST 4 stoke outboards, so these boats really fly across the water when conditions allow, which is nice when you have a few different spots or adventures to check out during a trip, like we did…

 

 

 

 

 

Bev out enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, video camera taking it all in!

 

 

 

 

 

Next up – some exciting news comes across the radio!

 

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

As Capt. Harv guided us across Auke Bay, he chatted with us about life in Juneau and running whale watching charters. I asked him what he thought our chances were of getting to see any Orcas. He said that while sighting Humpbacks were pretty much a sure thing – they’d seen some every trip for the last four years at least – thanks not only to the seasonal influx of Humpbacks but some permanent residents that didn’t really leave the area. Orcas, on the other hand, are always on the move, following schools of salmon all through and along coastal Alaska. Given that, Capt. Harv said that on average they spotted Orcas about once a week.

 

Well, not a minute later, the marine radio crackled to life. Capt. Harv picked up the mic, chatted with the other boat for a few seconds, and then hung up and carved a sweeping left turn toward the nearest shoreline. Low and behold the call was to let him know that another local boat had spotted some Orcas nearby, and we were off to find them! A few minutes later Capt. Harv slowed the boat and turned parallel to the shoreline, idling along. A minute later, off our rear quarter in the distance – a spout and the unmistakable black & white markings tall, sharp dorsal fin of an adult Orca! Alongside was a youngster, rolling along just like mom. We watched them for a few minutes as they worked their way tight along the shoreline, with people just beyond walking and fishing along the shoreline. At some points I couldn’t figure out how they had enough water to maneuver! Then, an additional pod of Orcas appeared behind them…and then ANOTHER!!! They suddenly seemed to be everywhere -it was Orcatastic!!! Here are three shots of the pods working along the shoreline…

 

 

Follow the leader!

 

 

 

 

 

Lucky 7s!

 

 

 

 

 

Mom & baby

 

 

 

 

 

While we were watching the pods work along the shoreline, I was up in the bow of the boat, sitting in the nose with my feet braced to try and get as stable as possible for shots. The husband of the other couple was also up front with me. I was watching and shooting, and suddenly I heard a “whoosh” and a gasp from the back deck of the boat where Bev was standing shooting video. I looked back over the side towards the rear of the boat, just in time to catch a glimpse of a large Orca and baby not more than 10 feet from the back of the boat where Bev was standing, jaw dropped in amazement. I made my way to the back of the boat and all she could say in the moment was “That was AMAZING!!!” A couple seconds later the female surfaced right off our side…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whale watching is very much a community event, and since everyone is watching whale rather than catching them like you would with fish, some of the boats know it’s in the group’s interest to share the info and resources rather than keep them a secret, so by this point we had quite a little following of other whale watching boats, each unique in their design and viewing options.

 

 

The whale pack…

 

 

 

 

 

The more the merrier – aka don’t tip over!

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

[OC PAT]

So you may have noticed I mentioned in the previous post "the dreaded Space Needle". So, the Space Needle is just about the most iconic image of Seattle - at least in my mind. World famous, with towering, 520 foot high views of Seattle, Puget Sound, and the Cascade & Olympic mountain ranges. So here we are, standing at the base of this massive, amazing feat of science and engineering and human creativity, and me a photographer on just about the most picture perfect day possible. It's an absolutely perfect moment that couldn't have been scripted any better.

 

Except for one teeny, tiny, silly little thing, a bit of a fly in the ointment so to speak...

 

I have a nearly debilitating fear of heights!

 

Like heart stopping, rubber-legged, I'm going to pass out, pulse racing 200 beats a minute kind of fear.

 

Two previous examples of similar circumstances . First, I proposed to Bev on the top of Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid, NY in the middle of fall foliage season. Now being on top of a mountain generally isn't a problem. However, after pooping the question, I took Bev into Lake Placid to check out the Olympic sights. One of those was going up in the ski jump towers. 70m - less than half the height of the Space Needle. We rode up in the elevator, stepped out...and I couldn't move more than a couple of steps. Not proud of it, not happy about it, but it was like I was glued to the floor around the main concrete pillar holding the whole thing up. Bev went right out into the actually ski jump area and took photos so I could see what the view looked liked. Even the photos made me ill. It's a wonder she didn't hand me the ring back after we got down to terra firma!

 

Second, the Empire State Building. Got out on the 86th, or 89th floor, took about 5 steps, and froze. I SWEAR the whole building was swaying 2-3 feet. Mind you, I know that skyscrapers are built to move in the wind, but NO one else in our group felt what I felt. When I FINALLY made it into the next elevator and up to the main observation deck, I had to kneel initially at the edge of the deck wall because I couldn't stand - even though it was about 3 feet thick.

