Uncruise: Glaciers & Whales

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Uncruise Glaciers and Whales

July 8

We met up with Em’s mom and sister and we hung out around the waterfront for a couple of hours. We got lunch at a lunch wagon serving pork and chicken near the huge cruise ships that were in port. We had fun noting the size difference between the Norwegian Cruise Line massive cruise ships and our small Uncruise ship not too far away.

At 4:30 we boarded the Safari Endeavor ship to embark on our 7 night “Alaska’s Glaciers and Whales” tour. The ship holds 88 passengers, but on this cruise, we learned there were just 56 passengers. We chose Uncruise because we wanted a more intimate and personal experience than large cruise lines offer, and we wanted a nimbler ship for navigating glaciers and chasing whales. We booked a Captains Cabin, which was an intermediate level room. This was on the second floor with no exterior pathway past our room, which meant nobody would be walking in front of our window, providing privacy, and an unfettered view of the water through a large window.  The ship was small so it didn’t take long to get anywhere, but our room was down the hall from the lounge.

Once settled and unpacked we headed to the lounge for the scheduled orientation and Happy Hour (which they had every night at 5:00 p.m., just before dinner). We learned about the excursions, the sign-up process, and other things, met some of the key staff, and enjoyed a drink before departure.

Then on to dinner. Dinner was over-the-top elegant (not the atmosphere or dress-code, rather the food itself). This was indicative of the food the entire cruise. Excellent food, variety of choices, and served by fun, indulging waitstaff. The food was so rich and fancy that by day 3 I was ordering peanut butter & jelly and mac & cheese for lunch, and I would skip the formal breakfast for the earlier offered Continental breakfast in the lounge (cereal and fruit). Staff was always accommodating regarding food. Drinks were included, which meant bottles of wine as desired, as long as more than one person at the table was drinking from it.

Em and her mom and sister and I decided we would not always sit together at meals. Rather, we would split up so we could all meet different people every day. We all ended up meeting pretty much everybody on the ship. The closest pals we made were a couple from England, Ian and Kay. They were two extremely nice, fun-loving, and intelligent people. All four of us really enjoyed their company. There was a good mix of people on the ship. Most people were older than 40 but there were a couple of families with kids, a couple of teens, and a few college age kids with their families.

After dinner we walked around the ship to get familiar with it. Then the captain notified people that there was a bear on the shore feasting on a dead whale.  Turns out, it was the same dead whale we saw from the helicopter upon returning from the glacier trek. But now, there was a bear also.

We enjoyed time before bed enjoying the view from our bed.

Uncruise

July 9

We woke up in a fjord. The first full day at sea was primarily spent around Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier. Tracy Arm is the name of the fjord that leads up to the two faces of Sawyer Glacier (North and South). The fjord walls are narrow and craggy, with steep rock faces containing several waterfalls. The closer we got to the end of Tracy Arm, the more icebergs and “bergy bits” we saw. Many were in shades of blue so deep they resembled glass. An advantage of the small cruise ship being able to anchor far into Tracy Arm.

From our anchor point, in the morning we boarded a skiff with 10 other people to get up close to the north glacier wall. It was a beautiful day and fairly warm, but we dressed warmly as advised since the temps were going to drop as we got closer to the glacier. Along the way our excursion leader, Megan pulled out hot chocolate and optional schnapps (Em and I opted in). Megan was knowledgeable and highly exuberant and entertaining. We got some stunning up-close views of the glacier and a cool waterfall nearby. We at first were hoping to see calving of the glacier (when huge chunks of ice fall off of the wall, with thunderous noise and cracking), but being this close in a small vulnerable skiff, we were now hoping to NOT see this happen! It did not happen; however, we did hear a loud thunderous cracking of ice. This was a great introduction to seeing a glacier wall along the water up front and personal.

Once done here, and back on the ship, the captain took us to South Sawyer Glacier.

Along the way we saw seals chilling out on ice flows (pun intended), and here were mountains and cliffs all around us. Throughout the whole cruise, the ride provided scenery that was as amazing as the destinations. When at South Sawyer Glacier we were on the ship’s bow looking at the glacier and all the other beauty of Tracy Arm when everybody started hearing echoing noises coming from it.

