Just Back -- Shadow: SF to Vancouver

Just back from 10 glorious days on the Shadow through Alaskan ports. It was so hot that it almost felt like a Med. cruise with all of us in deck chairs every day! I was in 812, Judie Abbott was our CD and Enrico Chiesa was our Captain. Any questions? I would be happy to answer.

Did you sail the "Inside Passage" or the outside? Was the sailing smooth, or was it rocking close to the Sitka region? We sailed the Alaska route twice with mass market lines (much larger ships), once it was nice and smooth and the other time quite a few got sick! Thank you.

The Bear was cruising an Inside Passage itinerary on Cruise West's 84-pax Spirit of Discovery at the same time, and one day Shadow sailed right by us. I think it was on 10 August in Tracy Arm.

The weather really was astounding. We had one hour of rain over eight days. Most days were cloudless and balmy. I could have left a great deal of cold-weather gear and rain gear home. Our last day was in Juneau, with a high of eighty degrees in an a/c-less hotel. Great weather for tourists, but bad weather for a temperate rain forest.

We saw unusually large quantities of whales (humpback and killer), but only two bears (sow and cub on Fish Creek near Hyder). I'm hoping to see more bears (of the polar variety) on my return next week to the Svalbard Archipelago on one of those former Russian research vessels.

...I believe though we sailed from San Francisco to Sitka, so that was gulf waters. We had one rocky day but it was down near Eureka CA not near Sitka. Most of us took 1 Mezclizine (spelling?) and were a little tired but fine by the evening (which was formal!). The rest of the cruise was completely smooth.