Adventures

Victoria was all about laying low. After we sailed from Ketchikan on Friday afternoon we had nearly 30 hours at sea before we reached Victoria, British Columbia. In that time at sea we took in (rather, we participated in) a marriage game show, and I bundled myself up in cozy wool blankets, whale watched, snoozed on the lounge chairs on deck, and continued to stuff myself silly. It was awesome.

The excursions offered for Victoria weren’t all that exotic or enticing. They primarily consisted of horse drawn carriage rides through the city, high tea at the Empress Hotel, pub crawling, or an excursion to Butchart Gardens. The photos from Butchart Gardens looked phenomenal and I wouldn’t have minded spending an evening traipsing through the gardens, immersing myself in fragrant blooms and fireworks, but ultimately we decided against buying into an excursion in Victoria. Having studied abroad in England and traveled to Germany, I’d already been on a horse-drawn carriage ride, participated in afternoon tea on a daily basis, pub crawled, and seen outrageously beautiful gardens on castle grounds. Ditto for Ted. For starters, all of the above were ridiculously overpriced, and we didn’t want to spend our limited hours in Victoria doing something we could do in Ohio. We’d read that Victoria is a lovely city and a walker’s paradise, so we decided to hoof it and spend our 7 pm-12 am port time cruising the city on foot.

We walked several miles through a quiet historic residential neighborhood, past the famed Empress Hotel, through a downtown port-side market, and into the business, pub, and shopping district. We listened to several talented street musicians (including a middle-aged dude dressed as Darth Vader playing speedy violin jigs), stopped in gelato bars and fudge shops to ogle the selections, stumbled upon a Roots store (my fav. hip Canadian sportswear store!), dropped into a fabulous and unusual games/toy store recommended by the DJ on our cruise who co-hosted the game show we participated in (we ran into him on the streets of Victoria and hung out with him for a bit), and then capped our night off with a beer at the pub. Victoria is a young city, a place teeming with people and nightlife late on a Saturday evening. It was really low-key, but a great way to experience Victoria.

Ketchikan – Alaska’s first city and salmon capital of the world – was another port we were excited to stop at. This was our shortest jaunt of the three Alaskan ports of call. We docked at 7:30 a.m. and all board time was 12:30 p.m. – a mere five hours to take in an excursion and explore the city’s offerings.

As fans of the Discovery Channel show “The Deadliest Catch” we knew we had to sign up for the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour as soon as I read about it! If you’re unfamiliar with Deadliest Catch, it documents fishing for Alaskan King Crab and Ophelia (snow) Crab in the frigid and unforgiving waters of the Bering Sea. It is one of the world’s most deadliest jobs, but it also a great thrill and it reaps great financial rewards for the men brave enough to risk their lives out on her violent and icy waters to bring home an annual supply of crab. The crabbing boats are bare bones, the pods that they drop and pull to catch the crab in are heavy and slippery, sheets of ice form over the deck and machinery at an alarming rate and must be continually chipped off, the seas are rough and storms prevalent, and it is often snowing with temperatures of 20 below zero. In these conditions (before the rules of crabbing were changed) the men used to work, performing taxing duties, for upwards of 20 hours straight with perhaps only a 4 hour nap and meal time thrown in there somewhere and then they did it all again the next day until the crab season ended. Many boats sank and many men were lost. The boat we took our excursion on, the Aleutian Ballad, was overturned by a freak wave in season two of the show and somehow righted itself before sinking. Lots of excitement! So you can totally see why we wanted to check this out for ourselves firsthand, right?

Our crew were David, Terry, Derrick, and Brian – real crab fisherman who left behind their families every crab season to make a living and only hoped to be lucky enough to return home. At least one of our crew was even featured on seasons of Deadliest Catch. These guys are not only hardcore fisherman, but also really neat guys with big hearts, a strong love and sense of gratitude for what they do and the opportunity they have to share their passion with so many people, and a great sense of humor! In between pulling Alaskan King crab, Ophelia crab, Dungeness crab, Starfish, Rockfish, Crayfish, and Octopus out of the sea for us to observe and hold, they also explained fascinating history and facts about the ship with us, and entertained us with awesome stories – some funny, some unbelievable, some touching, some sad, of their years as crab fisherman. Though it was cold, windy and rainy, we loved taking in their tales, the boat trip out into Canadian waters, and spending some quality time with the sea life! And if there’s one thing I love, it’s animals! The octopus was kind of my favorite with the king crab coming in close second. Ted was pretty psyched for this trip as well since he’s big into Deadliest Catch!

