Trippingpara's 'Legend'ary Alaskan Cruise Photographic Review

[trippingpara]

Just stopping by to let you know I'm still following along and really enjoying following along and the pictures you've shared are spectacular!!! Wow, wow, just WOW!!! I look forward to your updates each time I log into CC.

 

Hey pghsteelerfan - glad to see that you're still following along and I haven't bored you to death with my verbose writings. Thank you so much for the kind words. But honestly, it's pretty hard to take a bad photo in Alaska. The scenery really does all the work!!

[trippingpara]

Glacier Bay (cont.)...

 

Like all my travels, I research the living bejesus out of everything and there was one inlet that I really wanted the ship to sail into...the John Hopkins Inlet. Unfortunately, the inlet only opens for 10 days a year in order to protect the thousands of harbor seals that give birth in the inlet. The inlet is fairly narrow and is home to the Reid Glacier, the Lamplugh Glacier, the Hoonah Glacier, the Gilman Glacier and of course, the famous John Hopkins Glacier. So, our chances of being able to go into the inlet was less than good. In fact, our chances were exactly 14.2% of being able to go into that inlet. I'm not a huge betting man, but there is no way I would take those odds.

 

I was taking a break from the balcony and looking over the National Park Guide that was put into our stateroom and admiring that inlet when the park ranger came back on the PA and announced that she just got confirmation that the National Park Service has just opened the John Hopkins Inlet and we would be the first ship to go into it this season. Yes!!

 

Okay, so I get pretty geeked out by the little things, but I knew we were about to be surrounded by high cliffs in the narrow fjord with thousands of harbor seals watching us the entire way as glacier after glacier sailed by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The calving ice sounded like giant cracks of thunder booming across the narrow bay. It was incredible to hear. As we silently drifted across the inlet, the entire ship was deathly silent. Nobody was talking. It was breathtaking. Since the John Hopkins Inlet is so narrow, the captain could only turn the ship to the starboard side. Which just happened to be the corner of the ship that we were on, so it worked out great for us!

 

As the ship turned, you could see thousands of seals laying on the icebergs that covered the northern flank of the inlet. They were everywhere. Because of them, we were not able to get as close to the glacier as we did with the Margerie Glacier. We spent about a half an hour sitting in front of the John Hopkins Glacier before we slowly began out descent back out of Glacier Bay.

 

Our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Aggie that we met earlier in the cruise came over to our cabin with a pitcher of margaritas. What a way to finish our day in Glacier Bay with good friends, enjoying some good drinks surrounded by some incredible scenery. It doesn't get much better than this!

 

Next up: Ketchikan, Alaska...

.

[trippingpara]

If there's anyone out there that is still following this thread, I apologize for the delay in my posts now that CC is back up and running.  I hope to kick this back off with Ketchikan this weekend.  Thanks!

[Beav1279]

I'm still following! Loving your review and pictures 🙂 

[Hogladyrider]

I'm still following!

[anhellena]

following here also

[vinsheer]

Thank You Again....I was on the same cruise but your pictures are so much better than mine. Keep 'em coming!

[pghsteelerfan]

I'm still following and will be looking forward for more. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

Can’t wait to read about the surprise!

[SenatorsFan]

Still enjoying the stunning scenery depicted in your photos.

Heather

[Crusin Karen]

Just read this start to "finish" in one sitting.  LOVED every minute of your review and drooled over your pictures.  I even re-read your Sunshine review from last year (we went 9/23-9/30/17) and am going to start on your Vista review.  I can't believe this is the first I have found you!  Are you ever coming back to finish this review!? 🙏

[TrqoisWtrs]

Still following and enjoying the stunning photos.  I've booked the Legend for next May and first Alaska trip, so am also taking notes.  :)  

[deladane]

I'm still following!  Even though I have no plans to cruise to Alaska anytime soon, your photos are stunning and I'm having a wonderful timing visiting this corner of our country through your eyes!!  Can't wait to read the rest 😎

[Crusin Karen]

