Alaska is known to deliver four seasons in one week and if possible all four on Monday morning. Thus the weather forecast was way off. Based on my best estimates I thought we would have a dry day and the local weather station backed me up on that. But rain clouds are only one mountain range away and today the rain clouds decided to come around the mountain ridge and visit Skagway. So it was a cold, rainy and windy day. It looks like thought that it will only be today and tomorrow it should be dry again. Juneau is across the next mountain range to the East and that will hopefully keep the rain away.

We were the last ship on the schedule to come in as we were docking at the Ore dock. This dock is used for loading ore ships with ore coming via the Skagway railroad out of the interior. For the summer time they clean the dock up and it is used for cruise ships. There is a clean and nice walkway to downtown and the big advantage is that the tour busses can stop right outside the gangway. Also the helicopter tours are less then a 3 minute walk away. For those who choose not to leave the ship, it is interesting to see what is going on with the helicopters all day long. The Skagway train, which one of the most popular tours in Skagway, can get very close to the gangway and that makes life easy as well.

The funny thing is that while Skagway had rain, Juneau and Ketchikan are going through a drought. Although it is great for the cruise ships to have all these dry days while cruising along, for the locals it is not much fun. Juneau now has a full on hose-pipe-ban. No more water for the cruise ships to load and even the town consumption is closely followed to see if further cuts are necessary. Ketchikan is a town without a town water supply. Each house catches its own water from the roof and leads it into cisterns under the house. If you happen to have a house with a small cistern capacity then after three days of no rain, things can get a bit desperate. It means that you have to buy water from a local supplier who gets it from a nearby lake, but has to filter it and of course charges for this.

Ketchikan is not desperate yet but as they say “the natives are restless”. Looking in my crystal bowl, it seems that it is going to be a dry day as well during our call two days from now. Not good for the water level in the cisterns.

Sailing away from Skagway goes via the opposite routine. The ships leave all around 8 pm. which has to do with the returning of the last tours, and then with 15 to 20 minutes gaps, one after the other leaves the dock. We came in last and so we left last. The Veendam is only going to Juneau, which is just around the corner and even with the early arrival we have planned it is a slow run. Thus we let all the other ships go ahead and then sedately follow the parade down the Lynn Canal.

For those who had been with us on the northbound leg, they now could see Haines from a distance as we passed that port about 2 hours after leaving Skagway. You could still see the town and the scenery around it, as sunset was at 22.11 hrs. (Although this time that took place behind the rain clouds) and it never gets really dark, as the sun rises again at 03.56 hrs. in the morning. The nights at the moment are more a prolonged dusk. I am waiting to see the first signs of the Northern Lights, or the Aurora Borealis, but nobody on the other ships have reported any sightings yet. However we are not even half way through the season, so there is more than enough time for them to appear.

We are scheduled to dock in Juneau at 5 am in the morning and that means that standby starts for me at 3.30 am. It is indeed a short run to Juneau.

What was supposed to be an overcast and gloomy day, turned out to be clear, dry and a bit crisp. However Mount Edgecumbe the dormant volcano could be seen and that meant it was a very good day for Sitka.

Today we tendered into Crescent harbor which is the fisherman’s harbor and boat marina for Sitka. The Infinity had its tenders going to the bridge dock and that thus the cruise guests were descending on the shops from both sides of the main street and that must have satisfied the shopkeepers. None was left out because their shop was on the wrong side of town.

Most guests find tendering a nuisance as it entails waiting to get on the tender to go ashore and waiting to get back again to get to the ship; except here in Sitka. As we are so close to nature it is a very scenic ride. It is not unusual that a tender has to wait for a whale passing by or to stop when a raft of otters paddles by. Today no whales or otters in the area but there were a lot of bald eagles, either flying around or sitting perched high on the buoys and dolphins. The tenders passed by closely, so excellent opportunities for photo taking.

