UNCRUISE TO ALASKA
I've been recovering from a cold I probably caught on the plane
back from the trip. A kid sitting next to me was sniffling through the
whole trip from Seattle. That's the only negative from the two
weeks.
It was a great adventure and on the perfect ship for me. Only 27 passengers had braved a trip to Alaska this early. I
had a small room (there were only two singles on this one and none on some)
just behind the bow on the first floor, where the kitchen and dining room
was. The lounge was on the second floor just over the bow with
space for people to get outside. The stern had less space but was also
not as windy, so I spent lots of time on both.
We saw marine mammals,
harbor seals, sea lions, whale blows, otters, and porpoises rushing in the
other direction from time to time. They had supplied each room and the
lounge with binoculars, which were so much better than the ones I
brought. (new ones soon?) Going along the coast and between islands
almost all of the time meant mostly calm water. The captain warned us
twice about times we had larger open water. It was a joke at first that
the captain only brought bad news when he came down to address us, but later we
got to know him better as a very nice and witty guy. Probably the overall
best thing about the boat was the crew, absolutely everyone we may have
encountered seemed to love working on the ship. If I ever remarked about
anything beyond a greeting, each would immediately stop for a
conversation. Evidently they, mostly 20 somethings, were well-chosen and
well-trained, but it didn't seem faked at all. The guides were mostly
college grads or on a break year. The head guide was a vocal graduate
from IU and her teacher was someone I had met in choir and asked her if she
knew (Sylvia McNair). She was really surprised.
As far as the activities, five years or so
earlier would have been much better for me. But I managed all the skiff
trips and the shorter hikes. It was very difficult to get into the skiff
without railings and some water motion, but there were always two strong arms
right there. Actually, we saw more on the skiff trips than the kayakers
could. I might have tried that, but it wasn't that appealing. It
was not exactly balmy up there.
Food was great, but mostly healthy, especially the lunches and
dinners. Breakfast at 6:30 in the lounge for early risers and 7:30
downstairs had a huge selection at both, especially a large fruit tray. I was happy to get my first tea with
milk, followed by coffee with a piece of toast early. I was impressed
with how efficiently and creatively everything was used up. At dinner
there was always a meat, fish or veggie choice. The waitresses were so
excellent and would cheerfully get any extra thing, even dividing the dinner
choices into halves or thirds. All alcohol was included, wine at dinner
or cocktails in the lounge. The young bartenders were great guys, and one
of them was my room straightener too. This is obviously a very well run
corporation.
My main reason for going was to see this part of the world the
only way it can be seen, from the water. And it was incredible to spend
the two days going past Canada to usually see vast hills and mountains of
forests on both sides. In Alaska the ship could stop at smaller towns
without ports and use skiffs to take us to shore. One time we went
through an interesting narrows very close to both shores, where we saw some
deer. Later we spotted a mountain goat when close by high mountains,
which was most of the time in Alaska. The last town we stopped at before
Juneau was Haines. It is surrounded by mountains and sea, very beautiful
place. The weather was pretty good for early April. This was the
first time Uncruise had a tour this early to Alaska. We had lots of
clouds most days but not enough to obscure the mountains, except for the two
days of snow at Glacier Bay NP. The three days before we got there was
spent anchored at islands for activities, and the weather was really nice. The view from my room is on one picture. I enjoyed just lying there watching the wilderness go by.
All above in San Juan Islands
Screen in the lounge showing GPS position of ship.
Basalt formation
a fungus !
A guide made a snowman on a bow table.
Plenty of snow on the bow the two days at Glacier Bay NP.
Beach combing in Haines
A final sunset in Haines
A beach on a San Juan Island.
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