41 minutes ago, deladane said:

I'm still following!  Even though I have no plans to cruise to Alaska anytime soon, your photos are stunning and I'm having a wonderful timing visiting this corner of our country through your eyes!!  Can't wait to read the rest 😎

Same here!  Have ALWAYS wanted to cruise to Alaska.  We  had to cancel a B2B a few years ago and unless we win the lottery, we'll have to be thankful for cruises to the Caribbean.  So my "cruise to Alaska" is "aboard" reviews like this.  Thanks for sharing and hope you have time to come back and finish!  I am about 1/2 way thru your 2016 Vista cruise.  Oh my!!!!  🤩

[pghsteelerfan]

5 hours ago, Crusin Karen said:

Same here!  Have ALWAYS wanted to cruise to Alaska.  We  had to cancel a B2B a few years ago and unless we win the lottery, we'll have to be thankful for cruises to the Caribbean.  So my "cruise to Alaska" is "aboard" reviews like this.  Thanks for sharing and hope you have time to come back and finish!  I am about 1/2 way thru your 2016 Vista cruise.  Oh my!!!!  🤩

Hi Karen!  I've been reading Trip's (Trippingpara's) reviews for a while now and he will come back and finish this.  I think he mentioned somewhere here that the only time he has to work on it are weekends.  Thinking it has to do with a job getting in the way.  😉

 

As you and deladane both said, reviews like this are my way of seeing Alaska...at least for the near future.  🙂

Edited October 30, 2018 by pghsteelerfan

[trippingpara]

Thank you so much to everyone for their patience.  I seem to be rather addicted to these things called a paycheck and you'd be surprised the kind of crap you have to put up with to continue collecting them!!  I'm off to New York City tomorrow for a few days, come back to Rhode Island for a day and then I'm off to Las Vegas for a week.  And nope, none of these jaunts are for fun.  I'm hoping to get a post up tonight and possibly one or two more during my down time while traveling.  I promise I am still here, just being worked to the bone between my regular job and I recently opened up my own photography studio so that is quickly filling up any free time that I thought I had.

[trippingpara]

Sunday, September 2^nd   

Ketchikan, Alaska

 

 

We pulled into Ketchikan around 9:30 am.  There were already 3 ships in port, 2 Celebrity ships and a smaller Seaborne ship.  The captain pulled us into Berth 1 at the southern end of Ketchikan.  It was a bit unnerving sitting on our aft balcony watching our ship head straight for the port aft side of a giant Celebrity ship.  There was maybe 10 feet between us as we slowly drifted by the corner of the other cruise ship.  By the time we were fully docked, there was about 50 feet between us, but as we drifted in, whoa, there was some serious pucker factor going on!

 

 

Anyhow, we slowly got ourselves ready.  We were scheduled for a Misty Fjords flight and landing with Island Wings.  Michelle, the owner, is the only pilot and she flies a beautifully restored old De Havilland Beaver floatplane.  There was just something about her story and her business that drew me to her company (there are a lot of companies that fly tours into Misty Fjords National Park).

 

 

We got off the ship a bit earlier than we needed to so we could leisurely find our way over to the Rain Gauge next to the Visitor’s Center.  It ended up being around 100 yards away and pretty flippin’ easy to find.  As I was standing there taking a photo of the Ketchikan sign (I know, a real shocker, huh?), my cellphone started to ring.  I looked down and saw that it was a local Alaskan number.  Oh-oh, that’s not a good sign.

 

But before I go there, here are a couple shots of the Ketchikan

wharf...

 

 

We're here!!!

 

The infamous Welcome to Ketchikan sign

 

 

Something doesn't seem right about this..Oh wait, that's a floatplane taking off next to a fishing trawler.

 

 

We're big "Deadliest Catch" fans so we were so surprised and stoked to find our favorite ship, the Time Bandit sitting right next to the Legend.  I was standing right next to it taking pictures of the deck before I realized what ship it was!