A few blogs ago I explained that it was not me who is running the ship, but the ships Bo’sun as I have to park the ship in such a way that he can do maintenance on the outside of the ship. Another hot item on his list is to keep the anchor and anchor chain clean. So will I please ensure that I drop the anchor somewhere, where there is no mud that might dirty his ship, when we raise that anchor again. In the last few calls at Sitka I have managed to maneuver the ship above a location where there is only gravel on the bottom and then the anchor comes up clear and clean. Not everybody understands the importance of this and this morning I had a very puzzled pilot watching me maneuvering the bow of the ship exactly to a certain spot, within a 500 square feet area. As his background was the tanker trade, he was absolutely flabbergasted that cruise ship captains would take their work to such an extreme that we park somewhere so that the anchor stays clean. He thanked the gods that he decided to become a pilot and did not decide to work on a cruise ship.

With the continuing popularity of cruising to Alaska, the number of tours available to the guests continues to increase. Two years ago saw the arrival of amphibious tours in Ketchikan. This was followed by fast speed boat trips, something that had been exclusively a warm weather enterprise before. Another new item on the list of Shore Excursions is now a submarine tour. Not something I would have dreamt about in my wildest dreams to have happen here in Alaska. Most of the under water area’s are quite bare due to the currents running though the waterways and where there is soil it is mostly mud mixed with gravel which creates murky waters.

However the submarine has arrived in Sitka and offers underwater tours to the giant kelp beds, and an area where you can see the bottom inhabited with star fish, sea cucumbers, crabs and sea anemones. The submarine is really only half a submarine as the top deck remains above water but the submerged half has large picture windows. At one particular place it stops and a diver goes outside and brings wildlife to the picture windows for all to observe. For the rest there are video displays on board connected to a camera operated by the outside diver so the guests can see what the diver sees. At most places the water is too murky for seeing great distances from the submarine so they solved that problem that way.

My wife who was sent on a fact finding mission, said that it was very interesting. I for one would not want to be that diver in the water, much too cold for me even to contemplate, wet suit or no wet suit.

Sailing away was good as Mount Edgecumbe remained clearly visible all the way to the open ocean and only then did we run into our first shower of the day. The whales were quite prominent in the late evening, unfortunately at a time when most guests where in the show. One day I will put in a complaint with the Whale-Union to have them change those hours. Tomorrow we are in Skagway where it should be windy, chilly but dry.

Turning away from Seward always brings the question what will the swell be outside Resurrection bay. With the weather patterns so quickly changing in the North Pacific you never know if the weather you left behind in the early morning is still going to be the same in the late evening. Last time we suddenly had larger swells running into the bay, this time we were lucky and there was just a very low but long swell from the South East and that meant the Veendam could gently ride the waves to Yakutat Bay.

By the early morning, the clouds started to lift and the sun shone brightly on the Fairweather mountain range that dominates the whole coast of the Eastern Gulf of Alaska. It turned out to be a magnificent day. From almost 20 miles away we could see the long wide line, which makes up Hubbard Glacier, glistening in the sunlight. By 1 pm. we entered the bay from the West and started to slow down for the pilot boat. As the water is quite shallow at the entrance of the bay, the swell tends to build up and the little pilot boat was climbing mountains and diving into valleys on the way to the ship. I had to change course almost a 100 degrees to get the Veendam between the swell and the boat so that we could enable a safe transfer.

Ed was there today without Ted, who was still in Juneau but he had brought his two sons with him. Ed’s official name is Bertrand and so we had Bertrand Sr. himself, a Bertrand Jr. and a Stephan coming on board. Jr. is the program leader for this native interpreter speaker program that the tribe operates and he was
onboard to see if his father was doing a proper job. Son number two was there to take video shots with the plan to have Holland America do a DVD about the native interpreter program. Holland America is the only company who operates this program in Hubbard Glacier. Other company’s do not do anything or have just their on-board travel guide say a few words.

With them the two pilots came back, who had left us two days ago. They had waited in the town of Yakutat for two nights, having a sort of free weekend provided by Holland America. The final person who boarded was a Ranger who flies in from the Tongass National Park station and holds a narration from the bridge telling about the birds and the bees, the rocks and the trees and anything else that there is to be seen. While they were doing their job, the Veendam charged up the bay and as there was no ice to been seen we could keep up speed until past Henke Island.

