Alaska's Inside Passage on Cruise West - Part I

M/V Spirit of Endeavour
8 Nt Alaska's Inside Passage
Juneau – Ketchikan
May 24 – June 3, 2006

Day 1: May 24, 2006
Seattle, Arriving in Juneau

Our flight to Alaska included a 7+ hour layover in Seattle. Rather than sit at the airport, we headed downtown to Pike’s Market for some local seafood and exploration. After a delicious lunch of Dungeness Crab Dip and Beer Battered Halibut & Chips at Iver’s on Pier 54, we headed to Pier 59 to explore the Seattle Aquarium ($12.50 for adult), which was really cool. Although the facility isn’t large enough to house whales, we really enjoyed the Sea Otters, Harbor Seals, numerous varieties of fish and sea life and the giant octopus. After the aquarium, we walked up the endless flight of stairs to get back up to the market. At each level, there is an indoor area of fascinating shops and small food stands, and at the top, the not to be missed "show" of the seafood vendors tossing fish and crabs to each other amongst the large crowd of onlookers.

After a few hours we headed back to the airport for the final leg of our flight. The flight time to Ketchikan was about an hour and a half and after dropping off 2/3 of the passengers, some cargo and picking up more cargo and mail, we lifted off for Juneau. The flight between Ketchikan and Juneau was nothing short of spectacular - huge snow-covered mountains as far as the eye could see, enormous rivers of ice abruptly ending in deep blue fjords, the dense green temperate rainforest unmarred by any signs of civilization, and even a Norwegian Cruise Line ship silently sailing down one of the long canals. 22 hours after waking up in South Florida we finally arrived in Juneau for a night at the Goldbelt Hotel (included as part of our cruise), located on Juneau’s waterfront.

Day 2: May 25, 2006
Juneau: Helicopter Tour & Sailing Day

Taking off in a helicopter was so cool. As we lifted off, the view of the valley, the Gastineau Channel and the wide expanse of Tongass National Forest spread out below us, and I could barely remember to breathe. It was so beautiful and what a fantastic way to see it. You get such a different perspective from the air; everything in Alaska is so huge it’s difficult to appreciate the enormity of the surrounding landscape without going up. Soon we were over Herbert Glacier and the view below was absolutely awe-inspiring. The variety of blues displayed in the glacial crevasses below was incredible. Once we got higher up the glacier, the pilot was able to find a good landing spot so we could explore and take pictures. After spending about 30 minutes exploring the glacier, we strapped in, put on our headsets and took off again to fly over Herbert and Mendenhall’s birthplace, the enormous Juneau Icefield. From the Icefield we turned east to fly back down another valley over Mendenhall Glacier, which was just as spectacular.

After we boarded and settled into our staterooms, one of our exploration leaders, Anna, gave us a short presentation on the optional shore excursions available for the next day in Skagway and Haines as we enjoyed cocktails and appetizers in the lounge. If you ever go on a Cruise West voyage, this and the outside decks, is where you will spend most of your time while onboard. Once cocktails and appetizers were over, the chef came upstairs to present that evening’s dinner menu. Chef Irv, as we came to know him, is from New Orleans and has been with the Spirit of Endeavour for six years. Every night he came up to the lounge and entertained us with his humor and passion for his craft as he presented that evening's menu.

Cruise West has open seating, so even though everyone eats at the same time, you can sit with whomever you want - we sat with a different group of people almost every night. The dining room is on the bottom deck and has fantastic views of the water outside. We often saw birds, sea otters and other ocean critters as we were enjoying our meals.

After dinner, everyone headed back up to the lounge for the evening presentation. Each evening throughout the cruise, one of our exploration leaders would give a talk about either a port we would be seeing the next day, or glacier formations, or marine animals, such as whales, salmon, and other destination-related topics. I really appreciated this part of the vacation, as I always like to soak up as much information about a place I’m visiting as possible.

Day 3: May 26, 2006
Skagway & Haines

As we disembarked in Skagway, Kathy, the owner of Chilkoot Charters met me at the dock, to give me a ride to the White Pass and Yukon Railroad and my husband to the fishing docks. Like all locals, she was absolutely delightful and even had a gift bag of Skagway souvenirs for me. The White Pass and Yukon Railroad was built in 1898 during the boom of the Klondike Gold Rush to transport prospectors from Skagway into the Klondike. This narrow-gauge railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a distinction shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. As I rode up the steep cliffs, I could see why. It is absolutely remarkable that they were able to accomplish something like this in 26 months over 100 years ago.

