Blogs from Inside Passage, Alaska, United States, North America - page 10

Another uneventful day. A lot of the passengers were out on deck looking for wildlife. I chose to read. Good books, too! Let me recommend two to you. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (some of you may have read Isaac's Storm) and A Hole In Texas by Herman Wouk (of The Caine Mutiny fame). Devil in the White City is non-fiction concerning the Chicago's World Fair of 1893 and a prolific serial killer in Chicago at the same time. A Hole in Texas is a fun fiction book about nuclear physicists and politics. It was a nice and relaxing day. I felt like I was on vacation! I've attached some of my artistic photography attempts. Try not to laugh too hard.... read more

We got to Petersburg, a small and un-touristy town, shortly after breakfast. The day was incredibly clear and about 65 degrees. Lovely! Pam and Mary were going to be taking floatplane rides so I had most of the day to myself. I found a small museum (Clausen Memorial Museum) in town that had some Norwegian items and several Tlinget items. The Tlinget stuff the museum found itself in and around Petersburg. I thought that was cool. Several local artists also contributed to the museum. Their gift shop was the BEST I've been to! Everything in there was from local artists and very reasonably priced. I bought more there than in any other place on the whole trip. Then I hooked up with Mary and we shopped a little. I found a pair of shoes I've been ... read more

Today we sailed to Tracy Arm Bay, a bit Northwest from Juneau. The weather was cold and rainy/misty, but not too terrible. The Alaskan scenery was amazing. Calm water and souring cliffs to either side of the channels. We passed by a few bachelor sea lion groups playing king-of-the-hill. Loud suckers! We also saw a few Stellar seals, several bald eagles and two mountain goats. Then we got the big treat. We sailed right into a pod of humpback whales. They were frisky! Several of them were breaching close to the boat, all of them were flipping their tails at us and blowing spray right next to us. Because we were on a smaller ship, the captain had no problem slowing down and circling the pod for over an hour. I honestly don’t believe I could ... read more

Like anything, you really can have too much of a good thing. We were certainly ready to leave the ferry behind this morning, even if the rolling seasick feeling stayed with us for a further 24 hours. We arrive in Whittier, a port near to Anchorage - our destination - as the crow flies but not all that easy a journey. At 7:30 when we got there we had a choice - wait until 7pm for a train or pay $40 each to go in Manuel's van. There are more Puerto Ricans living in New York City than in any city in Puerto Rico, we learn. After initial reluctance, he drops us off at our hostel (The 26th St Hostel - a 100% recommendation from us should anyone be passing through Anchorage). We wander downtown ... read more

Greetings from Gustavus, AK, everyone! All we can do from here is a very quick entry due to computer availability and internet connection speed... so, apologies for the absolute dearth of pictures and details. We'll get those along to you as soon as we possibly can, because we have some good images and some even better stories! We left Juneau June 18th and headed west across Lynn Canal in the general direction of Icy Strait. The very next day, our friends Mike and Kristen, with whom we stayed in Juneau had a beautiful, healthy baby. Looks like we got out just in time! Congratulations guys! We enjoyed more beautiful weather and favorable seas as we passed through the remainder of Lynn Canal and headed through the Couverden Island group at the south tip of the Chilkat ... read more