When we returned from crab fishing we only had about an hour and a half left to see what we could of Ketchikan. I’d say Ketchikan is the middle ground between the touristy jewelry strips in Juneau and the great outdoors of Sitka. I’d really wanted to stop by the picturesque Creek Street, you know, this serene image of Alaskan city perfection…

Source

…but we were short on time and the walk to Creek Street and back was a little longer than we could manage since the Oosterdam’s captain was sure to inform us that Ketchikan is the port that people most often get left behind at. Instead we opted to meander slowly and casually through town to explore the port area and seek out some reindeer and salmon jerky. It was also my 25th birthday so I was also pretty excited to head back to the ship, partake in the clam bake, enjoy a fabulous dinner at the Caneletto, and do some whale watching. We saw one and it was awesome!

There’s much more to Ketchikan we’d like to see, but that’s another trip! In the meantime, I found this picture from Glacier Bay that I forgot to post, so here’s one more for you. Are you sold on Alaska yet? We are!

Up next: Victoria, B.C.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBLQfMke9FI]

“The Proposal” may very well be one of my most favorite movies in existence. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are unspeakably funny together and have some seriously genius comedic chemistry going on. This movie certainly wasn’t the reason we decided to honeymoon in Alaska, but let’s be honest, the scenery was impressive. We were a little excited that the ship we’d selected cruised to Sitka, a quaint and rather refreshingly un-touristy little town where very few cruises or sight-seers bother to go. We didn’t learn until just recently that while Margaret Tate and Andrew Paxton travel to Sitka, AK to meet the parents and the break the news of their engagement, that Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds traveled only to the oh-so-exotic local of Rockport, Massachusetts to shoot the film. We probably should have researched this ahead of time because we definitely trolled the town looking for familiar sights.

For all the reasons that Juneau was our least favorite port of call, Sitka was our favorite port of call. We loved Sitka. We liked its Russian roots and architecture, totem poles, the quiet main drag, mountainous backdrop, friendly folk, adventurous outdoorsy activities and the tiny little port where everyone docked their personal boats that are, undoubtedly, used as transportation from the little island nooks where their homes are located across the Sitka Sound and into town for work, groceries or socialization. Furthermore, while we liked the town itself, we also had a fabulous excursion experience and it was the only one of our Alaskan ports where we were treated to beautiful weather. We were in port from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (less a half-hour each way for tendering), but we found it wasn’t enough time to do all that we had wanted to do. I’d still like to see the Fortress of the Bear and the Raptor Center one day. Not to mention the Sitka Sound is littered with little islands to explore! Many of these islands are residential – as in, the only thing on the island is your gorgeous house, but many are just teeming with bears, eagles, and lush and intriguing forest plants. Also, please click to enlarge picture #8, because I want that house immediately!

So, what did we do in Sitka? Well, Sitka is home to an ancient, once-active volcano named Mt. Edgecumbe located on Kruzof Island. Funny story: The last time Mt. Edgecumbe erupted was in 2220 B.C. And in 1974 when a local prankster named Porky Bickar threw 100 old tires into the crater and lit them on fire, sending black plumes of smoke spiraling into the air and frightening the residents of Sitka into thinking their volcano wasn’t quite as dormant as they thought. Now there’s a local with a sense of humor!

Is there a better way to explore Mt. Edgecumbe than by ocean raft and 4×4? Nope! So we booked an excursion with Ocean Raft Adventures to shoot across the Sitka Sound in a high-speed raft (and see great wildlife along the way) to Kruzof Island and then bump up to the top of the volcano in a Yamaha Rhino 4×4.

