Alaska
My First Cruise
On Monday, August 9, 1999 my family and I departed Vancouver, Canada, at 5:30 pm on the MS Norwegian Wind, heading northbound for Alaska. Tuesday, we sailed through the Inside Passage, a waterway between Canada/Alaska and the island of Victoria and other various islands. Wednesday, we reached Juneau, Alaska at 2 pm. There, we took an excursion on a wildlife cruise. We departed Juneau at midnight. Thursday, at 8 am, we arrived at Skagway, Alaska, and took a train ride to the top of the Alaskan/Canadian border. We left at 5 pm and arrived at Haines, Alaska at 6:30 pm. In Haines, we took a boat ride up the Chilkat River. We saw bald eagles, salmon, and even a moose! We left Haines at 11 pm. On Friday, we cruised inside of Glacier Bay, an eerie inlet of Alaska with many glaciers and icebergs. Saturday, we arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska at 8 am and took a historical/wildlife cruise. We also did some shopping. We left at 6 pm. Sunday, we cruised back down the Inside Passage, and Monday, we arrived back in Vancouver, Canada, at approximately 8 in the morning. It was an exciting trip and the pictures cannot capture the beauty that was seen.
This is one of my favorite pictures. It is a picture of the mountains surrounding Frederick Sound, which is part of the Inside Passage.
These are pictures of humpback whales we saw on the wildlife cruise in Juneau.
We had a rare opportunity to see these whales "bubble net feeding" which means, the whales go down to the bottom and then swim in circles upward and bring the fish along with them in the current. When they get to the top, they quickly eat all the fish. There were about 10 whales and it was a once in a lifetime experience.
This picture was taken from the top of a mountain in the vicinity of the Canadian/Alaskan border while we were on the train ride in Skagway.
My Second Cruise
My family and I loved Alaska so much the first time that we just had to go back! On August 19, 2001 we flew to Seattle, Washington. We had dinner at the top of the Space Needle and stayed overnight. The next morning, Sunday, August 20, 2001 we departed Seattle at 4 pm. Monday, we were at sea in the Pacific Ocean, and let's just say the water was very rough and lots of people got seasick! Tuesday, we arrived at the Sawyer Glacier, and cruised around in the narrow fjords surrounding it. Wednesday, we reached Haines, Alaska at 7 am and took a water/land excursion. We departed at noon and arrived in Skagway, Alaska at 1:30 pm. Skagway is famous for it's cheap outlet stores, so we shopped the afternoon away. We left at 10 pm. Thursday, we arrived in Juneau, Alaska at 7 am and went on the same wildlife cruise we did the year before and also did some shopping. We left Juneau at 4 pm. Friday, we cruised back down through the Inside Passage. Saturday, we reached Vancouver, Canada, at 1 pm. There, we took a tram to the top of Grouse Mountain, went across a famous rope bridge, and took a tour of the city. We departed Vancouver at 9 pm, and arrived back at Seattle at 9 am on Sunday morning.
This is a picture of the Seattle skyline from the top of the Space Needle.
This picture was taken from our cruise ship as we were departing Seattle. You can see the Space Needle in the background.
This picture was taken in one of the narrow fjords surrounding the Sawyer Glacier. There were lots of waterfalls, like the one in the picture, and lots of small icebergs.
This is the Sawyer Glacier. We had a rare opportunity to see a huge chunk of this glacier "calve" which means to fall off into the water.
This is our cruise ship, the MS Norwegian Sky, docked in Haines, Alaska. If you are planning on taking a cruise, I highly recommend looking into Norwegian Cruise Lines. We got royal treatment, and their food is to die for!
See those brown blobs on the island? Those are stellar sea lions! And man, do they smell! We saw these sea lions on our wildlife excursion in Juneau.
On the Juneau wildlife cruise, we saw lots of humpback whales. In fact, they sent a sonar machine down into the water and we heard the whales sing! Also, the whales came right up to our boat and were swimming under it! Now that's a whale's tale--no pun intended!
These are Killer Whales, or Orca Whales, which is their proper name. These were seen while we were on the wildlife cruise in Juneau.
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