My Alaska Trip (04 Aug - 18 Aug)

Day 4 (07 August 2005)

Today is also one of the highlights of the cruise journey. Our ship arrived at the beautiful town of Juneau - the capital city of Alaska at 8am. We woke up at 7:30am and quickly washed up and rush to the deck to see the ship approaching the port of the city - an activity that Agnes likes to do.

Port of Juneau

After having our breakfast at the buffet area at level 10, we went back to our room to pack some stuff for our shore excusion. We have signed up for a "Mendenhall Glacier, Whale watching and Orca Point Lodge" shore excursion. The bus was waiting for us beside the ship on the port. We boarded the bus and know that the first stop will be Mendenhall Glacier. The bus stopped after 20 mins for us to take some pictures of the glacier. This is a perfect place to take pictures of the glacier from a distance.

Next, we proceed to board the smaller ship for our whale watching cruise. While cruising, we were told to look out for wildlife in particular seals, bald eagles and of course whales - as that's what we came for. It is very cold when the ship starts cruising and the wind chill factor is about 4 degrees. You can feel your cheek turns numb. After about 20 mins of cruising, we entered this area which feels like the bermuda triangle as the area is surrounded by a ring of fog. It is quite exciting for us as this is the first time we encountered such things. After we have cleared the ring of fog, our ship slows down and we are all busy looking around for whales. After some anxious waiting, we finally saw them. One of them even flip their tails! But we did not see them jumping out of the water, which is suppose to be spectacular. The fun part of whale watching is that whenever someon spotted something that looks like whale and shouted "whale", you will see the the whole group of people on the opposite side of the deck rushing to the same side of the deck where the "whale" was spotted. It was almost a spontaneous reaction.

A documentary that we saw later on TV tell us that Alaska is the place where the mother will bring and teach the child how to hunt for food. The best place to see whales is Hawaii as that is the place where they mate. So for the male whale to attract the attention of the female, they have to do all sorts of acrobatic stuff including jumping out the water. We also saw some killer whales - a whole family of three. We were told that we were lucky to see them as it is not a usual sight. We also saw lazy seals sun-tanning on the edge of an small island and bald eagles. Bald eagles are hard to spot. If you see a white dot connected to a brown oval shape amongst a span of trees, high chance that they are bald eagle.

Ring of Fog

Seals sun-tanning on the island

Bald Eagles

Killer Whales

The Humpback Whale

After we have seen our whales, we procced to Orca Lodge to have our lunch. We had wild salmon for lunch. Now this is something that I will never forget. The salmon is bake and it taste so good. Nothing like the cooked salmon that we get in Singapore. It has a nice aroma and sweet taste to it. We were told that the salmon that we ate belongs to the Sock-eyed Salmon - the second best breed of salmon in the world. The best is King Salmon. There are altogether 5 types of salmon. I think what we usually eat in Singapore are the pink salmon - the lowest grade and not breed in captivity.

The ship that we took for whale watching

Orca Point Lodge

My unforgettable Salmon

After our lunch, we proceed to the Mendenhall glacier. When we reached the glacier, the temperature was like 10 degrees with a wind chill factor or 6 degrees. We immediately wrapped ourselves like a dumpling with all our warm clothing.

After we are done at the glacier, we proceed back to the town in coach. When we reached the town, it was already 5:30pm. Sun sets at 10:30pm in Juneau. So we still have time to shop. The ship sets sail at 9:30pm. So we decided to sacrifice our dinner on the cruise which starts at 6:30pm. Anyway it is formal attire tonight so I am not really in favour of going through all the trouble of wearing a suit just for a meal. So we went shopping in Juneau. One thing to note is that the architecture of the buildings in the town is very western and colourful. Souvenirs here are more expensive as there are taxes now.

Town of Juneau

7:40pm and still so bright

Anti-Bear Dust Bin

Time flies and soon it is 8:30pm and we return to the cruise ship reluctantly. Had a quick dinner at the buffet counters at level 10 then went to bed early as we had a very exciting yet long day.