This was some serious FUN. Glacier trekking was amazing, but this was just crazy, wild fun! We had such a great time! We would gladly book this adventure, or a different one, from this company again. Our guides were kind, funny, and had biology degrees so when we stopped along the trail to check out a small clot of salmon running downstream, or to see porous, spongy moss ground cover and huckleberries in a clearing on the island, they could tell us all about it. Another thing we loved about this excursion was that there were only six of us plus our three guides. A nice, small group is definitely the way to go! We started out at their little hidden headquarters shack off the main drag of Sitka to suit up in mustang suits (tip: pee before you put the suit on). Once properly geared up like astronauts we walked to the dock, piled in the ocean raft and took off for a high-speed, bumpy ride across the Sitka Sound. The weather was just incredible and highlighted how completely breathtaking this part of Alaska is, but the waters were still a little choppy that day which made the ocean raft even more fun! We’d hit big waves and be instantly airborne, flying through the air until our raft plopped down on the water again with a mighty splash. It was so much fun – we were all laughing and totally enjoying it. Our raft captain would stop the raft every time we spotted a sea otter, eagle’s nest, geographical point of interest, or school of flopping fish so we could get a good look. Fun fact: Did you know that the reason fish jump out of the water and belly flop back down is because they are pregnant and trying to break the sack in their bellies that the baby fish are in so they can give birth? We saw lots of that! The 45 minute raft ride to the island gave us a lot of time to enjoy the scenery and check out the wildlife.

When we pulled up to the island the rest of the guides were ready and waiting. They gave us helmets and showed us to our two-seater 4×4’s. After a five-minute safety briefing about how to operate the 4×4, the emergency breaks, what to do if steam comes pouring out of the engine, what to do if a bear attacks the caravan, where the bear horn and bear spray are located, what to do if you flip the 4×4 while bumping up the mountain and how to hold your body in the event of a rollover and other such comforting information (at about this point I started to wonder just what we’d gotten ourselves into…), we loaded up in our 4x4s with a guide in the front of the caravan and another guide in the back and off we went, up the volcano! Again…so much fun!! The island used to be, and I guess still is, used for a little bit of military stuff. So the first little stretch of roadway (the “practice course”) is somewhat paved. I use that term loosely. At a certain point there is a little bridge over a stream where you can watch the salmon run and, if you’re lucky, spy a bear who is also watching the salmon run. After that bridge though the road goes away and becomes an extremely rocky, uphill path with huge boulders to topple over, deep trenches to sink unevenly into (as you wonder if this trench will be the one to roll your 4×4), massive mud puddles to splash through, low hanging tree branches to get whacked by and sharp curves to screech across. You can see how this was totally awesome, right? We were throttled and jostled up the volcano for another hour, stopping to check out more wildlife, great views, or neat plants. At one point we came to a lake of mud. Yes, a lake. It was really that big. I joked how wild it would be to drive through it, not knowing that our guide had every intention of actually leading us through it! We reached the top of the mountain, covered in mud and still vibrating from the motion of the 4×4.

The view was tremendous! Our guides unpacked a snack of homemade jelly shortbread cookies, cheese scones, and a thermos of creamy tomato soup for us to eat while we took in the view. There was a patch of wild huckleberries nearby so we snacked on a few of those and learned more about the Alaskan landscape. After the break we rolled back down the volcano, splashing through more mud puddles and getting whacked by more tree branches that we drove too close to (Ted claims it was to avoid boulders or trenches, but I’m not so sure about that…) and then we rafted back to Sitka.

Totally worth every penny! Please take this excursion if you go to Sitka. Or better yet, you can treat us to this excursion again if you’re feeling generous :-)

In case you’re wondering what the heck some of this stuff is, allow me to explain. The sweet little thing swimming is the water is a friendly sea otter who was showing off his tricks, an eagle with her nest is pictured in the next photo, and if you look closely at the photo that looks like nothing but shallow water and rocks, you can see two dark gray salmon swimming center. The craters are volcanic ash. I’m making a face in the picture with the huckleberries in my hand because Ted and I both spied a prime, fat and juicy huckleberry at the exact same moment and he beat me to it, leaving me with the dinky ones. The lighthouse is another one of those little island treasures scattered throughout the Sitka Sound and the last picture is that same house, which I still want, by the way.

In a dream world we’d pick up and move to Sitka, get a little island house and a small boat, and start our own theatre company in Sitka. Oh, what a world it would be!

Up next: Ketchikan and crab fishing!