With unbelievable timing, we witnessed calving. A chunk of ice from the lower right corner of the glacier came crashing down into the water. It was remarkable, and everybody on the bow cheered loudly.

 

It was late afternoon by now and so on to happy hour and then dinner at 6:30. After dinner Em, her sister, and I enjoyed the hot tub at the stern of the boat and got some more great scenery.

Compared to the persistent light in Fairbanks and Denali National Park a few days prior, it was noticeably darker here in southeast Alaska at 10:30 pm, but still not really dark, more like twilight. No chance of northern lights, as expected.

Uncruise Glaciers and Whales

July 10

Morning found us in Thomas Bay. After breakfast we got ourselves ready for our first excursion of the day, a hike on the Cascade Creek trail. We met at 8:00 a.m. to board skiffs to get ashore. We had 12 people in the group. We saw seals in the water as we headed to the shore.

There were three levels of difficulty for each of the morning excursion offerings, and this was defined as the most difficult. We figured they were probably overstating the difficulty level because most people on the cruise were older, and the crew didn’t want to have to slow down or see anybody get hurt. We were right. It was not an easy hike, but by no means was it a difficult hike. It was approximately 5 miles out and back. Upon landing on shore, we took our rubber boots off and put on our hiking shoes.

The Cascade Creek trail began with an incline, and for a good chunk of the first half mile there was a well-constructed boardwalk, which made the initial ascent less difficult. It wasn’t long before we hit the main highlight of the hike, Cascade Creek Falls. It was definitely beautiful. The waterfall is fed by melting glacier and rain, and it was flowing hard. It was quite picturesque.

 

We then continued on the hike through dense rainforest with some slippery passages and downed tree gauntlets, and we crossed a bridge spanning the flowing creek. There were some tricky sections to maneuver but not too hazardous. The hike was a beautiful introduction for us to the inner forest of southeast Alaska. Fortunately, we made no bear contact.

We got back to the ship in time for lunch at 12:30. After lunch, we had a couple of drinks in the lounge. I enjoyed hot chocolate and Baileys. That became my drink of choice when in the lounge. Em and I then retreated to our cabin to look out the window and take a nap to rest for our afternoon excursion. At 4:00 p.m. we got to the fantail of the boat where kayaks and skiffs were docked and departed from.

Em and I were put into a tandem kayak and pushed off the fantail to begin our hour-long open kayak excursion around Comfort Cove. There weren’t many others out at this time, maybe one or two other kayaks and the only instructions were to be back before 5:15 p.m. and stay 2 kayak lengths from shore to avoid bear attacks. We put on our rain gear as there were low lying clouds and an eerie mist which created an almost spiritual ambiance. It was a fun, peaceful paddle with wonderful green forest all around and turquoise water beneath us. We did not take a camera with us for fear of losing it. The picture of us in the kayak was taken by Em’s sister from the ship.

Happy hour and then dinner at 6:30 p.m. followed the paddle. I ordered a bottle of wine at dinner, which when added to the drinks in the afternoon meant an early bedtime for me. Em stayed up and socialized in the lounge.

Uncruise Glaciers and Whales

July 11

When we woke, the ship was anchored around LeConte Glacier just outside of Ideal Cove, and we got on a skiff to shore for a Guided Shore Walk at 9:00 a.m. This was probably the least exciting excursion we did…no, it definitely was the least exciting excursion we did. Just a walk along the shoreline looking at whatever nature had to offer…not too much here. Our guide though was again informative, so we learned a thing or two. Back on ship at 11:00 a.m. and lunch at 12:30 p.m.

Our afternoon excursion was a skiff tour of the LeConte Glacier at 2:30 p.m. This was a very cool excursion. Our skiff got up close with several large deep blue “bergy bits” (small ice bergs that had broken off from the glacier). They were really an ice blue, but that would be like saying the sky is sky blue. On some of these floating bergy bits were seals lounging.

