Alaska: Where all good things are wild and free

Alaska

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Alaska Whale

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Cruise restaurant

After a great few days in sunny Vancouver, it was time for a new adventure. On a Friday morning we therefor headed to Canada Place, the cruise ship terminal, to board the Celebrity Millennium. Entering the check-in area we almost turned around and backed out of our very first cruise adventure, because hundreds of old people were waiting for us in long lines (those two don't work well together, trust me). But we forced ourselves to be open-minded, patiently (not) waited in line and ended up in a comfortable room on a recently renovated ship. The lack of a window in the room earned us the Jack Dawson status, but that was ok. There were plenty of opportunities on deck to have a seat with a view. And surprisingly, those seats were always available...That's probably because all day long you have the opportunity to eat, drink, and gamble. Which is what most people were already doing when we arrived. A floating all-inclusive resort. Not usually our idea of a good vacation, but the destination made it all worth it.

At the end of that very sunny Friday, the ship finally started it's journey to the last frontier: Alaska. Our first day was at sea, and cold and grey. Since there was not yet much to see, we had to check out the ship. It had indoor and outdoor pools, a casino, a theatre, several expensive shops, a coffee shop, a restaurant and a buffet cafe. The fact that your hotel room travels with you and that you can never go hungry, is an advantage of this way of travel. But the lack of control over the itinerary was a hard one for us. Most people, however, seemed to have the time of their life. 70s music everywhere, old broadway shows in the theatre and plenty of alcohol. Seeing those 70+ feet get on the dance floor during the silent disco, was the best part of my night.

The next day it was finally time for our very first port of call in Alaska: Icy Strait Point. A 'port' is a big word for a small pier with a couple of buildings, surrounded by nothing but wilderness. The way there, though, was breathtaking. Snow-capped mountains slowly became visible through the fog, and the first humpback whales of the trip waved their tales at us. Every time we got close to land during the cruise, we would see one or two. No expensive whale watching tour needed! A bald eagle was checking us out from his tree next to the pier, the first sighting of many of these impressive birds. We skipped the expensive and touristy zip line and walked around to the main 'town'. It looked liked the The Walking Dead set, abandoned and depressing, not our favorite place to end up one day. It is the definition of peace and quiet, with the emphasis on the last word. But the people living in Icy Strait Point do have incredible views, and a brewery.

After a rough night at sea (still people could eat eggs and bacon for breakfast, ugh) we arrived at the Hubbard Glacier, a 6 mile wide and 400 feet tall wall of blue ice. It was rainy, cold and foggy and when the huge glacier finally came into view, it was first Titanic and then Game of Thrones that crossed my mind. I mean, seriously, white walkers would not have surprised me at that point. No port here, so the captain needed to show us all his skills and brought us up to a third of a mile to the Glacier. Surrounded by ice and strong currents, that was as far as he could go. Like it was no big deal, he then made a couple of 360s (with a cruise ship, mind you!) so everyone could take a photo from their private balconies, or their buffet plates. Unfortunately, also this big ass block of ice is melting due to global warming.

Ruining the earth further, we continued our journey to the next point of call, the capital of Alaska: Juneau.

This is not your typical capital, this is a village only accessible by ship or seaplane, once again surrounded only by wilderness. And that's the beauty of Alaska. Not a lot of buildings, hardly any people, just trees, water, bears and whales. Incredible!

Juneau, however, is not that pretty. More homeless people than I've seen anywhere before (how did they even get there..?), and people just seem drunk all the time. Don't blame them, though, apparently we brought the only day of sunshine of the summer.

There is a cable car up Mount Roberts, with views of the bay, a bus service to the close-by Mendenhall Glacier and a coffeeshop with free wifi (yay).

We were happy to have booked an excursion: the Taku Glacier Lodge & five Glacier flightsee tour. And this was amazing! A little seaplane, or bush plane by the locals, took off from Juneau harbor and within 5 minutes, literally around the corner, 5 breathtaking glaciers came into view. One massive field of ice after the other. In the middle of it all, the pilot landed on a lake near the Taku Lodge, where we had fresh salmon with an unforgettable glacier view in the middle of nowhere. Just the fact that there is so much beauty around the corner from that ugly town is unbelievable. We can't wait to go back there one day and explore more.

The next day we arrived at our last port of call of the trip: Ketchikan. A sleepy town except for the summer months, when the jewelry and bad souvenir shops open for the tourists pouring in from the boats. Their record was seven cruise ships at the same time (jeez). At the pier we booked an excursion to Herring Cove, our last chance to see some bears. On our way there, our guide pointed out a female bald eagle up in a tree. Back home I noticed she had a companion...do you see it?

Herring cove is a sanctuary for local wildlife, especially during the annual salmon run. The nearby salmon hatchery works like a magnet for the local black bears and we didn't have to wait long for one to show up. Quickly followed by another one. Mission accomplished!

On the way back to town we stopped at the local totem pole park, and our guide donned in traditional costume since 'that is what we want to see'. Right. It was very interesting though to know about the meaning of the different totem poles. When the head of an important family dies, they make a pole in which they carve their family crest (an animal), and the way that person died. One got eaten by a whale...

Another highlight of Ketchikan is Dolly's House, where 'both men and salmon came upstream to spawn'. Enough said, time to go.

Our final thing on the Alaska checklist (ok, the only thing) was spotting orca's. And when that morning the captain announced that we would pass one of their favorite spots, we spent the last day at sea on whale watching duty. Passing the beautiful San Juan islands and nearing the Seymour Narrows, chances for wildlife were pretty high. It took a while (freezing limps, strange looks) but we weren't disappointed in the end. A lot of small boats suggested the presence of the first orca of the day. We really had to use our zoom to see it was one, though, so weren't completely satisfied just yet. A little later we got the company of a pod of white-sided dolphins that put on a great show for us. The presence of dolphins, and even a sea lion, should have given us enough warning of the presence of, that's right, another orca! And this one was very close to the boat. We seemed to be the only ones excited about it though. Like those eating, drinking and gambling people see them everyday.

The quote of the trip came from an older lady in the elevator on our very last day: 'you look like you're ready to go outside?! I never thought of that, maybe I should try it sometime...' Ah, you gotta love cruises.