By 9 pm last night, the updated weather forecast showed that the frontal system by now laying over the whole of British Columbia and the Ketchikan area, was deepening.  It kept raining and gale force winds lashed over the ship.  Looking outside it was more like autumn and this with the longest day of the year only 5 days away !!!. With the wind persisting, the waves were getting higher and that in the Dixon Entrance and Hecate Strait is very unpleasant. The water is relatively shallow here, not more than 150 feet, and that means that there is less water to disperse the wind energy into. The waves get short, high and with a very choppy surface. That makes the ship ride the waves not in a regular cadence of pitching or rolling, but in lurches and jumps.  Interspersed there is a deeper wave and then the ship suddenly pitches once or twice and is then quiet again for a moment. Not a movement that you can get used to and also hard to prepare for.  Not a good ending to a cruise that already did not have much good weather to offer in the first place. Continue reading

I have been sitting behind my computer for the last 24 hrs looking totally puzzled at the weather forecast for Ketchikan. It kept changing about every 3 hours. At one moment I had 3 forecasts that were totally different so in the end I gave up. There is a low pressure system building over the Northern Gulf and it seems that nobody can get a good handle on it. My main concern is always the wind on arrival and thus I looked at the real time wind; e.g. wind at the moment at Ketchikan airport. That is just across from the cruise ship docks and gives a very good indication of what to expect. Thus I was very happy to see that it read CALM at 07.00 hrs. By 9 am we started our approach through Tongass Narrows and slowly but steadily we saw the wind increasing. That was not in the planning and not to my liking either. By the time we approached the dock, it was gusting up to 35 knots. However it was still dry and that is for Ketchikan already a major thing. Continue reading

 Juneau had today its own micro climate courtesy of being wedged in between the mountains flanking Gastineau channel. In Auke Bay to the North West and in Taku Lodge to the South East the sun was shining and we had rain. Even the chief officer, always a fan of rain to wash the salt off the ship, is complaining as his sailors cannot paint. At least the guests cannot say they did not see the real Alaska. It is almost getting too much of a REAL Alaska. Maybe Ketchikan will be better tomorrow. I pulled four different forecasts off of the computer this morning and that indicates that they do not have a clue what the weather will be there. A good indication that it might not rain there for a change. We were bright and early in our approach to Juneau dock. All the other ships were behind us and thus we could sail unhindered towards our dock in the corner and the closest one into town. By 06.10 we were docked and 30 minutes later the Celebrity Century started her approach, followed 30 minutes later by the Ocean Princess. Continue reading

Haines is an early morning arrival because the first tours are leaving at 06.30. Thus we approach around 05.30 a protrusion sticking out from the western shore into the middle of Lynn Canal, called Battery Point. The name comes from the fact that in the 2^nd world war, guns were placed there to protect the area from a possible Japanese invasion. Haines was an army town and that is still visible with a whole series of large houses all more or less standard in design, overlooking the cruise berth.  The Japanese never came; the army is long gone but the name Battery Point is still there. From this point it is a sharp turn to port and then three miles to the dock.  We had a very strong southerly wind blowing up the Lynn Canal and that makes Haines a very nice port as it is completely sheltered from southerly winds. So it can blow 40 knots in Lynn Canal and in Haines itself there is not much more than a gentle breeze.  Fine for me as it makes docking so much easier. In the winter there can be very strong northerly winds coming down from Skagway and then Haines is a windy place as well. Today we had a gentle but nippy breeze curving around the mountain but in the afternoon it died down to wind still. The rain stayed away and that was perfect for our flag raising ceremony for the Pilipino Independence day. Continue reading

 As mentioned before, Glacier Bay has its own micro climate and that showed today. Over the mountains in the south the rain clouds were still lingering, but the further up we came into the bay, the brightness increased and by the time we were at the glaciers the sun was brightly shining. For the first time this season we could see Marjorie Glacier all the way up the mountain and when we sailed down the bay again it was the same for the Lamplugh glacier. This glacier comes down under a more gradual slope but far above it is a sheer vertical cliff which is very imposing when the sun shines on it in the afternoon. Although there was too much ice to get close to Lamplugh, I stopped a mile off for a few minutes to give the guests the chance to see this impressive sight. So we enjoyed a very nice day from the beginning to the end with hopefully many more to come. Continue reading

