Sailing to Vancouver.

Our last day at sea was spent leisurely sailing south toward Vancouver.  This is quite slow, because the inside passage between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island is at times very narrow.  But we did not mind at all, because it is also very pretty.

We also took advantage of this lazy day to enjoy all the ship has to offer.

 I did a 4 miles walk on the "running deck", that's 40 laps....  it would be boring if it were inside, but with the sea breeze, and the changing landscape, it's very pleasant.  Also, it offers the extra challenge of having to zig-zag though several groups of women, walking in full make up and wearing Hermes scarfs....  There is a certain "cruise look" that I just did not master......

We also finally took advantage of the very high level of entertainment on the ship:  we had gone to only one evening show - an excellent "cirque du Soleil" type of thing - really high level.  But after all the day's adventures (and the freely pouring wine at dinner), we had a hard time staying up past 10 most evenings.....  But this was worth it - this pianist, named Linda Gentile- was truly amazing!

 And then, we had our last dinner on the ship -

 which I had planned on documenting course by course, but....  did I mention the free flowing wine?

By evening, we started seeing signs of civilization as we floated south - like this entire house being pulled by a tug boat- probably to be deposited as a hunting or fishing cabin somewhere along the coast.

And little towns on the coast of Vancouver island.

At some point in the afternoon, a pod of dolphins swan right next to us, jumping as if to wave at us.  I did not have a camera, nor the time to shoot a picture, but was amazed to remember that on our last day from Antarctica, the same thing happened!  maybe these dolphins are following us?
By morning, we arrived in Vancouver, and then off we were back to the east coast.  We don't know where our next adventures will take us next - maybe the Galapagos? or Tahiti?

Our last stop in Alaska- Ketchikan.

It rains a lot it Ketchikan:  between 10 and 15 feet per year, about 95% of the time.  So we feel very lucky that we had such a beautiful day for our last stop in Alaska.  As we sailed into town, a sun shower created a rainbow on the water, as if to welcome us….   

 

 We could not dock the boat and instead had to and had to go to shore by tender (small boats), because the dock had been damaged last week by one of the huge cruise ship ramming into it in 45 miles/hour winds (as I said, we lucked out with the weather!).

 The island of Ketchikan has 14,000 inhabitants, most of which live in the town.  After the tiny towns we has seen, this looks like a  real city!  It even has a Mc Donald and a Safeway!  

It is a city carved from the rock that is the island.  There is no land at all on Ketchichan- it’s all rock.

 While it is covered by a lush forest, the tree are growing on moss and lichen and the roots are unstable- one often sees entire hill sides where all trees have fallen down.  That means that everything on the island has to be brought by ship – every piece of food, every consumer item, all construction material, etc….

 Some of the stair cases that link apartments are named streets, maintained by the town as any other street.  Our driver mentioned that if you use GPS for driving directions, it will sometimes tell you to turn up one of these.....

 

 What makes it worth bringing all of this stuff to this remote island is salmon.  Salmon built Ketchikan and is still its prime industry.   (I had to buy some smoked sockeye- I think it's the law.....).

  The second one is now tourism, which has replaced – literally – the brothels:  All of the little houses  in the infamous Creek street are now touristy boutiques- although very nice ones. 

In the afternoon, we took a sea plane to go to the Misty Fjord National Monument, at the edge of the Tsongass national forest.  What an amazing experience that was! 

 The plane itself was almost exactly my age- which I did not realize until we were back on solid ground....  note the date on the plaque- Sept 18th, 1957!  (the pilot said that they have to keep using them because no one manufactures this type of sea plane anymore, with very wide wings, enabling it to take off at 55miles/hour- if your car had wings like that, it would take off too!).   

I lucked out and got to play co-pilot......

We landed at the end of one of the fjords and got to frolic on the plane floats – carefully, because the water is cold (although I was tempted…..).  The entire thing was magical!

Of course we got to see some more magnificent landscapes on the way, including this water fall, 

and this glacier cirque.   

We got very close to the rocks that at some point go straight up 3000 feet from the sea, making the vertical striations left by the glacier very clear.  

On the way back to town, we noted that indeed, bald eagles are the “Alaskan Pidgeon”:  They sit in bunches in the trees by the electrical wires everywhere…..  

 We also were careful to note where the tsunami evacuation routes were, but I’m happy to report that we did not have to use them (this is a very active part of the “ring of fire” that surrounds the pacific ocean.

We left Ketchikan in glorious sunshine, sailing all day tomorrow toward Vancouver, were we will rejoin reality….

Since we are now south enough, the sun sets early enough that we stayed up for it - it was worth it!

 

Ice, gold and brothels

 Skagway way is a very small town of 800 permanent inhabitants (about 2000 in the summer), whose history and architecture were defined by 3 major forces: ice, gold, and brothels.  Ice defined it’s geography.  It is on the southeast coast of Alaska, surrounded by mountains, glaciers and ice field, at the tip of a long Fjord.  It is one of only 2 “cities” in Southeast Alaska that is reachable by road – you could drive there from New York (Or at least from White Horse- the nearest largish city – in the Yukon territory of Canada).  The other city reachable by road is Haines, which is even smaller.  Still, most goods come by ship, which explains why a gallon of milk costs about $7.

Joe and I decided to go and explore this side of Skagway history by taking another helicopter ride (we really like helicopter rides….) to the Meade glacier.  This time, the ride itself was not the main attraction (although it was very cool and beautiful),

 but rather the idea was to land on the glacier and spend some time exploring its features.  Along the ride, we saw a striking instance of how much glaciers are receding:  the horizontal line across the face of the mountain is where it use to be less than 1 century ago.....

Glaciers are constantly moving and changing, grinding rocks along the way.  Here is Joe taking pictures of the rocks- He took a lot of them, while I took a few rocks....

  There are some VERY deep crevasses where water is melting:  we threw stones in them and it took up to 3 seconds for them to reach the bottom.  It is a bit scary to look down.

 (these are called "moulin" for the French word that means "mill" - i suppose because that is where the glacier is "milling" the rocks.)

  Where the water is melting, we got a good view of the deep blue of the glacier ice, and of the sediment it carries.  

 

 On the moraine, we saw the variety of rocks that are grounded by the glacier as it comes down, including this bright white marble.

On the way back, we got a nice view of our boat at the end of the Fjord.  

 

 We then walked through the pretty town.  It is really touristy – basically all jewelry stores, but the architecture dates from the early 1900 and has been nicely preserved, and displays nicely for us  the 2 other forces that defined Skaway:  gold and brothels.  Gold of course brought men seeking their fortunes.  

Which, inevitably brought brothels….

 Gold also brought the train station, which links Skagway to White Horse in Canada- over the White pass.  It is supposed to be a lovely ride, but we did not have time to experience it.

 Instead, around 5pm, we were back on the boat, enjoying the scenery from a different point of view…… 

As we floated along the Lynn fjord, we got a good view of a hanging glacier (unlike the tidal and lake glaciers we had seen so far),

and of one of the prettiest light houses that dot the fjords.  This was was automated in 1973, which means that until then, someone lived there….  Before internet and satellite TV….  Hard to imagine.

We are now on our way to our last stop before Vancouver – Katchikan – whose history was defined not by gold and brothles, but by salmon and brothels.