Live from the Maasdam-14 night Alaska

[maureencruiser]

Wednesday

 

Wednesday, I finally arrived in Alaska! Ketchikan, to be exact.

 

 

The view of Creek Street from the ship.

 

 

 

 

The waterfront shops.

 

 

 

 

 

The Tors center, where you arrange to go on tors.

 

 

[maureencruiser]

A group of us from the roll call had arranged a tour with Tracy Wolf of Wild Wolf Tours.

 

She was wonderful, full of information and stories.

 

My first eagle sighting. I hadn't been in AK for ten minutes yet.

 

 

 

A closer, although blurrier picture.

 

 

 

Then, we went to a river to look for bears. First, we found another eagle.

 

 

 

It wasn't long before Bear Number One showed up.

 

 

Forgive the quality, he was far away and I zoomed in as much as I could.

 

Here, you will see that he caught a fish.

 

 

Which he promptly took behind this rock to eat and refused to come out.

 

[maureencruiser]

Oops, I think he sees me.

 

 

All his bird friends want him to share the fish.

 

 

 

Nope! He ate it all and then ambled off.

 

[maureencruiser]

Just as we were getting ready to leave, here came Lil' Bear!

 

 

He was a lot smaller and a lot closer.

 

 

He was right under a walkway.

 

 

There was a lady on the walkway. I don't know if she knew he was there.

 

 

I got pretty good pictures of him.

 

 

She sees him now!

 

[maureencruiser]

He came down to the river to try his fishing skills.

 

 

Looking for another tourist coming down the walkway. The first one was delicious.

 

 

 

Threatening us with a ferocious display of teeth or yawning? It's a bear, so, it could go either way.

 

 

Bear butt!

 

 

 

 

Sniffing the water or admiring his own reflection?

 

 

 

 

Pulling a dead fish from the water.

 

[maureencruiser]

The next eagle looked a little worse for wear and so did the tree it was in.

 

 

Tracy took us to see a waterfall.

 

 

Yours truly, in front of the waterfall.

 

 

Here's one, looking a bit more majestic.

 

 

And, one who looks cold, showing his feathers.

 

[maureencruiser]

She took us to Totem Bight Park.

 

 

She told us all the stories from the totems.

 

 

This was my favorite, the bear climbed all the way to the top.

 

 

 

 

Even the fish get their own totem.

 

[maureencruiser]

Then, we went on a short hike to a stream. It was very peaceful until Sallie Sue showed up.

 

 

Being a good fisherman requires lots of patience.

 

 

Get him, Sallie Sue!

 

 

 

 

Staring intently at something.

 

 

Brace yourself, Sallie Sue!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fish aren't biting here, move to another location.

 

[maureencruiser]

Come on, Sallie Sue, you can do it!

 

 

Eyes locked on target.

 

 

Go! Two entered the water, who will return as the victor?

 

 

Yes! Sallie Sue!!

 

 

Don't drop him.

 

 

Time to enjoy lunch.

 

[maureencruiser]

As we left the park, we saw two Sitka Black tailed deer.

 

 

 

It was time to head back to the ship. It had been a busy morning and a great tour and I had to see if I could find a new moose to replace my broken one.

[A&L_Ont]

Maureen, I'm glad to see that Sallie Sue didn't meet the Sitka black tail deer. ;)

[Yorkvillain]

 

The following picture is a cautionary tale for all you kids out there who say, "I want to write reviews on Cruise Critic when I grow up".

 

If you do, this is what you will look like on Formal night. When all the adults are going to dinner in tuxedos and ball gowns, this will be you.

 

 

Dirty shirt, sweatpants, scurrying about in the bowels of the ship like a rat, clutching your laptop and your notebook. Camera jammed in one pocket, broken moose jammed in the other. A wreck, really. :D

 

 

Haha! Here's what my cabin looks like at the end of the night while doing a live review:

 

[Traveling Dot]

Enjoying all your pictures. You have the knack. :D

[Tinknock50]

As we left the park, we saw two Sitka Black tailed deer.