There we found a nice open spot for some magnificent glacier viewing. It was the first time this season that we could come so close, and it is not possible to get much closer as there are rocks and reefs in front of the glacier. The Millennium, which had left Seward late came in 45 minutes behind us, and so we had the best spot until we left. Then they could sit in front of the glacier a little while as well. I stayed 30 minutes longer than scheduled but the view was so gorgeous that it was the best option. I will now have to sail faster during the night, but we do not have such a splendid day everyday.

Panoramic compilation of upper Yakutat bay with Hubbard Glacier by 3rd officer Siemen van der Veen

The cruise down is basically following the coast until we near Cape Edgecumbe where we curve around the Cape and head into Sitka Sound. The weather looks reasonable for tomorrow, overcast with a chance of drizzle. If it drizzles away from the town than we will have a good day.

Although the arrival in Seward was a bit gloomy there was no wind what so ever. That meant that later in the day, a Southerly wind picked up and that normally guarantees a nice day, unless the wind is caused by a storm system. At the moment the storm/low pressure system is much further to the south, with one creating a lot of turbulence near the Columbia River. We might get some swell generated by this system on the way back but that should be it.

Our Seward pilot today was Captain Ryan and he used to be a cruise ship captain in the past, sailing on the Universe Explorer. All his other colleagues have a tanker background as most of the US merchant nowadays consists of tankers. For being a good pilot your background is not that important, your skills are, but being from the same work background makes it easier to relate to the daily troubles of a cruise ship captain. Especially as he had been nearly as long on the coast as I had and so there was room for some reminiscing about the good old days, when things were not as highly structured as they currently are.

While we were slowly moving towards the dock, we suddenly saw what looked like a fishing boat parked alongside our berth. We called the agent, they looked over the dock side and there was nothing there. Confusion all around. When we came closer we suddenly realized what it was. Somebody had painted his name on the fender on the edge of the dock. Together with two other names below it, also in white paint, is just looked like a docked Boston whaler from a distance. With that issue out of the way, I parked the Veendam on the inch again, so that the conveyor belt fitted into the ship for the luggage, and then our normal change over day could start.

About 300 guests will stay with us to do the southbound cruise as well and quite a few of them went on a day tour to the see the sights in the interior. They go by bus or train up to anchorage and then came back or vice a versa. While the Hotel department was doing their change over day activities, the engine room was carrying out maintenance on the fresh water system. Same as on land, water supply pipes sometimes need overhaul and renewal. The deck department was occupied with a test of the ships ventilation system and the Fire screen doors. If a smoke detector goes off in the ship and the alarm is not accepted on the bridge within 90 seconds all Fire screen and Water tight doors will close and the General alarm will sound. As the Officer of the Watch accepts alarms normally within 30 seconds we never know if this really works. Thus on a regular basis we have to do this test. At the same time we were checking the smoke path from a fan room to the outside decks.

As all doors will close, with this test, you cannot do it with a ship full of people and therefore we do it during a change over day. Most guests find it fascinating to see what is going on during a period when there is nobody onboard and with the proper announcements made they all feel part of the operation. We did our test and everything worked as planned.

In the mean time the weather had turned in glorious sunshine and it was a good day for a change over. By 11.30 the first guests started to arrive and with the Millennium doing the same thing it was a busy afternoon in the terminal. By 19.15 we had everybody onboard and we could prepare the ship for departure. Shortly after, we were sailing down Resurrection Bay down to open waters heading back to the Yakutat.
Note: latest addition is the new employee of the month of June 2008 check handright side.

We sailed out of Sitka with nice weather and found that the swell had indeed abated very much during the day. The Veendam was still gently pitching but it was minimal, more visible to the eye than to the senses when away from the outside. For the first time there was a total absence of whales outside Cape Edgecumbe. It took until we were about 15 miles off shore before we saw the first spouts in the distances. None of the whales came close to the ship so we could keep our speed heading for Yakutat bay.

We are scheduled to be in Yakutat bay from 0700 until 1100 on a northbound cruise which includes the visit to the Glacier and the narration and lecture by the Rangers and Indian Interpreters. I was hoping that by now some of the ice would have left the bay, so I would be able to go further up to the glacier, so I came in an hour earlier to pick up the Rangers and Indians. This time only one Indian interpreter. Ed and Ted were in Juneau, attending an official gathering of the Indian tribes of the Alaskan coast. According to the pilot this is a yearly happening and representatives travel from far and wide to attend this meeting for political and cultural exchange. They are supposed to be back next cruise.

