Alaskan Dream Cruise: Juneau and the Mendenhall Glacier

Our visit to Juneau began with a rollicking ride on Tressa's bus to the Mendenhall Glacier. Tressa is a driver for a local tour bus company, and she had us laughing the whole way as she related hilarious and colorful local stories. Here's one of the jokes she told as as she urged us to be back at the bus on time:

What's the difference between a tourist and a hitch-hiker? 
Five minutes.

Of course we were never late for anything on the tour. No hitch-hiking for us. We did find it kind of strange to be told when to do everything for 8 days, but not unpleasant. Maybe a little more tiring than our usual autonomous lives. I can't say we ever really felt rushed, just well-scheduled.

Visitor's Center

So we had a few hours to explore around the glacier, the visitor's center and Nugget Falls, all part of the Tongass National Forest.  First we took the Steep Creek Trail, as there were supposedly black bears in that area often. We didn't see any bears, but it was a nice walk. Nice blue lupins too.

There were several places to view the glacier, which melts and calves into the Mendenhall Lake. 

Some large icebergs were floating very slowly in the lake. Nice blue color.

Nugget Falls comes from a hanging valley and also flows into Mendenhall Lake. Can you see the tiny people at the foot of the falls?

After the glacier we loaded up on Tressa's funny bus again and she took us into town for lunch on our own. (Box lunches from the ship were an option but we opted for a restaurant in Juneau for some more local color.)  We ended up at The Hangar for lunch, with this big view of the harbor and the BIG cruise ships. The little orange boat is how the passengers get from ship to shore if the ship has to anchor away from the dock.  We also got to watch the sea planes come and go.

A walk around the downtown area led us past the cruise ships and the vendors that sell the shore excursions to the cruise passengers. (We really appreciated that all our shore excursions were included in the cost of our cruise.)

With our complimentary tickets in hand, we took the Mt. Roberts Tramway up the mountain that overlooks Juneau and it's harbor.

The tram let us off at a visitor's center where we found the Alpine Trail for a hike around a beautiful mountain meadow full of wildflowers.

The trail also led to some spectacular viewpoints overlooking Gastinueau Channel, Douglas Island and the snow covered mountains of the larger islands nearby.

We ended our visit with some "alone time" in downtown Juneau. Rick went to the library to check his email and I window-shopped and found a little coffee house to linger in. 

Overall I wouldn't say Juneau was our favorite stop, but the view from the top of Mt. Roberts was truly breathtaking. Seems like a full day, but it wasn't over yet...

Alaskan Dream Cruise: Glacier Bay National Park

Day two of our cruise took us to part of a "25-million-acre World Heritage Site - one of the world's largest protected natural areas," according to the US National Parks. Only 250 years ago, Glacier Bay National Park was one immense glacier. Now that glacier has retreated, but massive remnants of it can be seen by traveling up Glacier Bay and to the ends of many of the inlets and narrows.

Our ultimate destination was the Margerie Glacier, at the furthest northwest corner of Glacier Bay. We started our journey docked offshore of the tiny town of Gustavas, in the southeast corner of the park.  We had a long way to go, so a very early departure was necessary. Fortunately, because of the approximately three hour night, the sun was already up.

After our hearty but bleary-eyed breakfast we loaded on the DIB for a short ride to the ferry dock... 

...where we boarded the National Parks bus that took us to the Park Headquarters at Bartlett Cove. There we waited about an hour for the tour boat that would take us up Glacier Bay. Evidently scheduling our transportation into the park was complicated, and the timing was not working in our favor that day.  It was the only hurry-up-and-wait experience we had during the whole cruise.

The wait time gave us an opportunity for a much appreciated walk in the rainforest along the Forest Trail. Getting exercise is a must with all the great meals and lots of sedentary shipboard time. 

Today's boat ride took all day, but we were blessed with beautiful weather, spectacular scenery and wildlife sightings all along the way. This area near the mouth of Glacier Bay is a marine life hot spot. Our first sightings were sea otters all around us, individually, in small groups, and in "rafts" (below).  We've heard that sea otters, once near extinction, are actually more than abundant in some areas of southeast Alaska.  

By this time the sun had come out in full force and the fog had retreated into the valleys and smaller inlets. Our next sightings were our first humpbacks, in small groups, at some distance.  I caught just a few backs and fins in my photos.

We'd been seeing birds all along. You can't miss the ever-present bald eagles and ravens of course, but we also saw seabirds new to Rick and me: Kittlitz's and marbled murrelets, pigeon guillemots, pelagic cormorants, kittiwake gulls, and best of all, tufted puffins!  We saw them both swimming and flying. This picture provides proof, even though they're pretty small. They're sure unusual looking birds.

When we passed Marble Island, home to kitiwake and cormorant colonies, we had lots of time to watch hundreds of Stellar sea lions staking out territory and basking in the sun on the warm rocks.

