Wednesday 18th July - Today's Port of call is Auke Bay, 12 miles north of Juneau, Alaska's State Capital. No War Party waiting on this dockside, so we hike into town, admiring the Mendenhall Glacier as we go. Quite a Touristy place Auke Bay - Juneau even more so - both have Cruise Ship docks with all the accoutrements that entails. Not tempted by the Whale Watching Boat Tours or Bald Eagle Bus Trips, we plump instead for Squirez Bar and its Devil's Hideaway Cafe where we enjoy Halibut n Chips washed down with a couple of Icy Bay IPAs / Chilled SBs.
Back on board we get chatting to Kevin & Tim, US Coast Guards on their way home from Kodiac after a three year posting. They tell us we're lucky with the weather and sea conditions as often there are 30 to 40 foot waves in the Gulf of Alaska which we crossed to reach Juneau. We've only seen flat seas and sunshine!
Wildlife spotted so far: Humpback Whales, Orcas, Otters and Seals - numerous species of seabirds - plus 30 or so Pet Dogs who have to stay locked inside their owners vehicles on the Car Deck with only 15 minute comfort breaks every few hours - after which the Car Deck is sluiced down by the Crew. That's also the time David dashes down the stairs to the car for supplies of Beer, Wine and Cup Noodles, slaloming the No.1s & No.2s as he goes! So that's what a Poop Deck is all about!!
In case you were wondering, this isn't a Cruise Liner with all inclusive meals and drinks. There is a Hot Food Cafeteria, but five days of their mega portion meals would break the bank, and our waistbands! Instead we're taking advantage of the all inclusive hot water tap and microwave combined with the cafeteria tables and chairs to dine on Spag Bol, Clam Chowder, Chicken Cup Noodles and Tuna Sarnies, washed down with a crafty beer/wine stashed in lidded coffee cups. That explains the need for our 30 minute Supermarket Sweep en route to Whittier!
Thursday 19th July - today we dodged the low flying Sea Planes and called in at Ketchikan (population 8,208), another Alaskan port set up for Cruise Liner visits - in fact there were 5 of the leviathan monsters in port today! 3,000 passengers per ship x 5 = 15,000 tourists in town!
Ketchikan is known for its commercial salmon fishing and indigenous Haida and Tlingit heritage - no better place in the US to see Totem poles in all their craning, colourful glory. Although between May and September the city kowtows to over one million Cruise-Ship passenger, a deluge that turns the town into something of a tourist circus! Lonely Planet tells us.
Yep - roger that! Creek Street - a passageway of jumbled clapboard facades perched on stilts above the creek was Ketchikan's famed Red-Light District until 1954 - in it's hey day supported 30 brothels and as the wall art says: "Creek Street - where both Men and Salmon came upstream to spawn!" - once a historic site whose buildings deserved to be preserved - today a tacky tourist trap selling Chinese made tat to Cruise Ship hordes.
We chose instead the Totem Heritage Center, hidden away up a steep hill in a pine forest on the outskirts of town - no tourist deluge here - and lots of history - Totem Poles on display, some almost 200 years old, together with vintage photos and historic artefacts from first nation times - fascinating! Love the idea of a Shame Pole - they have one called the Wayward Husband - a gambler whose wife erected a Shame Pole in the hope he would mend his ways! 100 years later the Shame Pole is at the Heritage Center - history doesn't tell what became of Mr Wayward.
Ketchikan doesn't have Seagulls - instead they have Bald Eagles - by the hundred. These giant birds don't steal tourists chips, instead they snatch live salmon from the shallow waters and carry them whole up to treetop nests!
After our Cup Noodle supper the Coast Guard contingent introduce us to 'Spades' a card game popular in the US Navy & Coast Guards. Baffled by the rules we share the fun, and join them for drinks and M&Ms!
Friday 20th July - Probably should have retired to our new Cabin (81A with Starboard side Porthole) the right side of Midnight as at 08:00am the ship's tannoy calls us to the Pursers Office to advise that our request to meet Captain Jonathan Ward and tour the Bridge has been granted and we are to report to the First Officer at 09:00am sharp! Couple of strong coffees later we're scanning the horizon with Capn. Ward's binoculars and discussing how it was the Kennicott struck a Humpback Whale in 2014!
No stops today - full steam ahead along the Inside Passage, through Canadian waters between Vancouver City and Vancouver Island and on to Bellingham, Washington where we are scheduled to dock and disembark at 08:00am on Saturday. Sun still shining, water still flat calm, whales still breaching! Alaska Marine Highway - we're still lovin it!!