 

 

 

The infamous Rain Gauge - the most famous meeting point in Ketchikan

 

Up next:  The phone call...

 

 

 

 

[flgojo]

Talk about a cliff hanger.  I hope you will be able to continue soon.

[trippingpara]

I'm back!  Okay, briefly...but I'm back...for now...

 

Thank you all for hanging around and being patient (or not so patient) with me.  I hope you've been having a few drinks while waiting for me.  At least my wife does.  It really helps her tolerate me.  Come to think of it, maybe that's why I drink so much!

 

Any ways, I'm going to try and punch a little bit more out before I'm off again to Vegas for work.  I know, it's a tough life but somebody has to go to Vegas an give the casinos a ton money!

[trippingpara]

Ketchikan (cont)...

 

Okay, let's see...where was I?  Oh yes, the phone call.

 

It was a wrong number.

 

Just kidding.  It was Island Wings.  My heart sank as I answered the phone.  We've already had one major excursion cancelled and that included a floatplane too, so I was beginning to get a sinking suspicion that we were about to lose our second floatplane excursion.

 

"Hello?" I mustered as I tried to think upbeat and pleasant thoughts.  Which, by the way, I failed miserably at.  The whole time I answered the phone I was thinking about the 32 different ways I was going to snap this person's neck if they cancelled the excursion.  I don't think that qualifies as upbeat or pleasant by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Anyways...

 

"This is Tim from Island Wings.  I happen to be here at the Liquid Rain Gauge a bit early and was wondering if you might be able to meet me early?"

 

His voice was in stereo.

 

"Huh?"  I slowly turn around to see a young man standing about 3 feet away on the phone with a clipboard and a baseball cap with the Island Wings logo on it.

 

I put the phone down.  The unpleasant thoughts of breaking individual vertebrates quickly subsides.  I take two large steps over to him.  "Hi mate.  I think you're looking for me," I said in a far cheerier mood than I was feeling earlier. 

 

He laughs and hangs up the phone.  We shake hands and confirm that I am truly who he is looking for (along with my beautiful wife) and we follow him over to the van.  He then whisks us a few blocks over to where the floatplane is docked.

 

 

So stoked!  We're finally going to get to fly on a floatplane!  We then met Michelle, paid the other ½ of our balance (we only paid a deposit of ½ the price of the excursion), dropped off our backpacks (no bags allowed on the plane per FAA rules since there is no luggage compartment) and got our flight briefing.

 

 

Unfortunately, a storm system had settled in over Misty Fjords, so Michelle gave us some options.  She stated that her competitors were flying into the Fjords and we could too, however, visibility was next to nothing and the flight would be very bumpy and uncomfortable.  She showed as a couple cameras that the National Park Service has online and you could see that the cloud layer had the entire fjord system completely blanketed.

 

She then gave us a couple other options.  As a group, (group of 4 was with us as well) we decided to head down to the southern islands and then back up north to the northern edge of Misty Fjords National Park.  With that all taken care of, we then climbed into the plane and took off.  It was our first time in a float plane.  It was so cool.  A very different way to take off and land.  We floated around a bit while Michelle warmed up the engine before taking off.  The take-off was a bit bouncy but not that dissimilar from rocketing across the open waters in our boat.

 

 

The flight itself was very smooth and the views were incredible!  I never knew that there was a U.S. Navy sonor testing station on a tiny island outside of Ketchikan where they test the sonor of nuclear submarines.  We heard on the flight radio that there was a submarine in the waters but we never saw it.  We did however, see bears, seals, sea lions and eagles.  We landed in a fjord next to a salmon hatchery with an inlet river full of salmon.  It was the nature’s wildlife buffet.  Animals abounded and we just sat there silently watching from our little perch on the pontoons of our float plane.  Amazing just doesn’t do it justice!!

 

 

A black bear, eagle and seagull in one photo.  Beat that National Geographic!!

 

A harbor seal is having a feast on the salmon from the salmon hatchery.

 

View from the  pontoon of Lady Esther as we float around untethered.

