Renew Your Mind

Day 8:

The weather in Sitka was also sunny and clear. This was the only port where we had to tender (meaning the boat anchored and we took a smaller boat to shore). Since we didn’t have any excursions planned, we took our time and left the ship around 9:45am. The boat arrived at 8:00am so we tried to wait for the rush to end. I don’t think it helped much because the boat was pretty packed. The seats were not made for taller people as I couldn’t sit straight otherwise my knees would be in my chest. The ride to shore was about 10 minutes. We sat in the lower deck on our way to Sitka and on top on the way back so we could enjoy the scenery and so I could take some unobstructed pictures of the surroundings and of the Infinity. Sitka is a very small town and there isn’t a whole lot of shopping to be had like there was in Juneau and Ketichikan. Luckily for us, we weren’t planning on buying much else. The only thing we ended up buying was some locally made fudge and it was quite good. We took a tour of the town on our own and eventually paid 10 dollars to take a van to the Raptor Center. I wasn’t sure if it was walkable but after taking the van I was glad we didn’t walk. The raptor center was smaller than I expected but the staff there was friendly. It cost $12 a person so it wasn’t cheap for it was but I think it is for a good cause. We probably spent 45 minutes there and saw everything there was to see. We were given the full tour by the staff and were introduced to each of the birds they currently housed. The had several bald eagles, a falcon, some owls and various other birds. We also took a short hike down a trail at the back of the center. There were signs to warn us about bears, and my wife got a bit freaked. I kept trying to convince her to keep going but she eventually put her foot down. Luckily for me, another (older) couple was taking the same hike and I told my wife that if a bear came I’m sure we could outrun the older couple so she gave in. At the end of the trail was a river where we saw lots of salmon. Unfortunately, we also saw a lot of dead salmon on the sides of the river and it smelled really, really bad. When the van came back to pick us up, we asked to be dropped off at the National Park where we saw some totem poles and did some more hiking. We didn’t see anything particularly interesting but it’s always nice to enjoy nature and some peace and quiet. We then walked back to the dock and took the tender back to enjoy what was left of our vacation. That was Sitka in a nutshell. Not particularly exciting. That evening was our last formal night and I had the Lobster. There was also the Grand Buffet at Midnight which was not to be missed. It is an amazing display of culinary art that I was able to photograph and later enjoy. Well actually, I just took pictures… I was too full from dinner to eat more food. Imagine that.

Day 7:

We arrived in Juneau at 8:00am. We had some time before our 9:30 departure for our whale watching excursion so we stoped by a few shops. The Juneau T-Shirt store was blowing everything out at 50% off and they had pretty much every cheap sovenier you would want. I bought a few t-shirts for the folks back home and we headed to the Orca Enterprises office. The office was located right across the street from where the Infinity docked so it was easy to find. After checking in we were loaded into a bus. The driver was very friendly and talked us through our surroundings and gave us a glimpse of what it was like to live in Juneau since he was born and raised in there. We passed the Mendenhall glacier on our way and then our driver stopped in the middle of the road (Across from the Safeway). We could all tell he was really nervous when he told us the bus broke down and he called the main office to get someone to pick us up. It was more funny than anything else becauase our driver was so embarassed. At least the bus didn’t stall because someone forgot to get gas. We waited for 10-15 minutes for another bus to come and then we made our way to the boat. The boat was purple and had an observation area on the top for up to 6 people. Unfortunately, the boat was full so there wasn’t much room to move around. The view from the inside of the boat was nice (windows all around) but the windows got in the way if you were trying to take pictures. I tried to stay in the back of the boat so my view would be unobstructed. We probably spent half an hour driving around looking for whales. We were told they saw Orcas the previous day so it was unlikely that we would see them again. I was quite disappointed when I heard that . I began to get a little worried when Captain Larry would stop to show us seals sun bathing on the buoys, but eventually we saw some humpbacks. The humbacks were not as active as they were when we saw them in Hawaii. We only were able to see their backs come out of the water and the tails when they dived. In Hawaii, we saw them jump out of the water which was incredible. One of the whales swam within 15 feet of our boat. I have never been that close to an animal that size. I was able to get a picture of it but I missed getting its tail. We also saw a few bald eagles and even saw an eagle swoop down and grap a fish out of the water. It was exciting to see it happen right before your eyes rather than on a national geographic special. The lanscapes were fantastic and I took seveal photographs of the scenery when I was up on the observation area. They served us some snacks. They had grapes, cheese, crackers, capri suns and it wouldn’t be Alaska if they didn’t serve smoked salmon. This was a nice excursion but I think I enjoyed kayaking more. The bus ride back to the main office was thankfully uneventful and we spent the rest of our time walking around town. We stopped by the Red Dog Saloon, but didn’t venture in as my wife’s sister was underage. None of the towns in Alaska are very big so we finished our shopping in about two hours. Also, be prepared to see a lot of the same stores from port to port. There are many jewlery stores at all the ports and you’ll see a lot of Northern Lights Topaz and Tanzanite so do your research before going if you are planning on buying jewlery. One interesting tidbit I learned from our bus driver was that the cruise ship companies own many of the stores in the ports. Many of the stores are only open during the cruise season and we talked to many store workers who were only there for the summer. Now I know why Celebrity was “recommending” certain stores and providing selective maps of each port. I wanted to visit Mendenhall but my wife was getting tired so we headed back to our boat early to relax and get ready for dinner. Our ship didn’t leave until 10:00pm so we could have stayed in Juneau much longer if we had wanted to. I liked that our port times gave us that flexibility. I couldn’t believe that my vacation was almost over.