On Wednesday, August 24th we docked in Juneau. We had some pretty incredible excursions planned, including a tram ride up Mount Roberts, dog sledding, and a two-hour glacier trek, so we were totally pumped and ready to go! We scarfed a quick breakfast on board and were the first people off the ship at 7 a.m. when we pulled into port. Unfortunately the atmosphere was teeming with an impenetrable layer of low, heavy cloud cover and it was rainy, not exactly ideal weather for, well, anything. But this kind of weather is just part of Alaska and we knew that, so we came prepared to have an amazing time regardless of the weather. One of the tour guides told us that this was the third straight week of rain in Juneau, so they were pretty ready for the skies to clear too!

While we had a stockpile of adventurous excursions on our agenda, many of the people on our cruise had one thing and one thing only planned for Juneau: diamond shopping. Alaska, and Juneau in particular, is known for their quality diamond and gemstone jewelry for a mere fraction of the price that you’ll find them in the lower 48 states. Without exaggerating there is literally a solid line of at least twenty + large jewelry shops on the main drag of Juneau, waiting for your business immediately after you step foot off the ship. To a whole heck of a lot of people on the cruise, this was thrilling. To us, not so much. We came to see Alaska, not the insides of thirty jewelry stores. I’d done some research on our ports of call ahead of time, so I sort of knew what to expect. That being said, we made sure to book excursions that would get us out of the touristy drag of Juneau and into the great outdoors to do something truly unique. Still, despite our great line-up of activities, Ted and I both agreed that Juneau was our least favorite port of call, but only because it was so geared toward tourists and shopping. If you make a concerted effort to look past that and check out some areas a little further out, it’s a really nice place to visit and offers a lot of neat things to see and do. We walked the town, got a traditional Russian dumpling carryout dish at Pel’Meni for lunch, (Alaska has a rich Russian heritage), picked up some dry smoked salmon to take home, and enjoyed a celebratory dinner of delicious Alaskan seafood for Ted’s birthday.

As always, click to enlarge….the details are pretty tremendous! And if you’re only going to enlarge one set of pictures, make it the glacier ones because they are insanely cool!

Our first excursion was dog sledding in the rainforest. There was an actual on-snow Iditarod-style dog sledding excursion, but I’d read that the on-snow dog sledding excursions have a tendency to get cancelled often due to inclement weather on the glaciers. Sledding through the rainforest was far less expensive (allowing us to put the money toward our glacier excursion!) and still gave us the opportunity to learn about the dog sled culture, the supplies and equipment they use, and it still gave us time to spend with the pups. If we go back to Alaska, we’ll definitely try the snow sledding one next time though! When we first arrived at the sledding camp the dogs were so excited to see people because they know it means that they’ll get to run soon – they bark like crazy and howl and jump up and down like little whirling dervishes. Our sled was pulled by 15 dogs capable of hauling up to 3,000 lbs. We went for a ride through the rainforest while the musher stood on the back of the cart giving directional commands and signals to the dogs. By this time it was raining steadily so we were absolutely soaked and pretty chilled. But it was a lot of fun to go sledding, meet each of the dogs and experience their individual personalities (the troublemaker, the shy guy, the easily distracted pup, the leader of the pack, etc.), learn about the real snow sleds, the Iditarod, and all the balms, harnesses, foods, blankets and medications they use on the dogs out on the sled routes, cuddle up with the new puppies who will soon be trained to pull sleds of their very own, and cross a 300 ft. suspension bridge over the rushing Fish Creek (a Door County reference – we were thrilled!). All in all, we had fun, but I’d recommend saving up your cash and shelling out for the on-snow glacier sledding if you possibly make it happen. For us doing both the glacier trek and the glacier dog sledding was a financial impossibility so we chose the glacier trek over the snow sledding since we’ve both seen/lived in snow before but hadn’t walked on a glacier. It’s a tough call, but they’re both expensive excursions so you kind of have to pick and choose. And either way you get to experience dog sledding!