 

Coming up... more Ketchikan!

 

 

 

 

[trippingpara]

Ketchikan (cont.)

Standing on that pontoon in the middle of that beautiful inlet was one of the most peaceful moments of my life.  Wildlife was every where.  Bears strolling along the shoreline, eagles soaring overhead, harbor seals and sea lions cruising alongside us and salmon jumping all over the place.  The six of us just stood on the pontoons in awe.

 

Michelle gave us binoculars to see the animals even better.  There was a cabin near the edge of the water.  We watched a woman come outside and walk over to the water.  Apparently a salmon had jumped out of the water near her, so she went over and grabbed it.  At that moment, a large black bear came out of the woods right behind her.

 

Captivated, we all stood there terrified that we were about to see the latest installment of "When Animals Attack".  The elderly lady turned around and raised the giant salmon high about her head and started walking towards the bear in a threatening manner.  The bear smartly ran away along the shore line.  He (or she) clearly did not want to mess with this sassy lady!  We were dumbfounded.  I don't think any of us city slickers are cut out for living in the wilderness of Alaska!

 

There is no way that you would find me walking outside in bear country without a bazooka and here was this older lady taking on a bear with a salmon!  I bet ya, she can cut down the mightiest tree in the forest...with a herring!!  Okay, extra credit goes to those that actually understood that reference.  Again, you young'uns can Google it - that movie is hysterical.  If you don't understand it or don't think it's funny, you clearly have not had enough to drink then!

 

Eventually, Michelle stuck her head out the window and told us it was time to get back on board.  The group of 4 with us were on the Celebrity Solstice which was departing at 3 pm so we needed to be back by 2:30 pm for them.  Michelle had me climb into the co-pilot’s seat which was an act of contortionism that would make any circus performer proud!  It was cool sitting up there and the views were even better.  She circled the Ketchikan harbor so both sides of the plane could see the ships before she dropped the nose down and landed right next to a luxury yacht.  Her landing was butter smooth!

 

After docking, Michelle took a bunch of pics of us, gave us a DVD of our flight and a map showing where we had flown.  I have to say, that time on the pontoon made the entire trip.  I vaguely can recall anything from the flight-seeing part of the tour, but the landing and hanging out in the middle of that inlet was pure paradise!  If you get to come to Ketchikan, I cannot recommend Michelle and Island Wings enough!!

 

Once we were all finished at the terminal, they loaded us back up into the van and dropped us back off in front of the rain gauge again.  We really didn’t have anything else planned for the day.  We had 6 hours to just chill and roam around the 4^th largest city in Alaska.

 

Here are some shots of coming back into Ketchikan and landing in the harbor.

 

You can barely see the cruise ships lined up in the harbor near the horizon towards the left of center.

 

 

 

 

 

Coming up next:  Downtown Ketchikan...

 

[jc4me]

The flight with Island Wings looks amazing!  Would you be comfortable with giving a ballpark price per person on that?  I checked their web site and didn't see anything listed.  Thanks!!

[trippingpara]

37 minutes ago, jc4me said:

The flight with Island Wings looks amazing!  Would you be comfortable with giving a ballpark price per person on that?  I checked their web site and didn't see anything listed.  Thanks!!

 

HI jc4me,

 

If I remember correctly, I believe it was around $239 per person.  Well worth it!!  Everyone's experience is always different, but we were extremely happy with Michelle and the crew there at Island Wings, and we would go back with them in a heartbeat!

[jc4me]

10 minutes ago, trippingpara said:

 

HI jc4me,

 

If I remember correctly, I believe it was around $239 per person.  Well worth it!!  Everyone's experience is always different, but we were extremely happy with Michelle and the crew there at Island Wings, and we would go back with them in a heartbeat!

Thank you so much!  That sounds like a reasonable price.  Will have to see if our group is interested.  Your review has certainly got me excited for our trip in May.  Based upon your review, we have rented a Jeep in Skagway to do our own thing.

[penguin85]

following