 

After about an hour on the skiff we returned to the ship to do our own lounging around. The cruise came with one massage included, so I took my massage at 6:00 p.m. on this day. Ahhh!!!

After dinner Em and I went back to our cabin to relax a bit before heading to the lounge and also viewing the scenery of Frederick Sound from the various outside areas of the ship, which we did basically every night. Well, while in our cabin with our feet up against the picture window and head on pillows we saw an Orca whale cruising the other direction from the ship. We jumped up, pressed our heads against the window and confirmed what we saw. We then saw two more orcas swimming with the ship, and one of them breached right then. We then took off toward the viewing deck on the bow telling people there are whales! We’re pointing and yelling, and being a small ship, the bridge of the ship above us could see us all looking and pointing, and so they adjusted the ship’s direction so we could stay with the orcas. We saw a few pods of whales with about a dozen orcas. The crew was also excited since orcas are not a common siting in this part of Frederick Sound at this time. We had a great time on the bow and along the upper decks getting a variety of shots of the orcas. It was kind of twilighty as well, so it added to the atmosphere. A great way to end the day. Now we just need to see some humpback whales!

These pics of the orcas are snapshots of the videos I took through the window of our cabin.  We went out on the bow to watch after taking the videos but took no pics from there.

Uncruise Glaciers and Whales

July 12

This day we anchored outside of the small village of Kake. This was the one port we docked in, and all passengers disembarked for a tour of the village by a native Tlingit, and a show by the locals at the high school gymnasium. This was not great. The town of Kake is highly depressing. We walked along the streets to a couple of points of interest like one of the world’s tallest totem poles, but the poverty of the area was just too in focus to really appreciate the points of interest. Our interpretive guide was very nice and knowledgeable, and there were some interesting historical and cultural tidbits, and a beautiful view of the Keku Strait, but I think most people would have preferred to be in a kayak or hiking.

We got to the gymnasium of the run-down school and sat in the stands awaiting the show of native Tingit dance. Within minutes of the start of the dancing by small children one of our cruise mates keeled over in the front row and fell onto the gymnasium floor. Well, that was the end of the show and the tour of Kake. Fortunately, our fellow passenger had had a blood pressure issue and it just flared at that time…he was all right and re-joined the ship from the medical center (which was right next door) within the hour of us getting back ourselves.

That afternoon and into evening the ship embarked on a “whale chasing” exercise in Frederick Sound. This was a “Whales and Glaciers” cruise, and we were all starving for humpback whales. Well by late afternoon we had seen an isolated whale or two in the distance, but nothing close or remarkable. That was a bit disappointing. However, we did manage to observe a huge colony of sea lions doing what they do on a small island.

The views of the snow-capped mountains on the near horizon were also spectacular. But it was the twilight “sunset” that was truly the star of the show on this night. It was so stunning that when I took a spot just outside the bridge on the upper deck I notices two cameras jetting out from open windows on the bridge. Then the ship’s off-duty chef joined Emilie and me to ogle and take pictures.

Uncruise Glaciers and Whales

July 13

We woke up on our 27^th wedding anniversary anchored by a place called Halleck Harbor.  I took some morning pics from the bow with my coffee.

Our morning excursion was a bushwhack hike. This is basically a survivalist exercise. The skiff takes us and a guide to a drop-off point on shore within the harbor and we follow the guide through the rainforest (no paths, no boardwalks, no defined direction) to get to another pre-determined pick-up point a couple of miles away. How we get from drop-off point to pick-up point is ad hoc. This is where we absolutely needed the knee-high rubber boots that we were told to pack for the trip. This was a difficult hike but we really got to experience the Alaskan rainforest like we never thought we would. It was wet and muddy at times, sunny and meadowy at others, and always surrounded by and avoiding contact with at all cost the dreaded devils club plant, which is a highly damaging prickly large-leaf plant that would have made Lewis and Clark turn around. We saw eagles and held large slugs. One of our bushwhacking mates lost his boot to the mud…phhwwttt! He did manage to retrieve it, right before losing the other. Fun, but not for the faint of heart.

