It is not exactly company policy to make a scenic cruise announcement at 06.00 in the morning but I was very tempted to do so. What we had this morning was a picture postcard arrival. It was still dark (with Sun rise being at 7 am) when we started the approach around 05.30 towards the Lions Gate Bridge and the Vancouver sky line was lit up like a Fancy Fair. We had crystal clear skies, wind still weather and it all just looked as if on a postcard. It was in one word beautiful. This was my 235th cruise to Alaska and I think this Vancouver arrival was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I was glad to see that at least about a 100 guests were out on deck, alerted by me the day before that we would have nice weather in Vancouver. But I could not have predicted this in my wildest dreams. Continue reading

Today was the last day of our final Alaska cruise, sailing down to Vancouver. Another great and sunny day to enjoy and the Inside Passage part in the afternoon was just beautiful. We had crossed the Canadian Border at 11 pm. last night and sailed during the night and morning through Queen Charlotte Sound before we re-entered the Inside Passage at 3 pm. at Pine Island. Our whole schedule is linked to passing Seymour Narrows at slack tide and tonight this was at 22.15 hrs. During the evening you can see a sort of parade of ships forming all heading towards the Narrows for the same time. Southbound the Statendam and the Zaandam and Northbound the Diamond Princess and the Zuiderdam. In between a whole gaggle of small craft. Pleasure boats, tug and tows, log tows; all together a heady mix of traffic that all wants to get through the Narrows at or near slack tide.

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The stretch from Juneau to Ketchikan is a high speed run and as soon as we were past the city limits of Juneau, we put the pedal to the metal and raced down Stephens Passage. During this overnight voyage there are two points of (nautical) interest. Rounding Cape Decision and sailing through Snow Passage. Cape Decision has two challenges, first we have to go around the Cape through a fairly narrow passage where we cannot always see the traffic and secondly in this area we are exposed to the ocean swell and that can on occasion create a very lively ship. In Snow Passage we have two issues; currents can be very strong there as all the water is being pushed through a narrow gap between the land and it can be full of whales, which in general do not follow the Rules of the Road. Putting the onus on us not to bump into them. Continue reading

Feeling as if we were all by ourselves in the world the Statendam approached Juneau. As we were alone we could set our arrival time without having to fit in with the normal convoy and that gave me half hour extra in bed. If there are more ships calling then the agent sets the pecking order so each ship can arrive without being hindered by another ship. For us that meant all summer a very early arrival as we were always tucked away in the corner of the Alaska Steamship dock. A very good place to be but it meant that everybody involved in arrival had to get going very early. Now we just had to make sure that we arrived 30 minutes before the first tour started. Much more civil and pleasant. By 07.00 hrs. we were happily parked at the Cruise Terminal and the first people streamed ashore to enjoy what was going to be a glorious day. Continue reading

To our utter amazement and enjoyment the good weather seems to be holding. Not just for today, but for the coming week as well. We might even get a dry day in Ketchikan if things continue to go as they are now developing. The only thing that is indicating that the season is over is that we do not arrive and depart in daylight anymore. The sun rises around 06.45 if visible and sets around 19.00 hrs. so we arrive and depart in “the dark days before Christmas” as we call it. Christmas might still be far away, although in England the first large supermarket chain has already opened their Christmas grotto on September 1st. so Christmas cannot be that far away, at least according to them. It must look very quaint though to see Father Christmas selling pumpkins for Halloween. I am glad I do not understand this sort of deeper thinking and I try to keep myself to the simpler things in life such as parking the ship in Haines. Continue reading

 The good weather was nicely holding and thus we arrived on schedule at the Cape Spencer pilot station to pick up the two Alaskan Pilots who will be with us until Friday evening. Once they were on board we proceeded to Glacier Bay. The sun was coming out, there was no wind and the only thing we really had to focus on was that the currents were very strong today, 4 to 5 knots against us. That means that you have to pay close attention to the way the ship is being set when going around the corner. Especially when you sail with a slow speed into Glacier Bay to meet the Rangers. The slower the speed, the more pronounced the drift is. Ahead of us was the Westerdam with a 0700 Ranger pickup and we were scheduled for 10 am. And it all worked like clockwork. Regulations stipulate that only 2 large ships are allowed in the Bay at any time and 25 small ones (sailing yachts, local sightseeing boats etc.) By spreading the arrival time it makes it possible that we are not at the same place at the same time. By the time we were approaching Marjorie Glacier, the Westerdam was just sailing away. With two ships of the same company that is never a problem but in general all cruise ships follow the same routine and stay out of each other’s way. Continue reading

Indeed the weather did follow the forecast and after midnight wind and waves started to calm down. By 05.00 the wind velocity was down from 40+ to less than 20 knots and the combined wave and swell height reduced from 27 feet to less than 16 feet. So we could sail. By 05.30 we had our pilot on board and I could then back the Statendam out of the slip. Goodbye Seward, until next season. This is our last Alaska cruise of the season, 7 days southbound to Vancouver. Then we start our 14 day Panama Canal cruises again from San Diego until the end of November. Followed by a 30 day Hawaii and South Pacific cruise which will last until December 21st. Still that is still a long time away, first we have to deal with the autumn weather of The Gulf of Alaska and South East Alaska. Continue reading

 Reality is calling again. After 3 months of vacation it is time to become part of the wonderful world of Holland America again and I did so by falling out of the air in Anchorage. After being bussed down to Seward I boarded the good ship Statendam again for my next three month contract. All was well on board and after the ceremonial hand over of the captain’s pager my colleague went on his well deserved vacation and I could focus on the challenges of the day. For today that was the Alaskan weather. Continue reading

Time to say good bye.

Thank you to all of you for being such faithful readers. Hopefully you will log in again when I return on September 16^th.  I am writing this from home, as I could not get on line properly yesterday due to the travel pattern and the need to “collapse” in bed as soon as I came home. It takes me just over 24 hrs. (including the time change) to get home by plane from Vancouver to Norwich via Amsterdam.  I normally fly via Amsterdam as there is a direct KLM connection with Norwich, England. If I would fly to London then I would still face 4 to 5 hours by Train, Bus or car. Therefore Amsterdam works much better. Continue reading

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