Today was a plain old sailing day. Kids packed off to Kids Club - again - about 10am and we spent the morning just watching the ocean pass us by. Had a game of dads against boys basketball before lunch. Those kids just don't tire. Dads do. Hard to concentrate on the game given the setting. At 3pm the kids put on a talent show in the Crystal Room. Caitlin did her own little dance number and it was very, very impressive. Those dance lessons are money well spent. Reuben and his Australian friend did a semi-Two Ronnies series of jokes and did it really well and were really, really funny. We had started seeing land around 2pm so Sandy and I spent most of the afternoon on the top deck at the bow (or pointy ... read more

Dropped anchor (becoming a right old salt with all this naval lingo - may invest in an eye patch and a parrot) in Icy Straits Point this morning at dawn. You wont find it on the map. Look for Hoonan or Hoonah, one or the other. Again the mist lifted but not as much so whole day was a little overcast but dry. The setting is really special. Heard other travellers comparing it to Milford Sound or Dusky Sound and I can see where they are coming from. Very still, very quiet. Tendered ashore about 400 metres. Town or the cruise ship terminal is a couple of red barns on a set of wharves. Town proper is about 1.5 kilometres walk around the coastal walkway but it is a township of houses and homes with a ... read more

Writing this while in the Glacier Smoothie and Espresso Cafe in Skagway. Kids have each got a 20oz smoothie and reading comics while mum and dad have a cup of coffee. Caitlin has gone for a thing called the Zinger which has strawberries, raspberries and lemonade and is very tasty. Reuben opted for a thing called the Cabin Fever which contains peanut butter, chocolate and banana. Sounds interesting, tastes disgusting, but obviously not to a 10 year olds less than selective pallet. Now retrospectively, awoke at 7am and quietly lifted the curtain whilst sleeping beauty slumbered on. Found myself eye to eye with a concrete piling and our porthole (is it a porthole when its square and doesn't open) at the top staring out over the wharf. We had docked at Skagway. Needed to wait for ... read more

Docked at Sitka around 9am but the two hours before as the ship sailed in were 'stunning'...get used to that word! There are hundreds of islands of all shapes and sizes as you approach, many of them like gigantic examples of 'bonsai' trees. Just a couple of rocks sticking out of the ocean with a couple of pines growing out of it at strange angles with the foliage springing out at bizarre angles as if manicured that way. Big excitement amongst the regular geriatric cruise brigade because a) this was the first time this year that the cruise ships had got into Sitka (or some of the lines anyway) and b) the dock at Sitka has been upgraded and this ship will be the first ever to actually dock there as opposed to drop anchor (nautical ... read more

Plan had to be to head into Granville this morning but needed to be at the ship around 2pm so decided it was better to just wander around Eagle Harbour and enjoy our last few hours on dry land. The harbour is for pleasure craft and the local well heeled residents to dock their boats. The setting was idyllic and Eagle Island is set just 40 metres across the channel but is inaccessible to vehicles so the residents all have skiffs they ferry back and forth on. Vehicles are not allowed on the island and the residents move around on golf carts. Sandy decided the family needed to relocate. I suggested we come back in the dead of winter and see if she was still as keen but she was still undeterred so I had to ... read more