Indeed the ice was less dense than on previous cruises and we managed to get past Henke Island which sits in the middle of the upper bay, just south of the glacier. We were together with the Millennium and as they were an hour ahead of us at the pilot station, the Veendam followed in.

The glacier is wide and big enough to accommodate more then one ship, but as the ice is not in a straight line, it looks sometimes as if one ship is closer to the glacier than the other, while this is not really the case. While the Millennium sat to the East, the Veendam was more in the middle but had the view of both glacier sides. There is always a large outflow of ice coming from the glacier due to the melting water, and with the movement of the tide there is a lot of ice movement going on. So when we were leaving the glacier the ship had a lot of this ice flow around it. This is not dangerous to the ship; it just takes a while to carefully maneuver away from it. Ice is only dangerous when you make speed and collide with it. When you gently nudge your way through it, it will be pushed aside without any problems, even with larger pieces.

So while the guests were enjoying the lecture and talking to the Rangers we sailed back to the Yakutat bay pilot station, again together with the Millennium. They were really in a hurry and blasted out of the bay with full speed. That ship has a higher speed than the Veendam, and they need that higher speed as they are supposed to dock two hours earlier in Seward tomorrow. That means making up 40 extra miles in a lesser time span.

The Gulf of Alaska was nice and quiet so we had an easy ride in the direction of Seward. As there were rain clouds hanging on the Fairweather range we could not see Cape St. Elias this time, which was a pity as it is a very pronounced Cape and easy to see. The weather should be good tomorrow. Overcast in the morning, but if the southerly winds sets through it should become sunny.

Today was a bit of a drizzly day, although it got much better later on. Still the guests should have been happy and appreciative of Sitka. Outside it was blowing 20 knots of wind but as the anchorage of Sitka is sheltered from any wind but the North West it was nearly wind still.

That brings me to one of the greatest challenges of a captain in regards to communication to all on board. How to explain that although a day is not that great (no great sunshine and tropic temperatures) but still a very good day! We were very lucky to go to Sitka today instead of going up the coast. Last night the ship slowly started to move on the swell caused by this weather system in the North Pacific. The weather system also caused a mini gale just south of the Yakutat Bay, resulting in 40 knots of wind and 17 to 18 feet of waves. Had our schedule taken us directly to the Yakutat then it would have been an extremely un-comfortable ride for the guests. Now we had Sitka first and the swell had time to die down before we were heading that way. For me a good reason to be happy.

However as science has proved, when you make an announcement, of the 100 people that hear it, 40 to 50 do not take any notice, about 40 will listen and only about 10 will react to it directly. Those 40 that will listen need another announcement to get them going. So when I make an announcement about “where we are and where we are going” then I know that only 40% will really understand and digest what I am saying and about 10% will do something with it. The rest will just say “what was that all about and continue doing whatever they were doing”. Scientists have come to these conclusions after analyzing disasters and emergencies and trying to figure out why people said “nobody told me anything” while there was proof that information had been given. The only solution is to make multiple announcements and repeat in short messages what is going on.

Of course I cannot make multiple announcements as I would upset all sorts of activities onboard. The daily program is packed with things going on and when an interesting lecture is going on, the audience does not need a captain suddenly talking through it all. Thus I try to find a time on port days, when it works without interfering with anything else. On sea days there is the Voice from the Bridge at 1 pm. but on port days I have to find a time sometime after departure. So today I had planned my announcement just after departure when clear from all the houses that would be able to hear it. We also have a protocol in Alaska that stipulates that we will not upset the locals with yet another bingo announcement.

I thought I had picked my time carefully but on double checking the daily program I found that there was a religious service going on in the theatre. I cannot make a public room announcement without going through the Theatre as well and thus I had a problem. I could not do it later, because then I was coming too close to the Baked Alaska parade in the dining room, another venue not to disturb. In end I had to leave it for one time.

Luckily I have this problem only Northbound in Sitka. On the other days there is somewhere a gap in the hotel activities that allows me to say a few words about “where we are and where we are going “.