My Alaska Trip 04 Aug - 18 Aug 2005

Day 3 (06 Aug 2005)

We woke up about 9am this morning. After washing up, we proceed to the breakfast buffet located on the 10th level. This is also where we will have our lunch for the rest of our cruise. Another alternative is to have our breakfast at the Cosmopolitan Restaurant. But the restaurant only serve breakfast from 7am to 9am. And their breakfast comes in sets. We prefer the breakfast counters as we can have lots of variety.

Usually, I will have scrambled egg, sausages, mashed potatoes and orange juice. Agnes will have cereal, waffles and omlette. We like the omlette because you can choose your own ingredients to be put into the omlette. Ham, bacon, spinach and mushroom are our staple when it comes to customizing our omlette. We also like the pizza as it is thin crust with lots of ingredients. You can also make your own pizza and the attendents will bake it for you. So here we are sitting by the windows watching the scenaries and having our breakfast while the ship is cruising. Everything is very relax. If you are on Concierge class, physically challenged or senior citizens, there will be a butler assigned to take care of you when u step into the dining area. We are one of the only five asian families there. Most of the guest on board the cruise are senior citizens. Some can be as old as 70 years old but they are still fit and strong to move around without assistant. Really make one wonder how they can do that with all the oily and high calories american food they are taking for the whole of their life probably.

While we were having breakfast, the captain announced that we will be reaching the Hubbard Glacier at 2:30pm. After the announcement, there was a lot of commotion as the glacier is one of the major attraction of Alaska cruise. After breakfast, we went to the deck to take some pictures and wait for the ship to be near Hubbard Glacier. At about 11:45am, we can see mountain ranges with snow capped peak on both side of the ship. We also have visual contact with the Hubbard Glacier in front of us. We went back to our room to exchange our windbreaker with thicker clothing as the temperature is falling as we approach nearer to the glacier.

By 12:20pm, lots of people are gathering at the front deck of the ship (where u do the titanic thingy) armed with still or video cameras. For us, I chose to go for lunch at the pool side counter since there are less people there. Everyone is on the deck waiting eagerly for the glacier. We had clam chowder, a cheese burger each with fries and fruit punch. The patty of the cheese burger is as thick as all the patties in our big mac added together. So it is very tasty.

At 12:50pm, we finished our lunch and went to deck for the glacier. We are almost reaching the glacier. at 1:15pm, our ship is right in front of the glacier - 200 metres away. All of us started snapping pictures of the glacier. As we look at the glacier, we heard lots of thunder. The narrator said that this thunder-like sound is caused by blocks of glacier ice melted and falls into the sea. The narrator also said that global warming is causing the glaciers to melt rapidly. The Hubbard Glacier used to be much taller but lots of it melted. Now it is about 3 storeys tall. Glaciers are formed when water cascades down from the mountain and the cold temperature causes it to freeze into ice blocks. And one thing to note is that glacier ice is blue not white like the ice cubes we see in our fridge. This is due to the molecular structure difference between the two. The narrator also says that the weather allowed the ship to be only 200 metres close to the glacier which is the nearest for the past 18 years. So we are considered very lucky.

The ship left the glacier at about 4:30pm and cruise south towards our first port of call - Juneau. Juneau is also the capital of Alaska. We went back to our room to take a nap and woke up in time to dress for dinner. We did not go to the Cosmopolitan restaurant as we woke up at 8pm which is not in time for it. We went to have pasta and pizza at the buffet area at level 10. After our dinner, we did not went for the performance as we were already late. So we went to walk around and went to the deck to experience the cold winds at night. After that, we went back to our room and started packing our haversacks for our excursions tomorrow when we reach Juneau.

Approaching Hubbard Glacier










THE HUBBARD GLACIER




Best way to see a glacier is by Helicopter but it cost US$ 650 per pax. Cannot afford.

Glacier ice blocks falling into the water.