Wonderful Alaska
Trip Start
Mar 22, 2009
1
18
20
Trip End
Jun 12, 2009
Juneau, Alaska
Thursday, June 4, 2009
We travelled on the Spirit of Endeavour, with 59 passengers and about 25 crew, from Ketchikan to Juneau visiting some varied cities in Alaska. Because we were only on a small boat we were able to call into more cities and see far more wildlife than if you were on a large cruise ship. We met a number of people who were on cruise ships and comparing notes, we definitely had the better deal.
We boarded the ship on Thursday afternoon and the first thing we did was meet the crew and then have dinner.
Friday - visited the Misty Fiords - was a bit "misty" with rain but still saw some spectacular fiords and glaciers. The Captain brought the ship right up close to Water Falls and Whales. This was tye benefit of being on a small ship - the captain was able to manouvre the boat close up to whales etc.
Saturday - Anne went on a jet boat ride and I did a City tour of Petersberg, a little indigenous village north of Ketchikan. In the evening we saw lots of whales, but it was difficult to get photos and video as they only briefly surfaced each time.
Sunday - Visited Sawyer Glacier - this was spectacular. Very few boats are able to get to see this so we felt special. See the photo attached.
Monday - we visited Sitka and Anne and I did a walking tour and learned a lot about it's past as it was originally inhabited by ther Russians. We also learned more about the Indigenous Alaskans and visited a park.
Tuesday - visited Glacier Bay which was definitely the highlight of the week. We saw lots of wildlife including brown bears, sea otters, sea lions, mountain goats, black bears and lots of birds. We also saw the Margerie Glacier -we had a Park Ranger and an indigenous Alaskan on board the boat that day to talk about what we were seeing. The Indiginous guy, Howard, told us lots about his people and their history.
Wednesday - We visited Skagway and Haines. Skagway was fullf tourists as there were 4 cruise ships in there. Anne and I did a train trip there which was spectacular.
Haines was very different as this is inaccessible to the big cruise ships and we did a walking tour of the town and visited the hammer museum.
Thursday - we arrived in Juneau where we disembarked from the boat. This was very sad as we had really enjoyed the boat and also made lots of new friends.
In Juneau, Anne did a seaplane ride over the glaciers and I did a helicopter ride out to a large glacier where we landed and I went on a dog-sled ride. I even got the chance to steer the dog-sled.
Tomorrow we are off to Vancouver, then SanFrancisco and then home.