We started the morning with a bumpy ride, courtesy of the South Easterly Swell rolling in. As expected it started to ease off as soon as we passed Cape St Elias and the depth of the water increased from 50 meters to about 1500 meters. The energy of the wind had now more water volume & depth to disperse into and the waves lost their – short chop- nasty edge. By late afternoon the ship was as steady as a rock again. For the rest it remained overcast with rain in the distance. We still do not have much luck with the summer finally starting. Also the long range forecast (for whatever value that has in Alaska) does not mention “sunny spells” at all, so we might be in for a few more gloomy days. Not that this affects the quality of the cruise very much. As long as we have visibility, we can see the scenery and that is what it is all about. Most shops in the ports do sell umbrellas and that will take care of the rain as well. We are sailing with a speed of about 12 knots as we have to adjust for our arrival time in Glacier Bay. Tomorrow we will be the late ship, e.g. we will embark the rangers at 10.00 as the Westerdam will be the early ship and already up in the bay. By the time we make it there, she will be coming out and we can just change position without being in each other’s way. Continue reading

 As we are coming closer to the longest day of the year, it really does not get dark anymore. We do not reach the 66oNorth, e.g. the land of the midnight sun, but we are nearly touching the 60oN. The period of darkness is very small and because twilight lasts so long and there is the reflection of the snow capped mountains, dark is not the dark you would expect during the night. The fact that there is still so much snow on the mountains does help with keeping it lighter although this snow should have gone already. We are 11 days away from summer and we have not seen summer yet. Also today it was a mixed bag. The weather forecast was off on the wind; prediction wind still at the dock and it was blowing 20 knots and the only thing that made it good was that it hardly rained. Thus a reasonable day for disembarkation and embarkation. We had 1312 guests going off and 1276 coming on. Courtesy of more families leaving than joining. As I had parked the ship at the time required by the agent, the whole process went like clockwork and by 06.30 the guests were exchanging their floating hotel for a train carriage and were on the way to Anchorage. Then in the afternoon the trains and coaches make the return journey and by 1900 hrs. everybody is on board for the southbound journey. Continue reading

For all of the less than “pleasant weather” we had during this cruise, the Gulf of Alaska made up for it. If it had not been for a low running swell from the Siberian coast, the sea would have been as flat as a mirror.  Yesterday morning the weather forecast indicated strong winds with 30 kts. coming from the East, but by 9 pm. last night the forecast had been suddenly changed to light winds. It looked as if:  “that to great success the bad weather is staying for another 3 days at another location”. A sort of circus that is not moving because things are going so well in a certain area. We are now supposed to get those strong easterly winds this coming Sunday night. We just had a little pitching to remind the guests that we are still sailing on a ship and they are not living in a land based hotel.  Last night the clouds lifted high enough to show the Fairweather mountain range and we could just see Mt. Fairweather’s top 20.000+ feet above the water. On a clear day it is a spectacular sight when the evening sun sets on it. If we get some wind tomorrow and on Monday, maybe it will blow the clouds away and we will get such a sight. We are almost in the middle of June but we have not seen much sunny weather yet. ……………………….. Alaska is known to have the highest suicide rate of the US States per 1000 people and if the summer goes on like this 2012 will be a record year.  Continue reading

It was rainy, overcast and  wisps of low clouds were floating over the waters when we turned the ship into Glacier Bay. Still visibility was good and that solved one concern that I had, that the guests would not be able to see the wildlife while we were going through the lower bay. Not a problem there, now we just had to hope that the wildlife would be present. At 07.00 hrs we embarked the Rangers and then we had to push mightily against at a 5 knot ebb current coming out of the bay. Although the Full moon is past, the tides are still strong and this time they were in the adverse. In the Middle Bay we are only allowed to make a speed of 13 knots due to the increased sightings of Whales, and that means that we only made progress through the water with a speed of 13 – 5 = 8 knots.  On the way up we did not see many animals. It seemed that everybody slept late today. On the way back it was a lot better, seals, otters with pups on their bellys (sea otters like to back-paddle when they get the chance) and several humpback whales flipping their tails. Continue reading

During the night we over took the Disney Wonder and lined up in the parade going to Skagway. As requested by the agent we all came in 30 minutes apart and by 06.30 we were safely docked at the Broadway Pier at Skagway. Right in line with the main street “Broadway” of Skagway. It was wind still, real wind still, the wind meter read 0o and 0 knots and low clouds were hanging over the bay. It looked like a scene straight out of the Lord of the Rings, with young Frodo going into the Misty Mountains. By 08.00 a very gentle breeze came in and that blew all the haziness away. Which was good as it meant that all the helicopter tours could go for there sightseeing. The trains were being brought into position and because each dock has a rail road track next to it, or in front of it, the guests can just walk off the ship and board the train right there. There are several departures during the day, and the early morning ones which are normally less full, are combined in one train even if there are guests coming  from different ships. The longest train goes to the Railroad dock where it parks right in front of the gangways of the two ships there. Coral Princess and Star Princess completely fill the space at the Rail Road dock and with 7,000 guests on board they also fill a lot of train carriages. Continue reading