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Published: June 22nd 2019
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After our brekky this morning we gathered in the lounge with the rest of our shore excursion group before we were escorted down to board one of the ship’s tenders. This is the only port where we will use tenders. We found out later that there is a pier a little ways out of town, but for some reason we anchored within the harbour.
So we tendered ashore and found our zodiac guides right there at the pier. The first task was to put everyone into life jackets, before we were assisted onto our zodiac. There were no seats! We perched along the side of the rubber craft, and hung on to the ropes. There was also a tight strap along the floor to put our feet under, helping to hold us on the craft. So we motored out of the harbour having notable things pointed out along the way, like their flexible bridge which rises and falls with the tide. Cody, our captain, also told us about the sale of Alaska by the Russians to the Americans, and about the fishing business here in Sitka. Our tour guide, Mathew, is a year 3 teacher, now on summer holidays. His
step dad is a fisherman here. We motored around the harbour finding bald eagles, sea otters, and looking at the dormant volcanoes. We also saw a sea lion. After 2 hours of exploration we went ashore at Fin Island Lodge where a delicious lunch of salads, King salmon, king crab and roast beef. It was lovely. After dessert we wandered down to the beach area where they had a fire and the makings of s’mores, which Tom ate as well. After lunch it was back onto the zodiac and back to the pier, and then onto the tender and back to the ship.
After a nap we took ourselves downstairs to trivia, where we had some lovely cocktails, but didn’t do so well at the quiz. Lol! So we came back up to our suite where we found Yashdeep had left us some canapés and put the champers in an ice bucket. After relaxing with this, and watching us depart Sitka, we changed for dinner. We were at the doorway to the restaurant when the maître ‘d approached us and suggested we dine up on the pool deck. He tucked my arm in his and took us up in
the elevator to Deck 10 where he told the waiter he’d brought some guests to keep him company. Not that he really needed to, they looked pretty busy. The sommelier offered us the usual drink of the day and I thought I’d try the white but didn’t like it, so he went away and brought me back a Sauvignon Blanc he thought I might enjoy - Brown Brothers!! And this wine was from Tassie! It was perfect! The sommelier was Indian, but he’s spent time in Australia, particularly in the Barossa Valley! He was also a mad crazy cricket fan! Anyway, we cooked our dinner (for that is what you do on the pool deck, it is a hot rocks restaurant where they bring you a cooking stone that has been in an oven for over 24 hours, and you cook your choice of meat). Tom had a fillet Mignon, I had the chef’s platter which included a kofta, a fish cake, a piece of veal escallope, a meatball and a prawn on a skewer. After dessert we asked about limoncello, and it seems they just don’t have any on board, but the waiter suggested we try dark chocolate grappa,
and that was beautiful. We finished up though, with an Irish coffee to warm us up!
After we finished dinner we went down to the lounge where they were putting on a show of favourite opera arias. Dias brought us a tiramisu martini and a white chocolate martini. A couple from Melbourne sat next to us!
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