We sailed from Sitka on time and had a bit of a wobbly ride up the coast for the first few hours but as the swell continued to abate, by 11 pm. the ship was fairly quiet again. Tomorrow we are in the Yakutat, going up to the Hubbard glacier. Let’ see how close we will be able to get this time.

Panic in Juneau today. They were running out of water and the ships all got a limited hose pipe ban. Yesterday the agent informed us that there would be a restriction on the loading of potable water in Juneau as the reservoirs were going down. We found that hard to believe of course. In an area where it rains most of the time, how can you run out of water? Well first of all, it had hardly rained in Juneau for the past three weeks and with that I do not mean drizzle but regular rain. It had been fairly dry. Secondly the very good weather has speeded up the melting of the snow and the run off caused a high turbidity of the water reservoirs for Juneau. As a result the water company is operating at about a 3rd of their capacity.

Although there is still enough water to supply the city, there is not enough for giving unlimited quantities of water to the ships, hence the limitation. We call that a hose-pipe-ban in England. When we arrived, we were given a loading window from 1 pm to 6 pm. with only a one hose capacity. The chief engineer had hoped to load all day and to be able to fill all the tanks up. The water quality in Juneau is very good and it is a lot cheaper to buy water, than it is to make it onboard where we have to burn expensive fuel to do it. Tomorrow we are in Sitka at anchor so we cannot load water there, then it is scenic cruising in Yakutat bay, so no loading there, thus the next chance will be Seward on Friday. Thus no local water for the guests the coming days but Veendam’s own.

We docked in Juneau very early and for them it must have been a good day as it was raining. For most of the day it drizzled, sometimes it really rained but there was the occasional dry spell. Not that great for us but at least it helped with not depleting the water reservoirs any further. The Veendam led the parade into Juneau again and by 8 am. 4 cruise ships had parked themselves in the harbor and were unleashing their hordes of eager shoppers on downtown. I do not think that the rain held anybody back as the tours were busy and all the shops looked full. Only those who had been to Juneau before, had seen the sights and had bought the t-shirt, choose to remain onboard.

This was my day to keep a close eye on the weather forecast. The weather in the mid pacific has been very unsettled in the last few days and there was a chance that a weather front would intensify just when we are supposed to come in the open sea on the way to Sitka. The wind is increasing indeed in velocity but the lay of the system is such that the waves should not be that high when we get to open waters. Looking at the forecast I estimated that we are going to get about 8 feet. That means that the Veendam will gently pitch on the waves but that it will not be an uncomfortable ride.

The system is generating a mostly South Easterly wind and that means that the anchorage will be fairly well protected by the mountains. Only if the wind shifts West or North West we will have a windy day in the port. From now on it is a wait and see what the system is going to do next. It might split or go North, it might go South East or it might disappear completely. Weather forecasts in Alaska are extremely short term, with anything over 24 hours to be taken with a pinch of salt. The bulletins get updated about every 6 hours and it is only in high summer that a 3 or 4 day prediction remains unchanged.

We left Juneau on time and although it was rainy and overcast, it showed the green colors of the mountain sides in Gastineau channel very favorably and so we had a very scenic sail away. By 11 pm. we were outside in the Pacific and the Veendam was very gently moving. Just before I went to bed a report came in from the agent of Juneau advising that all water supplies to the ships would be discontinued from tomorrow on, as the reservoir level was in danger of falling below what was needed to sustain the fire brigade. Not a good time to live in Juneau. They are still suffering from lack of electricity due to the avalanche that damaged the power lines a few weeks ago and now they might run out of water.

Haines turned out to be an overcast day with a bit of drizzle on occasion but luckily not the sort of rain that bothered anybody. One of the reasons we dock there is that Skagway is full of other cruise ships, a second reason is to offer an alternative port during this cruise, so that the approx 300 guests who go up and down with us have other port to look at. A third reason is that when sailing from Ketchikan you cannot make Skagway before noon time but you can make Haines before 10 am with good weather.

And as we had good weather all night long we arrived on the minute at the entrance of the bay in which Haines is located. That corner is called Battery Point and named after the gun emplacements that used to be here during the 2nd world war. As mentioned in a previous blog, the military considered Lynn Canal one of the entry points to Alaska if ever an invasion would occur. The Japanese briefly invaded Alaska in the far west, but never made to the SE panhandle. All during the war there was a large military base located in and around Haines. The large white houses overlooking Haines still testify from that period.

