Cruising the Inside Passage

The last week of June and the first week of July we spent in Alaska cruising, what's referred to as, The Inside Passage.

The shot below shows the area we were in. We started in Sitka and ended in Ketchikan. The first week ended in Juneau. The dotted lines do not represent our trip.

The ship was the Wilderness Explorer, the main image of this blog, ...a true garbage scow!

The cruise was with a company called UnCruise and the company is aptly named..the cruise was nothing like any other cruise that we've taken in the past few years...except the cruise we took with this same company in the Sea of Cortez this past spring. We actually had this cruise booked before the Sea of Cortez cruise and after the first one we thought seriously about canceling this one but in the end we went through with it. We probably won't do another UnCruise cruise but as they say..."never say never".

What didn't we like about the first one? The meals were mediocre, only three choices at each meal; a meat, a fish and a vegetable dish. The expedition staff (in my opinion) were mostly morons (sorry guys and gals), the ship was crappy but actually better than this one.

What didn't we like about this one? The rooms were small (we had a penthouse on the first one compared to this latest one), the public spaces are small - on the first trip at least there was a place for every person to sit in the lounge - not so on this ship. Many time late comers would have to stand while families with young children ignored them - bastards! Terri and I often gave up our seats to older people. Hopefully when we get that old we'll have the good sense not to go on these types of trips any more.

Getting to Alaska is tricky. No direct flights from Kelowna. Just about no direct flights anywhere from Kelowna and yet its an "international" airport - Right! Anyway we flew Alaska Airlines to Seattle and then north from Seattle to Alaska.

I wonder who the guys is whose face is on every Alaska Airlines plane. I wonder if they gave him some money to use his face. Maybe just a bunch of fish and frozen seal meat.

And look at this putz - couldn't even put his cigar away during the flight. Probably listening to The Monkees greatest hits too!

Our destination was Sitka - that's where the cruise started from but we had to stop in Ketchikan - where the cruise would end in two weeks to drop off some folks and pick up some new folks. Only a few minutes and away we'll go.

Well it didn't work that way: first the pilot says "Folks there's going to be a bit of a delay - there's something dripping from the plane". Then a few minutes later he says "Folks, maybe you want to go in to the terminal while we figure out what is dripping". He also says "we're bringing a mechanic in on the next ferry (if you refer to the map above you'll see Ketchikan is on an island) and hopefully he can fix the problem".

So that's what we do. And guess what there is to do in the terminal..nada..except have a drink (or two).

Anyway, after an hour or so and a couple drinks and after going outside for some fresh air we're wandering around the pukey little terminal and we hear an announcement over the intercom- "Folks the plane you came in on isn't going anywhere tonight. We've got another plane coming in an hour that will get you on your way....there's 60 seats available so go downstairs and get signed up".

Luckily I heard the announcement and we rushed right down there and got seats on that plane. There were about 140 people on the plane we came in on that didn't get seats - I don't know what happened to them. Don't care either. Listen up! Pay fucking attention! That's the lesson here.

So we got to Sitka at about 1:00 AM. Luckily our hotel kept our reservation. And luckily the guy at the desk was able to go into a locked room and get me a beer. And he wouldn't even take any money for it. I like these Alaskans!

So the we had part of a day in Sitka before catching the ship.

Terri makes a furry friend as she usually does.

Fishing is a big industry in Sitka and the salmon season is going to open in a few days.

The sky is overcast but the scenery is still fantastic.

Just out of town is the Alaska Raptor Center. Raptors are birds of prey: eagles, owls, hawks, etc. and injured birds are brought here for healing and rehabilitation.

And yes, that is a freshly dead and recently eviscerated rodent next to the owl.

A young bald eagle.

And mature bald eagles

One of the staff with a white snowy owl.

A different breed of owl kept out doors.

A close up. He's a real beauty!

After the Raptor Center a walk through a park.

And finally we get to the ship.

This is the first 6:00 PM meeting - every day they had a "happy hour" at 5:30 which is kind of stupid because all the booze is included in the price of the cruise but I guess it's intended to get everyone into the lounge to hear what we're going to do tomorrow. That's the captain in the middle of the photo and you can see that there are many people who have no place to sit. What a fucking joke!

So what would happen is the captain would say a little bit and then the cruise director, Dan, who can be seen lurking behind the gal in the purple puffy coat, by the bar, at the left side of the photo (her name was Beverly by the way) would come out and tell us what activities were offered tomorrow. So it would be hiking, bush whacking, kayaking, skiffing (riding round in a rubber boat). There was one day each week where snorkeling was offered at a small extra cost. I passed.

It's kind of funny looking at the above pic...they all looked like goofy fuckers the first day but once we got to know them they're all good, normal folks....just goofy looking.

This is the map of the first week. We start in Sitka which is at the very bottom of the map and then proceed north.

And this is the map of the second week. Saturday morning we're in Juneau and heading south for the remainder of the week.

Normally I organize these blogs by the day. This time I'm going to organize it by the various activities as shown below. And in alphabetical order just to make things easy.

Animals
Bush Whacking
Hiking
Kayaking
People
Scenery
Ship
Sunsets
Towns we visited

And the last two days we spent in Seattle.

THAT'S IT