Our afternoon excursion was a skiff tour of the surrounded cliffs. We were taken into some of the nooks and crannies of the cliffs towering out of the waterline. In between coves we saw several sea otters observing us as well. Very cool rock formations and color, and of course the sea otters were darn cute.

After dinner on the eve of our last full day on the cruise people were mulling around on deck as usual, looking for whales, etc. We were all sensing that we may not get to experience humpback whales up close, which was on everybody’s priority list for this cruise. We had seen orcas, which were awesome, and a couple of humpbacks here and there but no real show. Then, lie a script in a movie, out of nowhere we were coming into pods and pods of humpback whales all around us! This is what we had all been waiting for and it was happening. The ship’s captain did a great job of keeping us in the middle of all of these pods. We saw several breaches, countless spouts and flukes, and some tail slapping. The whales were putting on a good show, one came right up and almost skimmed the side of the boat. The deck and bow were now full of people yelling and screaming and directing others to where whales were. Constant shouts of “1:00, 10:00” etc. It was a party-like atmosphere. It was an amazing hour of whale watching, made even better by the fact that it didn’t happen until near the end of the cruise, and we were all comfortable with one another by then and so there were no inhibitions of enthusiasm.

To the right of the video above see the “happy whale” breach3 times.

It was quite the anniversary for us.

Uncruise Glaciers and Whales

July 14

The last full day of the cruise. We began it again with an early morning bushwhack hike. To make it more exciting though, on the skiff ride in, we spotted a lone humpback whale about 100 yards away. The skiff driver made some efforts to follow the whale, but we couldn’t close the gap. So, we said our goodbyes and continued to shore for the bushwhack.

Em, here sister, and I joined about ten others on the bushwhack. Fortunately, this bushwhack was not dominated by ever present devil’s club. It was a nice ad hoc hike through rainforest. Beautiful, lush, green, and with just one perilous section requiring a steep descent down. A nice hike in beautiful weather.

The afternoon excursion, and the last one on the cruise was be a 2-hour guided kayak paddle. Instead of an “open paddle”, this one was one where we would follow a guide with 4 other kayaks. Em’s sister was tandem with the guide, Em and I were tandem. The weather was getting a bit wetter and windier. So, we wore full rain gear. It was actually nice experiencing a bit of cold and rain while kayaking in southeast Alaska. Nice weather is great, but it was good to get a feel for the different kind of weather that can be had in the area. We didn’t bring a camera with us just because we knew the weather would be challenging and we didn’t want to worry about it. It actually was not too rainy after all but it was misty with spurts of rain. We got some nice up-close views of the shoreline and the cliffs, and we saw a couple of sea otters as well. We were easily able to keep up with the guide, who was known for being a bit aggressive (she was our guide on our first bushwhack through the devil’s club rainforest).

By the time we headed back to the ship it was raining off and on, but the water was getting a bit choppy. We were the last kayak to dock on the ship before the guide and Em’s sister. It seemed like in that few minutes the water got even more choppy. The guide and Em’s sister had to work very hard to align with the fantail of the ship, and they needed two crew members to help guide them in and pull them on board.

The final adventure of the cruise was an opportunity to do the “Polar Plunge” into the frigid Alaskan water from the ship’s fantail. Of course, the weather was beautiful all week, but now it is probably in the mid 50’s with some wind and clouds, just to make the plunge as challenging as possible. Em and I decided to do it…we had planned all week on doing it so we weren’t to be deterred. About a dozen passengers opted to do it. We went three at a time with crew members ready to assist those in need, of course they were all wearing parkas. It was most definitely a shock to the system when hitting water. We didn’t stay in more than 20 seconds when we pulled ourselves up onto the fantail, rushed up the stairs to awaiting cloth robes. What a rush, so worth it to say we swam in Alaskan ocean!!

 

 

 

 

Then we got dressed and went in for the final happy hour and dinner.

That night in the lounge everybody was sharing photos with each other, and we had a final toast with Ian and Kay. We packed later that night as we were to disembark in Sitka first thing after breakfast the following morning.

Next: Sitka