Today there were only two ships in Skagway. Us and the Norwegian Pearl. A sure sign that the season is ending. Because we were only two, we were both docked at the Rail Road Dock as this is the best dock for being out of the wind. Also on this dock the trains can stop right in front of the gangway. This is always nice as some of our guests are not in the long distance running group anymore. The weather forecast had been a mixed bag but after a gloomy arrival, it turned into a dry but very chilly day. Winter is definitely on the way. Continue reading

While crossing over to Alaska, the swell was sufficiently enough on the port side that it caused more rolling than pitching and that is always good as the stabilizers can deal with that. Still the ship moved quite a bit, so I was quite happy with my decision to go for the inside route. Going outside would have been quite un-pleasant for the guests. The pilot boat was already waiting for us when we approached and by midnight American time we had our Alaskan Pilots on board. 5 minutes later we were flying. The current in the Inside Passage was favorable, sometimes you just have to have a bit of luck, and that meant that I started to make up the lost time from yesterday morning. Continue reading

Seymour Narrows slack tide was at 01.45 but I asked the pilot to go through as soon as the current fell below 4 knots. That is a safe situation and it saved me 30 minutes. I was in a hurry, as the run to Juneau is a tight one and also I was expecting inclement weather that could slow us down. So the pilot did what was asked and as soon as we were through we cranked the ship up to the warp speed of 21 knots. By 08.00 hrs. we were out in the open area of Queen Charlotte Sound and here we were greeted by a very deep and long running swell coming in from the Pacific Ocean. It took several hours before we were far enough away from it before the ship became steady again. Quite a few guests were not in a very happy state because of it. Nothing I could do here, as it is the only way to go. Continue reading

After a fast passage through Georgia Strait, the body of water West of Vancouver and North of Vancouver Island, we sailed under the Lions Gate Bridge at 06.15 hrs. and were docked by 07.30 hrs. It was a miserable morning with drizzle and wetness but luckily no wind and that made for an easy arrival. Still even in the rain and gloom Vancouver harbor was able to look nice. See photo by my hotel director Bert van Mackelenbergh at the end of this blog. The end of the season is approaching and that means that some ships are already going southbound, with no doubt very happy captains on board, especially after last week’s weather. Continue reading

This morning we sailed through Queen Charlotte Sound and also here the turmoil had died down. When the weather is bad this area can be even worse than Alaska due to the fact that the storm gets sort of locked in. QCS is fairly open but with the Queen Charlotte Islands to the West and the Canadian mainland to the East any sort of bad weather coming from the West is pushed in there. Coming closer to the American border the open area gets less and the storm has to push itself back through to open waters again. Thus the wind can nicely build up the swell and as the Queen Charlotte Sound is shallow at the North side, the swell can really become high as the water has nowhere else to go. In the winter time this can be a very dangerous place to be. Continue reading

We had a very quiet night tucked away in the Behm Canal. The ship slowly steamed up and down, making a run every four hours. A bit boring for the pilots and the navigators but everybody was just happy to be in the lee of the mountain. In the morning the wind started to pick up as the direction of the wind flow shifted more to the south. That was good news as it meant that the weather system was moving to the west. Time to come out of hiding and go south. Continue reading

We raced down Chatham Strait to out run the approaching storm. When you do that, it gives a bit of a strange feeling that there is nothing wrong when you come to a location where you do not want to be later. We had to be back inside for shelter before 10 am and we were there as planned by 6 am, making the turn shortly after. It was a little bit windy but nothing that would make you think” what is all the fuss about”. Once we were back inside, the wind almost dropped to zero as we were completely in the shelter on a northerly course. The storm is coming in with South Easterly winds and that caused it to breeze up when we turned to the East. How much would be anybody’s guess as it all depends on the exact angle of the wind in relation to the mountains, which acts or not as a funnel. Continue reading

With calm weather we sailed up the Lynn Canal and joined the convoy. We were scheduled to be the last one to go in and that pleased me as it would mean that I could dock at the Railroad dock aft. As mentioned before we had to change from Haines to Skagway as the Haines dock was going to be reconstructed. I would have thought that they would have waited for the Cruise Ship Season to end, as we are bringing in at least a $100,000 per call for the local community, but they said that they could not and thus we lost the dock. So Skagway got another financial injection from the visit of the Statendam as they had a spare berth available. The pecking order today was, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Jewel, Diamond Princess and the Statendam. When I got my berth assignment I had a good look at it and that gave me the idea to park the ship the other way around than normal. Normally all the ships dock nose in but occasionally, when the weather is pleasant on arrival, they swing around for maintenance. Today my idea was not just maintenance but saving time for tonight. The plan is out outrace the bad weather and to be back inside again before the swell starts building up in the ocean. Wind is a much lesser issue than seas as it does not make the ship move. Wind only becomes an issue when going in and out of port as with a cruise ship you quickly drift all over the place. Continue reading

The weather front which so nicely stayed to the south of us, giving us calm seas yesterday, curled up a bit further towards the Inside Passage. It produced a lot of rain but not in dense columns. That kept the visibility good and that is what I had hoped for, no visibility problems in Glacier Bay. We picked up the pilot at 07.45 and then sailed towards Glacier Bay. Ahead of us was the Westerdam and thus we were on schedule for a 10.00 Ranger boarding. In principle two big ships are allowed in the bay at the same time but it is preferred that they do not get in each other’s way. That made the company decide to have their ships come in nicely apart to avoid conflicts of interests (or feuding captains) Continue reading

I always like it when the weather forecast is right. Especially if it is a nice weather forecast. As I mentioned yesterday we were hoping for flat calm seas and little wind and that is what we got. It was flat calm with little wind and it stayed that way until the early evening when slowly the wind began to breeze up to 20 knots. Also as expected. The large depression to the south of us was nearing the land and it curled up a little bit and that brought us then in the top corner of the system. Then it will start to intensify with speed of up to 65 knots expected in about 48 hrs. from now. But tomorrow morning we are going inside again and then the mountains will protect us from the upcoming wind. How that wind is going to blow through the mountain valleys is at the moment anybody’s guess. We will find that out in the next 36 hrs. Continue reading