 The scenery just kept unfolding…

hiding...

revealing...

and amazing.

At last we reached the glaciers!  There are two at the end of the Tarr Inlet. The one pictured below is the Grand Pacific Glacier, a "dirty" or rock glacier at the north end of the inlet. It contains so much rock and dirt that it can hardly be distinguished from it's surroundings. If you can zoom into the photo below you can see the glacier winding along its valley, coming in from the upper left, passing the mountain in the middle, and curving around it from the right. The Grand Pacific is not actually an active, or "healthy" glacier.  I believe that means it still contains some ice but is no longer moving like an active glacier would be. 

On the west end of the same inlet is the Margerie Glacier, a very healthy and active glacier indeed. To get a sense of the hugeness of this glacier, see if you can find the large yacht in the lower left of the photo below.

We pulled in as close as we could to the face of the glacier to watch for any calving.  This was our first glacier, and we were duly impressed by it's color and grandeur. We were also incredibly fortunate to see it in the sunshine, and to see all the snow peaked mountains surrounding it! This is not a common occurrence in Alaska.

The sun sparkled on the blue-green glacial water and the icebergs floating by.

After gorging on the glacier, we still had room for lunch, which was the next order of business. Satiated in every way, we had a long, peaceful and scenic ride back to Bartlett Cove.  The park ranger on board provided us with lots of interesting information and helped us sight wildlife. We did see a brown bear who was looking for snacks along the rocky shoreline, turning over boulders like they were paper mache props. 

Our long day ended with a wonderful supper, good company and sound sleep.

Our Alaskan Dream Cruise Begins

Bright and early Monday morning, the Alaskan Dream van picked us and our luggage up at Frank and Gloria's Place and brought us to the "hospitality room" near the marina in downtown Sitka. Here we received an orientation to our day in Sitka and the small ship cruise we'd be taking to meet our home for the next 8 days, the Baranof Dream. 

Before going on about Sitka, I'll say a little about Alaskan Dream Cruises and Allen Marine, it's parent company.  Allen Marine makes and restores boats for their own use and for sale to other companies, such as the ferry system in NYC!  They also conduct day trips on local waterways, and cruises like ours, for 5-10 days in Alaska's Inside Passage.  Based on our experience, it is an extremely well-run company of remarkable integrity. It also appears to be seamlessly and authentically integrated into the local Alaskan culture and economy, to the mutual benefit of both. These are all reasons why we chose this company to cruise with, and it more than met our expectations. 

Sitka is one of the oldest settlements in the native and European history of Alaska.  For thousands of years it was the home of the Tlingit people.  In recent history, a little over 200 years ago, Russia claimed the area to benefit from hunting the sea otter (to near extinction). In 1867 the United States purchased Alaska from the Russians, but Sitka retains much of its Russian cultural heritage. As in so many encounters with native people, the history of the interaction is not a happy story. However, as we learned on our cruise, the Tlingit culture is still alive and it's people are making an organized effort to maintain and revitalize it's community, language and practices. We were fortunate to see evidence of that throughout our voyage. 

Now Sitka has a fishing and tourist economy primarily. It has a thriving small downtown area with galleries and restaurants of interest to tourists. The cruise ships come to town almost daily. However, we enjoyed our day in Sitka without any large crowds. 

After our orientation, we were given complimentary passes to several of the local attractions: the Russian Bishop's House, the Sheldon Jackson Museum, St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral and the Raptor Center.  One of the nice things about Alaskan Dream Cruises is that the cost of ALL land excursions is included in the cost of the cruise, so there is none of the nickel and diming to death that some complain about in the larger cruises.  We had the morning to explore Sitka, then we were to board one of Allen Marine's small tour ships by noon. 

Sitka marina with cow parsnip or Indian celery in the foreground

Fishing vessels in Sitka marina

A walk along the marina in the light rain eventually led us to the Sheldon Jackson Museum. Sheldon Jackson was a Presbyterian missionary who played a large part in settling the Alaskan Territory by establishing churches and schools and attempting to build relationships between what would someday be Alaska and the US government. (Those who have read Michener's fictional Alaska may remember him as the unusually determined, irritating, marginally qualified zealot missionary character.)  Evidently he was a collector of native artifacts, and established the museum and the local college in his lifetime. 

Remarkable collection of Native artifacts in the Sheldon Jackson Museum

Detail of Native Alaskan regalia

Our further rainy exploration of Sitka took us to Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel for a taste of the other most formative culture in the area.  Father Nicholas gave us an informative lecture about the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, including an introduction to some of the more famous icons of the Virgin Mary: a Theotokos "Not Made by Hands" and "Our Lady of Sitka" to which multiple healings have been attributed.

After a quick look in a few shops it was time to board our small boat (also a part of the Allen Marine Company) for a "Sea Otter and Marine Life Quest," which would basically transport us to the Baranof Dream, our actual cruise ship.  