Next we went up the Mount Roberts tramway that carries you from the base of Mount Roberts, near the docks, to the top of the mountain which is a nature preserve overlooking Juneau. It’s a really steep tram ride and, on a clear day, I imagine it’s an incredible view! But we were stuck in a thick cloud pretty much all day, so we were able to see very little. We did get to see a bald eagle who’d been injured and is now under the care of the raptor center and we did take a quick hike through some of the trails at the top of the mountain, but otherwise it was too cold, rainy, and cloudy to do much else. On the way down we spotted an eagle in the wild and, with the help of our trusty monocular and a camera, we got to observe him up close!

And finally, our favorite part of the day that almost wasn’t….glacier trekking! Because the clouds were so low and the rain was making the glaciers slick, the two-hour glacier trek we were so looking forward to was cancelled….twice. I was bummed beyond belief when I learned that we wouldn’t be getting to slip on those trekking suits and ice boots, grab our ice poles, and helicopter up to the top of a glacier to the blue ice caves, dip my fingers in a glacial pond, or learn how to ice climb. This was probably the one excursion I was looking forward to the most. Miraculously, as only sheer dumb luck would have it, there was another company who did helicopter flights out onto the glaciers but this company went to a different glacier that was further south (or north, or something…) that wasn’t under such a severe weather advisory, so they were still running flights. Since our initial excursion was cancelled and the cost fully refunded because of the weather, we quickly booked a last-minute tour with the other company, Era. The new excursion only gave us a 30-minute walkabout on the glacier instead of a two hour extensive trek, but we thought 30-minutes was just right with the poor weather and we still had a completely amazing experience that we were lucky to have at all! On the bus ride back into Juneau we learned that our group of six was the last group to get to go on the glacier because right after we arrived back to the helicopter hanger the weather on all the glaciers became too treacherous with the rain and clouds so the helicopters could no longer land on them and the rest of the flights for the time being were cancelled.

The experience was just incredible – both the helicopter ride and the glacier! First they gear you up with boots to help you get traction on the glacier, then they make sure everyone has a life vest on. They walk you out to the windy tarmac and, based on weights and balances, assign you a seat in the helicopter. After all six passengers are safely packed in like sardines you get a briefing on how to operate some of the crucial buttons, levers, doors, etc. of the helicopter, learn how to use the headsets, and meet your pilot. We had a great pilot! He had a lot of knowledge and was able to answer any question we threw at him, but he also had a lot of cool stories. He said that the previous week he and another pilot were helicoptering above the glaciers to check the weather conditions for passenger flights and he saw a brown bear hanging out on one of the glaciers! Can you even imagine how beautiful that must’ve been?

The helicopter lifts off the ground and gives you a really neat birds-eye view of Juneau, the mountains, the ocean, and the glaciers. The flight is about 30 minutes or so each way and flies you over several key glaciers before the pilot decides which one will be the best to land on. Once you’re on ground and the propeller has stopped spinning you’re free to get out and explore! We walked a part of the glacier, took in the awesome landscape, learned a lot about the glaciers from our pilot and tasted glacial water. The ice chunk the pilot gave me was so dense and tight that if I took it back with me I could have left it out on my dresser on the cruise ship for the rest of the week and it still wouldn’t have melted, he said. If we go back to Alaska, I’d totally want to do this again! It’s just so surreal to be standing on something that literally shaped the world we live on but may no longer be there one day.

Up next: Adventures in Sitka!

On our third day honeymoonin’ we cruised into Glacier Bay National Park. What a treat! This place is just phenomenally gorgeous! Our cruise ship inched, just barely moving, past three amazing glaciers. Our captain was able to get us really close to them and we stood out on deck in the blistering wind (apparently we entered a wind tunnel along the way!), frigid temperatures, and icy drizzle to soak in the majesty and beauty of the glaciers. The captain turned the ship several times so we could all have the best view possible and bask in the presence of their awesomeness for a few hours. We even got to see them calve! The whole Glacier Bay route of the cruise is eerily silent and very still so when the glacier calves and breaks off into the water, the long rumbling sound is thunderous and absolutely roars as it echos across all the mountains. It’s totally otherworldly and everyone stands quietly, hardly breathing and utterly captivated, waiting to see where the ice will break off from when it crashes into the icy water with a mighty splash. The sound is so epic my description cannot do it any respect or justice. And the glaciers have so many beautiful cuts and unique shades of blue in them. They are truly awesome. Glacier Bay alone was worth the entire cruise.

