Just a quick blog today. We are all sharing internet time bought by the Mitchells and the rest of us will give them money towards their cost.
Boarded the Norwegian Sun on Monday 17 August 2015 (Vancouver time). Boarding was very efficient. Of course when you are boarding all those passengers you are undoubtedly going to have to stand in queues, but these were all managed very well - all under cover and sheltered from the weather.
First part-day and Tuesday were sea days where a good time was had by the hub and her spokes. The group came and went according to what they wanted to do, but needless to say, partaking of alcoholic beverages was pretty high on the list for most.
Some of the things done by the group (singly and together), were Movie Trivia, 50s & 60s Tunes trivia, where a very respectable score of 33 was attained. The winning score was 41. A couple sat in on some jewellery presentations for when in the various ports. Some went to karaoke and Bernie performed - very creditably I am told.
I had read some reviews about the Norwegian Sun in the planning stage and some of the comments were not flattering, so I was unsure what to expect. I really have to wonder about the people who were not happy with their experience on the Norwegian Sun. The food has been great - both in the buffet and the restaurants, the ship is clean and well maintained and our staterooms are quite roomy, with plenty of space to store stuff.
The sea has been kind to us except for a few potholes we seemed to fall into last night, but even that didn’t last long.
Today was our first port of call - Ketchikan, ALASKA. I still cannot believe I am now in Alaska. Ketchikan is such a gorgeous little place. The ship docks right near the main shopping area for curios, clothes and jewellery. The buildings and houses are quaint.
Much to the delight of the locals, we brought beautiful weather with us - few clouds and a bit of wind, but lovely sunshine. Apparently in the last 8-9 weeks or so, they have only had 4 days when it wasn’t raining.
I had a bear watching and wildlife expedition tour booked and all I hoped was that I saw at least one bear. As they are wild animals and this is not a reserve and according to the tour guide they “don’t let the bears out of a cage just as we get there”, it is up to the bears whether they are seen or not. They are free to come and go as they please. Well, two minutes into the walk and we saw a mother and 2 cubs chasing salmon and just after that another mother and 2 cubs walking through the forest down to the stream after salmon. The stream is the end of the spawning run and once the salmon spawn, they die. There are dead salmon all over the place. We are on an elevated boardwalk connected by suspension bridges and look down at them. I watched one cub drag a very large salmon up a tree and settle himself into the fork of a branch to eat it. He was annoyed when it fell out of the tree and I took a video of him climbing back down to get it.
Photos will be put in later as they are all on my tablet and I am using the Parrys’ laptop.
There were a lot of seagulls in the area (makes sense I guess - there were tonnes of dead salmon). Some of these salmon were huge.
After leaving the bears behind in the forest, we entered a marshland estuary boardwalk and were able to watch salmon swimming up to the top and witness some jumping up little waterfalls over rocks. We also saw a bald eagle in a tree and then at the Rainforest Sanctuary headquarters, saw two more bald eagles in the rehabilitation area, plus an owl and a peregrine falcon. I have never seen a peregrine falcon before, but they are so tiny and look so cute.
Other activities undertaken by the group today were fishing, where Don, Helen, Wayne and Bernadette caught lots of salmon and have had them frozen and sent forward to where we are staying in Talkeetna, so some lovely salmon meals coming up. Mark and Liz walked around the town and also went to a lumberjack show, which they both found very entertaining and interesting.
On return to the ship, we all met up eventually around a bar, would you believe it? Met another couple from Victoria, Australia and had a lovely time chatting. I am back in my cabin for a while and having a good time relaxing and doing the blog.
Tomorrow we dock in Juneau and going to Mendenhall Glacier, and then hopefully to see whales.
Everyone take care until the next enthralling episode of my Canada and Alaska Dream trip.