Vancouver's Convention Center and Cruise Port all in One
As we have become more experienced, the boarding process makes more sense, so it’s less stressful. The exception being Vancouver since we had to go through USA customs as we boarded
Leaving Vancouver another Totem
Since we came aboard a bit later; a little past Noon, our staterooms were ready shortly after boarding. We had a light lunch and a celebratory cocktail before exploring the ship. It’s an older ship, but it’s still pretty and has another fun crew. Talked to Bek before we left, but missed out talking to Mike and his family before we lost AT&T service. Trying to catch up can be hard with the different schedules and time zones.
Look at this small tug towing this large barge way... behind
Think this lighthouse is one in Stanley Park
Coming from Florida, we are really enjoying all these mountains
These float planes are everywhere and we see more as we go North
We immediately talked to the Future Cruise Director; so she could book our April, 2020, 20 day transatlantic cruise to St Petersburg. She contacted Costco and it turns out, they treated us to Sabatini’s Italian Speciality Restaurant for our first night.
The food presentation for all the meals are wonderful but the speciality restaurants ramp it up a notch
Really loved this Funky Diva
We love the speciality restaurants because it’s like going to a 4-5 star restaurant that serves 4-5 smaller deliciously prepared and presented courses. YUM!
After dinner we enjoyed their Alaska North Musical Show. It wasn’t as good as their three production shows, but it was entertaining.
We managed to see Sandra, the Princess Naturalist two wildlife presentations & a lumberjack talk and interactive contest, our first sea day.
Here’s tidbits of info from Sandra
Sandra Schempp, Princess Naturalist. Taught various sciences We bought her recommended book, The Alaska, Cruise Companion by Rachel Cartwright.
After Ketchikan In Snow Pass best to see whales 7-8 PM . Best to see from the front of the ship. And we did!!!
Ketchikan
Totem Bight (Red cedar is used for totem poles)
Juneau
Mendenhall Glacier
Skagway
Train
6-7 AM. Glacier Bay mountain goats (We saw them but too small for photos)
Actually, have 3 Glacier Bay Park Rangers aboard
College Fjord, 8 glaciers
All the Alaskan critters we may see...
Whales eat krill, herring and plankton
Sea Otters love to be in Giant Kelp
Sea Anemone sting fish
Purple, King and Dungeness Crab
Barnacles attach to boats and whales
Morning, Ochre and Sea Stars
Sea urchins
Hermit crabs
Cutthroat, rainbow and steelhead trout
Chum Salmon or wild caught look silver, as they get older develop stripes and ugly heads then called Dog Salmon
Sockeye Salmon
Chinook, or King Salmon, red & the largest
Coho Salmon
Pink salmon, not as much oil
Go back to spawn where they were spawned. Throws out about 10,000 eggs before she dies. Generally, only 2 adults living out of 5,000 eggs; hence the fish hatcheries...
Inside Passage is soft bottom waterway
Bottom feeders: flounder, halibut and sole as they mature, actually change shape to flatten out and they end up with two eyes
Sea Otters more fibers per square inch, so they don’t get cold. Only go to shore to birth. Brings baby on their bellies when born and out to sea...We saw so many of these cuties!
Harbor Seal, thick furs too
Stellar Sea Lions, love to lay on buoys and are reddish, saw them on our Kenai National Forest Boat trip
Walrus are in W and N parts of Alaska
Harbor and Dall’s Porpoises (Black & white look like mini orcas) closely related to dolphins
Belugas are N to W, are around Cook Islet sometimes. Look like white pillows on water
Orcas or Killer Whales, large pods of about 7 usually 7-3PM
Humpback Whales can see tall spot can exhale 300 miles per hr,
Breaching doesn’t happen here so much here. Showing off for the women, so they will be picked
Bubble Netting is a means to catch more herring using the whale group working together
Gray whales & fin whales (Bering sea) are in outside coasts
Minke, Narwhals, Blue Water and Sperm whales not usually Inside Passage
Pika area stuffed with grasses that they keep in their burrows during winter along with deer mice. Red squirrels & artic ground squirrels. Pine martians eat eggs and birds. Mink like estuary water and are carnivores. Snowshoe hair rabbits out all year. Marmots hibernate. Porcupines love it up here. Sometimes climb trees to nibble leaves
Beaver very industrious. Need a deep pond so they can keep a hole below frozen water
Red & Artic fox eat rodents but the later one are found further north
Wolves only Alpha male & female are the breeders. Work as a team and stuff themselves after kill. They can regurgitate their food for better digestion.
Lynx have excellent hearing and paws as big as their head. Dall Sheep white with curly horns
Mountain Goat have shorter horns
Moose like fresh water spots like around Anchorage. Can run as fast as a race horse.
Elk are Rockefeller’s that were introduced here
Caribou are native, both genders have antlers.
Wood bison are larger than plains bison
Musk Ox both genders have curly horns and defend their young by keeping them inside a circle of them.
Black bear are armnivore of different colors. Zygotes don’t develop until she is really healthy and fat. She nurses her baby while she’s asleep during the winter. Stays with mom until they can eat meat usually for another winter, they stay in cave with her. They are yearlings.
Brown bear and Kodiak bear are fairly prevalent in the areas we are going.
Polar bears habitats are shrinking & are more North.
Hummingbirds in spring
Kingfisher and Artic tern
Oystercatcher birds
Stellar Jays like our blue jays
A variety of gulls
Black leg kittiwake gulls
Common Loons need a longer runway.
Tufted puffins with their orange beaks in the water
Horn puffins but bigger
Lots of ducks
Surf scoter fly in flocks across the water
Lots of owls
Eagles love salmon and mate for life and reuse their nests.
Grouse & ptarmigan tend to walk more than fly
Blue heron and Trumpter Swans prevalent up here.
Our cute, hunky lumberjack and his presentation was a great way to encourage cruisers to sign up for the lumberjack shows...loved the old lumberjack photographs.
Lumberjack competitions today
The people who went to see this competition really loved it
We saw these log floats on some of the rivers we passed over even in Vancouver
Wonder what the survival rate for this career back then? Checkout the guy inside the tree
I also enjoyed a line dance and cha, cha class before the Captain’s Champagne Fountain and welcome before our first formal night.
Formal attire these days is really interesting...these outfits really made a statement
We started reading the Alaska book and a few facts really struck us...oh, and I couldn’t resist McKinley Moose.
It turns out he makes a great neck pillow while traveling...
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