 

So, now that I've embarrassed myself completely - back to my dilemma at the Space Needle - or rather Bev's dilemma. After 20 or so minutes of my sitting and staring at the thing, I'm sure her patience was wearing thin, but she didn't show it. She Kept telling me if I didn't want to go up, it was fine. But I didn't want her to miss the experience either. Watching the external elevators glide up and down the skeletal tripod legs of the Needle was not helping calm my fears. All I could picture was being halfway up and an earthquake striking at that exact moment.

 

 

 

Abstract Beauty

 

 

 

 

 

So, learning that the Needle was built to withstand a CAT 5 hurricane and a 9.1+ earthquake, and knowing I was likely never going to get a perfect day like this again, even if I was fortunate enough to make it back to Seattle again, I finally decided to just go for it!

 

 

 

A shot of the happy moment of facing my fears...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a bit of a wait as there was a long line, but it was like that when we got there, so no harm, no fowl (that came later;)).

 

 

 

 

 

 

It did, of course, allow me plenty of time to amp my fears back up again, but I persevered - sort of! When it was finally time for us to board our elevator, I had decided to video the ride up. But I was so stressed out that I just closed my eyes, stuck the video camera up over my head, and clenched my teeth for the whole ride up to the top. The funny thing is you'd figure that it would be 45-60 seconds of the most useless video in history - but when we got back from the trip and I went through the video clips, it was probably the most rock solid, steady footage I shot the whole trip - go figure!

 

 

 

L.J.

 

You were "pooping" when you proposed! Too funny!

[WalleyeLJ]

You were "pooping" when you proposed! Too funny!

 

LOL - very true:D. I try to proof read these darn posts, but that was a classic one where I didn't misspell the word - I spelled the wrong word correctly, and I guess my brain knows what it's supposed to be, so I miss some! As long as I don't do it some time and offend someone...:eek:

 

:D

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

As I mentioned, it seemed like there were Orcas everywhere. A big male with a huge dorsal fin pooped up off our right front quarter. You can see the difference in the male dorsal as they tend to be very tall and angular, whereas the females have more of a curved edge on the back side of the dorsal fin. Those dorsal fins can be several feet tall! As the big male continued to slide off into the distance, a few more joined up with him, and they swam off towards the mountains beyond…

 

 

 

The big male

 

 

 

 

 

The seafaring wolf pack off in search of food and adventure (or so I like to think)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Orcas were moving fast, so having spent plenty of time with them, Capt. Harv turned the boat north and ran for about 10 minutes or so until he found some water he liked and we began searching for signs of Humpbacks in the area. It didn’t take but a minute or two and we saw our first Humpback a ways off to the west…

 

 

 

Waving hello…

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not just one Humpback – it’s a mom with a calf!

 

 

 

 

 

We motored up to a respectful distance and Capt. Harv threw the boat into neutral. Legally, in order to prevent harassing and stressing the whales, you are only supposed to get so close to them in a boat. That said, if the whale(s) choose to come to you and check you and your boat out, that’s ok – you don’t have to run away from them either, and we were lucky enough to have exactly that happen! We got to spend probably 20+ minutes with the mom and calf in close proximity. At one point the adult got within 75 feet or so of the boat, expelled water through the blow hole and made a sound Capt. Harv called “bugling.”

 

 

 

Rolling the surface and spouting water through the blow holes (Humpbacks actually have two blow holes), with snow covered peaks in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

A close up look at the blow holes

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

[WalleyeLJ]

The whales weren’t our only wild companions for the moment. There was a silly Sea Lion that started to play around the adult Humpback, even though she probably could have sent the Sea Lion flying with a flick of her massive fluke. It reminded me a lot of a fly buzzing around a horse. I wasn’t able to get any decent photos, but it sure was fun watching the Sea Lion splashing all around. Periodically we were also treated to some feathered friends flying by, and I managed to get this one Eagle as it did a flyby…

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had some human company – Capt. Marv and his crew in the “OB-1” (we were in the “Haarvendam”)…

 

 

 

 

 

We had a few more minutes to enjoy our closeness with mom and her little one before they slide away, angling for Auke Bay. After that we were headed for the local navigation buoy that always provided postcard shots of Sea Lions hauled out and draped all over the red and green buoy. Here are a few more close-ups of our friendly, 50 foot long leviathan companion…

 

 

 

Arching of the back like this is a good sign that a Humpback has finished their breathing cycle and is getting ready to sounds for a bit…

 

 

 

 

 

…which means it’ll be time to grab a shot of the massive fluke flipping out of the water just before the whale dives for the deep…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last look at mom, rolling and slapping her pectoral fin on the surface and splashing water everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

So we saw a number of other Humpbacks, all a bit further away, but we didn’t head off after them considering the show that mom and baby had given us. It was one of those great times where quality definitely trumped quantity. As I mentioned we were supposed to be finishing off our day by checking out the famous Sea Lion buoy, but just as we were getting ready to take off, another call came in across the radio…

 

 

 

L.J.