In Haines most of our guests go on the various shore excursions and the first ones start sharply at 10 am., our official docking time, so it is a necessity to have the gangway hooked in before that time. We use a shore gangway in Haines, due to the 10 to 12 feet tides and that means that this is done by the linesmen who also tie up the ship. During the last call we just made 10 am. sharp, so there was room for improvement. Therefore I had requested the agent to ask the linesmen to break the tying up of the ships into two parts. First take three ropes ashore fore and aft, two head lines and a spring line, then hook in the gangway and then finish tying up the ship with four more lines. Those last four lines are the extra lines that are put out as a safety. 2 +1 Fore and Aft is sufficient to keep the ship alongside during normal weather circumstances and with the thrusters as a back up if a sudden wind would try to blow the ship of the dock.

All went according to this plan and it resulted in having the gangway hooked in 10 minutes earlier than last time. The moment the forklift on the dock let the gangway go, the shorex manager marched ashore followed by the first tours. They have to walk quite a long distance over the wooden pier to the main land. As the land gradually curves into the bay and with the tides causing such a difference in height, the ship has to dock quite far out to have sufficient water under the keel. That distance is bridged by an elevated pier. For those who are less agile, there is a little blue bus shuttling up and down the pier from the ship to the shore, all very nicely organized.

The cruiseship dock in Haines with the little blue shutte in the middle. Foto courtesy Security officer John Cabalde.

Departure looks a bit like the Miami line up of cruise ships on a Sunday afternoon. Although we are alone in Haines, we leave two hours later than most of the ships from Skagway and so we can join the parade coming down the Lynn Canal. This time we had the Tahitian Princess first, followed by the Radiance of the Seas, followed by the Rhapsody of the seas, followed by us. In between there was also an Alaska State ferry coming by. Great evening entertainment for those locals who have a view over the bay. All the ships stay in line until past the narrow part in Lynn Canal near Kelgaya point, then each can set its individual speed plan and a little bit further south the ships can go West via Icy Strait, south via Chatham Strait or East, as we did, going to Juneau via Saginaw channel.

Juneau is forecasted to be a rainy day tomorrow, caused by this weather front in the North Pacific. The first winds are supposed to come through during the night and tomorrow we will see if the frontal system is going to bother us, while going to Sitka or not.

Picture of ship docked in Haines. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a bit grey and over cast when we arrived at the pilot station a 5 am. but there were no dark clouds gathering on the horizon and that meant a dry day. And indeed it was. The sun even came through the clouds on occasion and that meant very good weather for Ketchikan. We sailed into port following the Celebrity Infinity who had been with us in Vancouver. They had sailed another route, as for some reason they do not like to sail past Alert Bay. But here at the pilot station we caught up again and as they were assigned to dock 2 in front of us, we followed them in.

This was an early day for all the crew as we had our 90 day Custom and Border Inspection. We call this the US immigration Full Crew Inspection. Every 90 days we all have to go and see the Inspectors to verify that we have the correct visa and that we really are who we are. The ships crew purser, who we call Human Resources Officer or HRO, makes a schedule for all departments to attend at a certain time and normally, with 4 inspectors, the 580 crew are seen within 2.5 hours. It also pertains to any American crew that we have on board. They have to show their passport and or Green Card.

Non American crew are considered visitors and have to have passports with visa. In the old days we were called Aliens but after years of protest, that description was changed, including the signs at the airports. When you enter the USA as visitors, there are several categories. If you are coming in as a tourist, you can come in on a “Green Waiver” form. Citizens of certain countries, such as The Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany etc. qualify for this. If you are from a non-waiver country, or if you are a crewman, or a businessman, or an immigrant, you all require a visa.

As a crewman, I have to have a C1/D1 visa. These two visa’s cover the movement of a crewman in and out the USA both by airplane and ship. Every crew man has to obtain such a visa, which is a cumbersome process and can quite often delay the timely arrival of a crew member from his/her home country onboard. Nowadays you have to present yourself in person and go through an interview and that means traveling to a USA consulate. That consulate might not be near to where you live. As I live in England, it means traveling to London and as your appointment is at a certain time, it means most of the time an overnight stay as well. My wife and I combine this five year exercise with a visit to the London theatre’s.