Riding up, the views are absolutely spectacular. You can sit inside comfortably throughout the entire ride, or like me, you can choose to stand on the outdoor platforms for better photo opportunities. As you travel further up the rail, the view changes from soaring green mountain sides and rumbling waterfalls to snow-covered mountains dotted with miniature full-grown trees and ice-blue mountain top lakes. You travel through several tunnels, where you cannot help but wonder at the ghosts that may still linger there, and across spectacular bridges. Along the way, you pass the original Chilkoot Trail that claimed the lives of many prospectors in search of gold before the railroad was built.

The railroad tour takes about an hour and 45 minutes and ends at the train depot at Fraser, where you will be required to show your passport to the Canadian Customs Officials. There are several options for this railroad tour, and some options do not go all the way to Fraser, and some also go on the train in both directions. Chilkoot Charters’ tour has you take the train up and a tour bus down, which is really cool because the views are completely different and the tour guide on the bus stops at several viewing areas to let you get out and take more pictures.

After re-boarding our ship, we headed down for another delicious Chef Irv lunch as we sailed back down the Lynn Canal towards the tiny port town of Haines. We had signed up for the Chilkat River Float through the Bald Eagle Preserve the night before, along with a large group of people from our ship. The weather was beautiful and we were looking forward to a relaxing afternoon floating down the river and photographing the bald eagles.

Haines was my favorite port of call throughout the entire cruise. The town is tiny but the surrounding landscape is spectacular. Majestic mountains tower on both sides of the meandering Chilkat River and are a perfect backdrop to a relaxing float through the Bald Eagle Preserve. We had perfect weather - not a cloud in the sky and temperatures in the 70's - and our guides were entertaining and made this shore excursion a favorite of many. I typically enjoy a more high adventure activity, but this was so relaxing and peaceful, it made a perfect compliment to the flightseeing and fishing trips we had planned in other ports of call. Eagle nests were everywhere and we got some great photos of bald eagles in flight and sitting on the nearby shore line. I would highly recommend this outing to anyone stopping in Haines.

Day 4: May 27, 2006
Glacier Bay National Park

This morning we picked up a Glacier Bay Park Ranger and Native Huna cultural interpreter in Bartlett Cove at the mouth of Glacier Bay National Park. Over 65 miles of pristine habitat have been revealed in Glacier Bay since its giant rivers of ice dramatically retreated over the last 200 years. Now the park contains 12 tidewater glaciers that continually calve giant chunks of ice into the icy waters below.

Our first stop of the day was Boulder Island, where we watched a fantastic show from several dozen playful sea otters. Our next stop was the Marble Islands, where nature put on a show so spectacular, it was almost as if Linda, the Park Ranger, was choreographing it with remote control. As we approached we spotted dozens of Stellar Sea Lions sunning themselves on the first outcropping of rocks. The Marble Islands are also one of the areas in the park designated for protection of nesting birds because no natural predators exist there. We saw several different species of birds, including Gulls, Common Mures, Marbled Murrelet, Pigeon Guillemont, Scoters, Kittiwakes (black-tipped gulls), Red Faced Cormorants and the adorable Tufted Puffin. We also saw two bald eagles perched on the Sitka Pine high above the Sea Lions, and in the background, the spectacular sight of Mt. Fairweather, the region’s highest peak, standing tall at 15,300 feet.

Then we sailed north to Tlingit point to watch and photograph a brown bear meandering up and down the beach before finally settling down to take in the morning sun. We also saw mountain goats high up on the cliffs, and even another eagle peering down on us from his towering perch. After another fabulous meal from Chef Irv, we headed up Tarr Inlet to view the Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers. As we approached the end of the inlet, more and more icebergs appeared in the water, the air got much cooler and the vegetation all but disappeared. As we slowly approached the face of Margerie, everyone was out on deck waiting for the show to begin. It didn’t take long before a small chunk of ice crashed into the water below. We were there for perhaps 10 minutes before a giant, house sized chunk came crashing off the face of the glacier into the iceberg filled water below. It was large enough to create a huge swell that caused significant rocking of the boat. On our way back down Tarr Inlet, we also stopped to photograph the Lamplaugh and Reid Glaciers, which were not actively calving, nor was there evidence that they had recently done so.

There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the sheer beauty of what we saw. The weather was absolutely perfect with sunny skies and temperatures in the 60’s and the views in every direction are so breathtaking you can hardly believe what your eyes are telling you. I’ve never felt so absolutely thrilled to be so tiny and insignificant. The experience was truly life-changing.

Read the Rest of the Blog:
Part II: Day 5 - 7
Part III: Day 8 - 11


If you are interested in learning more about Cruise West or other cruise lines sailing to Alaska, please visit AlaskaCruises.com.

Photos Copyright 2006, Kat Braman