Part 7 - Alaskan Cruise "Zaandam" Skagway, Glacier Bay, Seward

Thursday 16 May 2013

Skagway  We boarded the White Pass Yukon Train that took us 2,865 feet up the mountains to the summit of the White Pass.  We crossed sky-high trestle bridges, went through 2 tunnels and saw cascading waterfalls and spectacular scenery.   We also saw a couple of huge brown bears.

Back to the town of Skagway, we wandered along the main boardwalk lined with old buildings beautifully renovated - reminiscent of the Klondike Gold Rush days.  There were the usual gold jewellery and fur shops and an interesting place that sold all kinds of knives.  We also visited a small museum that displayed scrimshaw (carving) on whale bones.  On the way back to the ship we had some coffee and muffins from a strange little cafe called "Bites on Boardwalk" run by a couple of guys from Mississippi - as they had made their $$ target for the day, they started dancing around their shop.  It is always the people one meets along the way that makes the difference to a place.

Friday 17 May 2013 Cruising Glacier Bay

What a spectacular day.  The ship sailed up to the Canadian border and moored right in front of the Margerie Glacier (about 2 miles wide).  We were all on deck in our warmest jackets and listened as the glacier creaked and groaned and as it carved, a huge cheer would go up from the crowd!  A very memorable day. As the ship turned round and sailed out of the bay we saw a few humpback whales - even a tail!

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The pilot leaves the ship.

Saturday 18 May 2013

We disembarked off the Zaandam in Seward (pronounced "sewerd").  

We met Scott, our Tour Director for the land portion of our trip and were taken by bus to the Windsong Lodge just outside of Seward.  Peter and I then caught a shuttle bus back into town and spent the rest of the day exploring - the town is located on Resurrection Bay, named by the Russians in the early days and is surrounded by snow-capped mountains.  Marathon Mountain overlooks the town where a marathon race takes place every year on the 4 July - the record is 43 minutes 20 seconds to run up and down the mountain!  We visited the Sea Life Centre that was set up after the Exxon Oil Spill that occurred in 1989.  We were told about the effect the disaster is still having on the wild life in the area.  We also discovered a small museum tucked away and saw photos of the earthquake and tsunami of 1964 that nearly wiped the town off the map.

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We were so pleased to be on land that we went for a big walk along the shore around the bay passing all the RV's plugged into electricity outlets.  The weather was perfect - clear blue skies - around 10 degrees F.  We had dinner at Ray's Seafood Restaurant overlooking the boat harbor - delicious Alaskan sockeyed salmon.  Later we caught the shuttle back to the Lodge and attempted to sleep - 22 hours of sunshine made this rather difficult!

Goodbye Zaandam!