04 May 2008, Juneau.

After a bit of a rocky night with a long ocean swell rolling in from the deep Pacific we re-entered the Inside Passage but now the Alaskan one. The guests had had a nice and sunny day and the pitching of the ship just stopped by the time everybody went to bed. The Veendam charged as a race horse up the coast, backed by the current and the following wind. As a result we picked up the pilot at Cornwallis point by 06.20 instead of 07.00 as had been planned. This pilot station is located near the town of Kake and is only in operation in the summer. Mainly for the cruise ships that come directly from Vancouver or Seattle and are heading to Juneau. Most ships, as we will in 14 days, call at Ketchikan first.

With the steady stream of cruise ships coming to Alaska, the pilots there have been expanding their numbers steadily each year. At the same time a number of old timers has retired and means that they now have an extensive training program going. So we had two pilots on board that were qualified for all tonnage and a deputy pilot who still had training to do for his next step up. Pilot qualifications in Alaska go by the tonnage mark, as on average the larger the tonnage, the bigger the boat. The deputy pilot knew his job already but he still had to do a number of approaches to a port and dockings with a larger ship, under the eye of a senior pilot, before he will qualifie for his next license. I am saying he, but the Alaskan pilots have two female pilots as well, who are qualified for all ships since a number of years.

With the pilots on board the Veendam galloped further up the coast towards Alaska, still pushed by wind and current. We saw quite a few whales, although it is still early in the season and sailed by Tracy Arm but no ice to be seen. The whole inlet is still clogged up, and it will be a while before it starts releasing its ice. The weather was typically Alaska today, rainy and chilly, but not too much wind. In Alaska they do not talk about rain, as they have it all the time, it is called liquid sunshine…………always think positive.

With all this current and following wind we ended up 45 minutes ahead of schedule at Marmion Island. This is the beginning of Gastineau Channel, the gateway to Juneau, our stop for the day. The last part of the voyage goes very slowly as we have to operate under reduced speed. Since a number of years the USCG has a “Voluntary Waterway Guide” which HAL subscribes to, so for me it is compulsory to comply. It means that when coming closer to the port the ship is reduced in steps to avoid danger or damage to other boats and floats in the area. It comes down in steps from 16 to 14 to 10 to 7 to 5 knots at the edge of Juneau harbor and from there we gently float to the dock. All cruise ships companies participate and so do most other commercial operators.

Today we were the only ship in the port; next cruise there will be three more. Biggies as well. With no other ships calling, I could pick my favorite dock, the cruise terminal. This one has the advantage that the gangway goes up and down with the tide as it rests on a floating pontoon, so we do not have to switch the gangway location when the gangway become to steep to climb or the break door disappears under the dock. Next week we will be at Alaska Steam dock again, where we have the switch gangways but here the advantage is that is about 500 yards closer to down town. The Red Dog Saloon is just across the road from the gangway. For some people an important advantage.

It remained rainy for the whole of the day but it did not seem to deter our guests. The tours were well booked and all the shops were open. In the evening the wind died down and the rain was no more than a bit of drizzle. As it is still fairly dark at this time of the year, sail away was quite romantic with the lights of Juneau in the background and with still a lot of snow on the mountain tops. Tomorrow we are in Skagway, also all by ourselves.
Sail away looked a bit like this from the bridge wing. Photo courtesy of the State of Alaska.