 

 

 

It was time to head back to the ship. It had been a busy morning and a great tour and I had to see if I could find a new moose to replace my broken one.

Hey Maureen......which locations did this tour visit? One looks like Herring Cove.....and of course Totem Bight.

Edited September 2, 2016 by Tinknock50

[Tinknock50]

Hey Maureen......which locations did this tour visit? One looks like Herring Cove.....and of course Totem Bight.

 

Never Mind.....just checked the website. :)

 

Enjoying your trip report!

[albingirl]

Love this review! Thank you for taking the time!

[JimAOk1945]

I'm sort of reliving our recent Maasdam Alaska cruise through your review. You certainly have a great writing style and imagination! Love it!

 

My wife and I enjoyed our recent Maasdam cruise. She said she felt at home from day one, which is unusual for her. It was a wonderful experience for our first HAL cruise! The itinerary is awesome!

[Caribbean Chris]

Wow, Bob and I are in awe of these bear photos!! Looking forward to seeing your Juneau shots soon. Love this "Live From" the Maasdam while we're here enjoying it all, too, for a change.

[A&L_Ont]

Hi Maureen.

 

I hope you are having a great time in Alaska. You had a request for me to find an item for you here in the Caribbean and I did. I thought I'd better single post link it for you. I figured you'd be having enough fun on your sailing that you won't be return to my review until after you got home.

 

Here is the link.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=50952034&postcount=440

Edited September 3, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[maureencruiser]

Hi Maureen. I hope you are having a great time in Alaska. You had a request for me to find an item for you here in the Caribbean and I did.

 

:D:D You are so silly! Do you want me to bring you home a moose? I can lasso one right here, and he can swim behind the ship on the way home. I can leave him in Victoria with a sticker on his bum that says Andrew, Ontario. Everybody in Canada knows each other, right? :D:D

[maureencruiser]

Haha! Here's what my cabin looks like at the end of the night while doing a live review:

 

 

You joke, but, this is what my cabin actually looked like 2 days ago. You can imagine how it looks now.

 

[maureencruiser]

So, when you are in Ketchikan and need to buy a new moose, this is where your tour drops you off. It was just starting to sprinkle as I walked into the store and it had ended when I walked out 5 minutes later.

 

 

Creek Street

 

 

 

 

I wandered around Creek Street, did a little shopping.

 

 

 

My feet were throbbing and I had injured my knee trying to climb a set of stairs like a normal person, so, I decided to head back to the ship.

I crawled into my bed and began to drift off to sleep.

 

Suddenly, my eyes flew open! I hadn't taken a picture of the famous Welcome to Ketchikan sign! My loyal readers (is there more than one?) would expect to see that. So, I hauled myself out of bed, pulled my shoes on over my bloody stumps and hobbled back off the ship.

 

[maureencruiser]

Doing a little exploring.

 

 

 

Of course, I also had to get the Eagle by Nathan Jackson.

 

 

Fun with the eagle.

 

 

 

 

Now, that's my idea of a bench! Let's throw a piece of wood down between these two rocks!

 

 

The Liquid Sunshine Gauge, I had completely forgot about that.

 

 

You can see from the blue sky behind it that we had a beautiful day in Ketchikan.

[maureencruiser]

Back onboard, there were lots of float planes coming and going.

 

 

 

 

We had a berth mate, the Celebrity Millennium.

 

 

I decided if I ever move here, this would be my house, up high in the hills.

 

 

 

Over at the Celebrity ship, there seemed to be a delay in reboarding.

 

 

No such problems for the Maasdam.

 

 

Of course, being 4:30, most of us were already in bed.

[LadyVol1]

Great blog! I'm wondering if you can tell me if the Maasdam has a paperback exchange? Thanks.

 

 

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