Alaska Cruise Aboard The Cunard Lines Queen Elizabeth

Alaska Inside Passage - Aug 01 - 10 2024

It was a tremendous honour to be invited back aboard the Queen Elizabeth by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Cunard Cruise Lines to give another series of talks. My presence on board is part of the Canadian Geographic Adventures ongoing partnership.   The Queen Elizabeth is a wonderful ship, and it was great to be on board again. Joining me on this voyage was long-time friend, Steve Postill.

Day 01 - 2024 08 01 - Depart Vancouver

Day 1 - Got up at 4 AM to make it to the airport. Once there, I met up with Steve Postill and we flew to Vancouver. The view of the mountains to our south in Washington State was amazing. It was so warm and sunny in Vancouver today, 25 degrees and gorgeous. It was nice to be back on board the Queen Elizabeth as we waved goodbye to Vancouver and set sail just before sunset.   We got oriented the ship and I did my sound check in the theatre in preparation for my upcoming talks.

Day 02 - 2024 08 02 - At Sea

Day 2 - Woke up at 4:00 AM and went out on deck to photograph the crescent moon with Earthshine. Crystal clear out, with no clouds at all. I did my first presentation in the theatre at 10:00 “Exploring Earth’s Extremes”.   Tonight was the formal “Ice White Ball Gala” so we got dressed up for dinner, took some photos in and around the ship’s library, then went to the stage show.

Day 03 - 2024 08 03 - Sitka

Day 3 - This morning I attended an interesting lecture from polar explorer Alan Chambers, one of the other speakers on board.   After lunch, the ship turned in to Sitka Sound. We went ashore and hopped on a boat that took us out to our Kayaking excursion. The weather today was gorgeous. We were SO lucky. The kayaking was good, we saw plenty of sea stars, and some great scenery. The wind really started to whip up towards the end of the paddle, which was fun and challenging. After the kayaking, we got back in the boat and returned to the cruise ship dock where we hopped onto the local shuttle bus that took us downtown. We wandered around for a while, checking out the old Russian church and a few other sights before taking another shuttle bus back to the ship.

Day 04 - 2024 08 04 - Glacier Bay National Park

Day 4 - The day turned out to be incredible with bluebird skies and warm temperatures. It got up to 27C in nearby Juneau, so we must have been pretty close to that. We spent the day cruising around Glacier Bay National Park. Some park rangers came aboard in the morning and provided commentary over the P.A. system throughout the day as we cruised around the glaciers.   We saw 4 major glaciers (Reid, Lamplugh, John’s Hopkins, Margerie), plus the distant Grand Pacific Glacier They opened up the outside forward observations areas on deck 5 & 6, and that’s where I spent most of my day. Sunburn was a serious concern as there was SO much sun. I got lots of glacier shots, and was even pretty lucky to get some sea bird shots with the Margerie Glacier in the background.   We eventually turned around and headed back south. The weather was so nice, we spent some time sitting by the pool.

Day 05 - 2024 08 05 - Juneau

Day 5 - We grabbed breakfast and went ashore to hop on the bus to Mendenhall Glacier. The weather today was yet again, amazing. Blue sky and warm, 25C. We arrived at Tongas National Forest and started hiking to the glacier when we ran into Lee, one of the other cruise guests. He was drying off his feet. Apparently, there was rising water along the trail to Nuggets Falls. We diverted to head there first, in case the water kept rising. There was a warning sign for “Severe flooding & hypothermic water on trail”. We didn't get far before we encountered a little bit of water on the trail. We took off our shoes and socks and easily walked through it. Shortly afterwards, we ran into another area of flooding. I waded in and got up to my knees in very frigid water. I couldn't see the trail conditions around the corner, so I figured it was best to turn back. We ran into a ranger and she said that they had had a glacial outburst the day before, and the water was still rising, expecting to crest 6-8 feet higher!   We back tracked to the main trail and went to the main glacier viewpoint where we saw more evidence of the flooding. On the way back, the rangers were literally just closing the waterfall trail. There has been a LOT of rain over the past 3 weeks, and the ice dam on the glacier that holds back a lot of water broke, creating a glacial outburst flood (Jökulhlaup). Apparently, these happen here almost every year, but this one (like last year) seems to be particularly bad. I'm glad I got to experience at least a little taste of one.   We still had some time, so we waked along some of the other trails. Some were blocked by floodwaters, some were closed for bear activity.   The bus dropped us off back in downtown Juneau where we walked around the city for a while.

Day 06 - 2024 08 06 - Tracy Arm Fjord

Day 6 - This was my first time at Tracy Arm Fjord. I spent much of the day watching the scenery. There were quite a few small icebergs in the fjord, but we never got a close look at the glacier that was making them. Too much ice I suppose. The fjord is a narrow one with steep granite cliffs. Very cool.   The weather remained amazing. Clear skies, a bit cooler than the previous days, but still stunning. Then, before dinner, I spotted a bank of fog along the shore, and very quickly we were overtaken by the thick fog that completely obscured visibility. The fog stuck around throughout the evening.

Day 07 - 2024 08 07 - Ketchikan

Day 7 - The fog was still thick this morning, like pea soup, as we pulled in to town the fog blocked our view as a seal or sea lion swam around, surrounded by seagulls. According to the forecast, it was going to clear up and give us clear skies and warm temperatures... And it did. Ketchikan gets about 12 FEET of rain each year, but not today.   We had no fixed plans for the day, other than walking around. Once ashore, it immediately cleared up, and got really nice. We decided to check out the lumberjack show. They did really good job of working the crowd with feats of strength and talent, mixed with comedy. They did axe throwing, horizontal and vertical axe chopping, pole climb, log rolling and more. It was better than I expected it to be.   After that we walked around through Creek Street where the old brothels used to be. In the creek there were lots of salmon swimming in to spawn. At the fish ladder area we saw quite a few salmon jumping and struggling to get up the rapids. There were also quite a few dead ones who had already spawned.

Day 08 - 2024 08 08 - At Sea

Day 8 - Today was an "at sea" day, which meant that I was scheduled for my second talk today. I really love the Royal Court Theatre Here on the Queen Elizabeth. It is gorgeous, and the sound in here is great too. Tonight was also the second of the 2 formal dress evenings on board.

Day 09 - 2024 08 09 - Victoria, B.C.

Day 9 - Back in Canada. Today we had the entire day in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. It was yet another gorgeous day, so we did a LOT of walking. We walked from the cruise ship terminal to Fisherman's Wharf, then continued downtown to the provincial capital, then north up to West Vic, then back east into Chinatown, where we checked out the famously narrow Fan Tan Alley. From there, we continued walking all the way back to the ship.

Day 10 - 2024 08 10 - Vancouver, B.C.

Day 10 - Off the ship, and back to the airport today to fly back home. It's been a great pleasure to be back aboard the Queen Elizabeth. Who knows, I might be back again next year.

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