Day 6:

We slept until 9:00am the next day as I was a bit sore from kayaking. We did some more exploring on the ship and prepared for the Hubbard Glacier sighting. The weather was glorious. It was bright, sunny and absolutely clear. We were told that the crew only sees weather like this a couple times a season. Based on our experience so far, we found that most of the activities on the ship start a little late. For example, the doors for dinner (we had the main seating) never opened until 6:05pm so there was no advantage to showing up early or even on time. Unfortunalty, the ice carving demonstration was the one activity that did start on time. We arrived about 5 minutes late to find that it was already done. Apparently it only takes 5 minutes to turn a block of ice into the head of a horse. I took a few pictures of the finished product and proceeded to walk around the 11th deck to enjoy the scenery. Everyone started to pick out their spots at around 1:00pm and it got quite crowded. The front of the ship on the 12th and 13th decks were the most crowded. I didn’t like the views from there because there was glass in the way on the 12th deck and on the 13th deck was to far away unless you had a high powered lens. For this reason I parked myself in the middle of the ship on the right side. Luckily, this was the side that faced the glacier first. The Celebrity staff started selling hot chocolate in a souvenir cups for $8.95. My wife eventually gave in, as it was cold and windy. When we arrived in the bay, the ship pulled in pretty close the Hubbard Glacier and the naturalist began to tell us some facts about the glacier. She also pointed out where she thought some calving events would happen and that they should happen while we were there. We were not disappointed. We probably saw 8-10 significant calving events and 2 that were particularly huge. I had a perfect vantage point for one of them and was able to capture spectacular pictures of the event as it progressed. When the ship started to turn to the other side I headed down from the 11th deck to the 8th floor where my wife’s parents had a balcony. It was nice to hang out there as there were no crowds and we were still able to hear the naturalist on the television. The only problem was the people smoking a couple balconies over. When the ship started to turn again I headed down to the 4th deck. One of the crew members recommended viewing from down there and I believe it was much better than the viewing from the 11th deck. From the 4th deck, the glacier is closest to eye level which gives a better perspective of the size of the glacier. The 4th deck wasn’t very crowded which allowed for great viewing. It was on the 4th deck that I was able to get my great photographs of the calving. Also, when the ship turned again, it was easy to walk across to the other side of the ship (which wasn’t crowded) and continue to get a great view of the glacier. The glacier really does have blue ice which really makes it pretty. I forgot to mention that on the 11th deck you’ll find the ever present Celebrity photographers there to take your picture. Now about the “Digital Processing” that I referred to earlier. I noticed that when the pictures were developed and displayed in the gallery on the 4th floor, the blues were way overdone. I think they increase the blues on all the pictures to make the pictures more vivid and striking. It’s a cheap trick if you ask me and the pictures looked fake when compared to the real thing. Anyway, the ship did make one more turn before leaving so I was able to walk across the ship one last time for my final viewing before the ship began to pull away from the Hubbard Glacier. I then went up to the 11th deck which was empty because at the ship was leaving a took more scenic pictures. There is another glacier to the left (when facing the Hubbard Glacier) that has black stripes. I also saw a lot of seals sun bathing on the ice that had broken off the glacier. This was quite a memorable day and an experience I will never forget. I think I had a rack of lamb for dinner that night. It was delicious. I miss all the good food.