We got our first glimpses of sea otters on this leg of our journey, but from afar. It was a pretty rainy, foggy, cloudy trip, but it was all new and beautiful. After a few hours of weaving our way between many large and small islands we finally saw our ship waiting for us in the distance.

Drawing closer, we gathered ourselves to transfer to the ship. Our luggage was already on board.  Fortunately the water was very calm, making the short walk in the light rain across the gangway between the two ships rain easy. 

We were all pretty excited to see our cabins. Our suitcases were set out on our bed, ready to unpack into the closet and drawers.

Our cabin was equipped with a sink and vanity, a combination enclosed shower and toilet, queen bed, two chairs and two small bedside and end tables. It had lots of lighting and sufficient outlets for all our gadgets, plenty of towels, toiletries, hair dryer, and even complete sets of rain gear!

The Baranof Dream is a recently refurbished ship that just joined the Alaskan Dream fleet last year, so all the fixtures throughout are new. The cabin walls are wooden beadboard, the floors newly carpeted. Everything from our bathrooms, to the dining room, to the decks was fresh and super clean. 

The "shoilet" combo toilet and shower, with sweet smelling cedar plank flooring.

The "no-knock knot" to be hung outside the door as a do-not-disturb sign.

As soon as we were unpacked we all met up in the "forward lounge" for a ship orientation from Captain and crew. First we were instructed on how to put on our life jackets and what to do in an emergency by our "hotel director" Erik. Then we were welcomed by Stu Vincent, our illustrious caption, who does not usually work on the ships these days. He's now the "Captains' Captain" of Alaskan Dreams, but was covering for an absent captain. Like all the crew, Captain Vincent was always accessible, friendly and generous in his assistance. The ship has an open bridge policy, which means that passengers are welcome any time in the room on the top deck where the boat is driven, except during mooring or emergencies. 

In a short while we were invited to the daily social hour complete with hors d'oeuvres, and then dinner was announced on the intercom in every room. I'll say here for the first but not the last time, that the food was outstanding. We were free to sit wherever we wanted at every meal. One beer or wine was complimentary with dinner. There was always a choice of at least three entres, with burgers, steak or chicken as substitute options. I think we had our first Alaskan Salmon that night.

After dinner we lingered on the various decks watching the twilight slowly fade, silhouetting the mountains, silvering the clouds, and deepening the dark blue waters of the Peril Channel to black.

Finally we wandered off to our cabin and our bed, ending the long first day of our Southeast Alaska adventure. 

Our Arrival in Sitka, Alaska

Our Alaskan adventure actually began in Junction City, Oregon where we dropped off the RV for storage and a bit of minor maintenance. We drove north in a leisurely fashion along the Oregon and Washington coasts, stopping overnight in Rockaway Beach, Oregon; Long Beach, Washington; and Oceanshores, Washington. Then we arrived at our good friends Nick and Cindy's gorgeous home in "downtown" Gig Harbor, where we had two fun days visiting and sailing the beautiful harbor. Many thanks to their friend Captain Ron who took us out on a Thunderbird wooden sailboat (below), and skillfully and patiently guided us through our efforts at handling the different sailing tasks. 

(This week we spent on the cool and watery Oregon and Washington coasts was a perfect acclimation experience for our month in Alaska.)

Sunday morning Nick and Cindy continued their generosity by driving us to the Seattle/Tacoma airport (SeaTac) to catch our plane to Sitka. The flight was easy and uneventful. It was cloudy most of the way until the last minute when we descended into Sitka and got our first glimpses of the mountains and waterways of Southeast Alaska. Sitka is situated on the Pacific edge of the Alaskan panhandle and is one of the popular access points to the Inside Passage from Seattle to Skagway. This area is not accessible by land - only by ship or plane.  We were flying into Sitka to start our cruise of the Inside Passage on the Baranof Dream, a small commercial cruise ship of the Alaskan Dream company. 

The Alaskan Dream team picked us up at the airport and drove us to our lodging for the night in a small vacation rental room at Frank and Gloria's Place. Frank and Gloria run a lovely place with one bedroom and one studio apartment on separate floors of their home. It's like a bed and breakfast, but without the breakfast. 

This beautiful view from Frank and Gloria's was just the first of many we'd be seeing 

of the blue sky and water, and lush green mountains over the next ten days.

We were without transportation for the evening, so we walked along the shore road for about a mile to the closest store to pick up some breakfast food for the next morning.  It rained lightly on us off and on, but we were dressed for it.

For dinner we took the complimentary shuttle to the Channel Club, a steak house with a wide selection of other options, nice salad bar, and excellent service. It was one of the best restaurant meals we've had for awhile and a great way to start our visit to Alaska.

Later, back at Frank and Gloria's we tried to get to sleep despite the ongoing twilight and our excitement about our next day's departure on our Alaskan Dream cruise!