As always, click to enlarge (and to see all the wonderful detail, I’d suggest that you do). The black covering some of them is volcanic ash.

Incredible, no?

We spent the first day and a half aboard the Oosterdam at sea, traversing across the Puget Sound and into the Pacific Ocean en route to Glacier Bay National Park. At Puget Sound the seas were still calm and relaxing. But the further out from land we cruised the choppier the waters got. We left Seattle at 4 p.m. on a sunny Sunday afternoon, but by nightfall the ship was already beginning to toss and turn. Monday was even rougher – a steady roll sent the Deck 9 pools sloshing back and forth. By the time evening approached, the barf bags had made their debut by the staircases. It was a little rocky, but those first two days at sea gave us time to get to get to know our wonderful ship.

The first surprise was our stateroom. We’d booked an interior room, the most-budget friendly of the lot. Interior rooms are often a great selection for some because they tend to cut down on the motion sickness since they’re generally located as mid-ship as you can get, and the lack of windows provides a darker night’s sleep, especially in Alaska where the sun rises very early. But I secretly hoped we’d be upgraded to an ocean view room since this was a celebratory cruise and I’d been sure to note the occasions – two birthdays and a honeymoon – when we booked. When we opened our stateroom door we were excited to see that we had indeed been upgraded to an ocean view room!…with a breathtaking view of a lifeboat and all its mechanics. Yup, we got our ocean view room, just with a minimal view of the actual ocean and the occasional surprise appearance of a mechanic directly outside our window, serving the lifeboats. But the window provided the room with some natural light, which was a welcome upgrade and Ted appreciated observing the mechanics of the lifeboats.

Travel Tip # 3: With eleven floors on the cruise ship it can be temping to take the elevators. Take the stairs. With all the eating you’re going to be doing, running up and down those stairs fourteen times a day and exercising your ever-expanding rear end is likely a good idea. 

We used the stairs almost exclusively, as I did with my last cruise to the Caribbean. This action is highly recommended! We toured the ship from top to bottom discovering the spa, pools and hot tubs, restaurants, library, coffee shop, bars, casino,  dance club, piano bar, art gallery, movie theatre, computer room, photo gallery, lounges, gym, entertainment halls, basketball court, on board shops, decks, and more.

We discovered that Happy Hour occurred daily from 4-5 pm in the Crow’s Nest on deck 10 and the Ocean Bar on deck 3. Happy Hour consisted of a plate of tasty hor’dourves delivered to your window-view table and a buy one drink and get the second for $1 deal. All food aboard the cruise ship, including room service, is covered in the cost of the cruise but alcoholic beverages are an additional charge. What we didn’t realize is that instead of bringing you out your first drink and then waiting for you to order your second drink (perhaps of a different flavor), they bring you two of the exact same drink at the same time. It was a little weird, but mostly funny. We eventually wised up, ordered one happy hour special of a drink we both wanted to try, and split it.

Entertainment wise we enjoyed a funny late night adult comic, a really entertaining illusionist (who was also a great comedian!), ice carving, a string quartet, the marriage and battle of the sexes gameshows, a creme brulee cooking classes with one of the chefs, a kitchen tour, a backstage tour of the theatre with the actors and teach crew, a free-throw basketball contest, a few movies in the movie theatre, and the fun Indonesian crew’s show. We did watch a few of the shows featuring the actors and actresses, but sadly their scenes & songs were so cheesy and so poorly written that the talent of these wonderful dancers (and they were pretty good!) was wasted on sub-par material. We ate in the Vista dining room a few times, had delicious breakfasts with amazing waffles and some lunches in the lido, stocked up on the taco bar (Ted’s dream come true!), and really enjoyed dinner at the Canaletto – the butler served four-course Italian meal with a pre-dessert surprise of a giant plate of fresh cotton candy! I relaxed in the deck 10 hot tub with a serene view of the pine trees and snow-topped mountains, and steamed myself toasty in the sauna. We whipped out our monoculars, wrapped ourselves in wool blankets, and stood on deck to spy on nature, wildlife, and distant islands. And while enjoying a happy hour drink outside on deck we even got an impromptu whale show!

Up next: Glacier Bay!! (and some pretty phenomenal pictures)