Once you arrive on the ship with the required visa in your passport, the CBP will see you at you first call in the USA with a ship. Then you get issued an I-95 in exchange for an I- 94 that was given to you at an American airport if applicable. This I-95 has your basic details and you have to carry that with you when you go ashore in the USA as a crew member. It provides the proof that you are not illegally in the USA. Every 90 days the CBP checks if you have your I-95 and endorses it. If you loose it, there might be a $ 70 fine to get a new one.

Today we had this 90 day check. Everything ran well. The HRO had lined up the cruise staff to help with giving out the passports and with a well organized setup in the crew mess; all crew marched through very quickly.

All our guests where back on time, and I managed to pull out 20 minutes before the Infinity who still had to move its gangways. It is a tight run to Haines, hence our 10 am arrival, so every minute that I can save helps with making it more certain that I get there on time. Haines looks good for tomorrow. No wind and a dry day. Out in the Pacific a depression is brewing which might intensify or might dissipate. We will find out in the coming days.

After our little deviation, yesterday because of the medivac, we were quickly back on schedule again and sailed through the Seymour Narrows on time. Apart from some fishing boats and the Brilliance of the Seas, who was southbound, there was no traffic to be seen. The patient that we disembarked last night was reported to be doing fine and so that action ended with a positive result.

We spent the morning sailing in the Canadian Inside passage, passing the Indian Village of Alert Bay around seven thirty. The sun was just coming out and the scenery was picture perfect. Lush and green hill sides and as there was no wind, the ships shadow was reflected in the water as if we were at a stand still. After Alert Bay we sailed towards Pine Island to disembark the Canadian Pilots. Here we entered Whale country again and for the rest of the day we had numerous sightings of tail flapping and the officer of the watch reported one whale breeching not too far from the ship.

Time to answer some questions again that have been posted in the past few days:

1. How do I know about Ice in Hubbard ?
Well, I do not know until I get there. There is no Ranger station or any other observation post. Nor can we get up-to-the minute satellite photos, even if we could, they would reflect a past situation as Hubbard changes constantly. So we just go there and find out when we come closer. Hubbard glacier is very active and it depends on wind and current to flush the ice out of the bay. That makes the visit always very interesting, it is mother nature at her best.

2. Formal Nights onboard.
This is a touchy subject and generated last year a lot of responses when I posted something about it. We have on a 7 day cruise two formal nights and we request the guests to adhere to the dress code. Those who do not dress up are asked to go to the Lido for casual dinner and are not let into the dining room on formal nights. About 80% of the guests do dress up in one way or the other. It is lately getting a bit less but that is mainly due to the air line restrictions on luggage weight. A formal dress and tuxedo take up a lot of space and especially for guests who go on the overland tours it is an issue to consider. HAL has Tuxedos for rent on board and it is gratifying to see that more and more gents are renting them.

3. Northern Lights.
I have not seen them yet. The best time seems to be in July and August when the days are getting shorter but on average warmer. None of the other ships have reported anything yet either. I have seen spectacular displays over Juneau and Haines and hopefully we will have some good shows this year.

4. My Holland America lecture.
I do one (or sometimes more) on the longer cruises. On seven day cruise there is not enough sea time for the Cruise director to fit one in and also my time is very limited in Alaska, as I try to catch up on my sleep every free moment I have. On a 14 day cruise or longer, there is always the one about Holland America History but if the cruises are even longer and or the Cruise Director runs out of guest lecturers, then I can do another one about the History of The Cruise Industry, North Atlantic Liners and Fabulous Interiors as well.

5. Slack tide at Seymour Narrows on 11 July.
We are leaving Vancouver on 11 July at 1700 hrs. if everybody is onboard on time. That means the first window will be around 00.30 hrs. The current is predicted not to be that strong that night, so I will aim for Seymour at Midnight. If I will be able to get through at that time will depend on traffic and the pilots preference but normally an hour before or after slack tide works best as at slack tide all the tugs and the very slow log tows want to go through.

Tomorrow we are in Ketchikan, and the weather forecast predicts dry weather with good chance of sunshine. I am keeping my fingers crossed.