Alaska Cruise day 6 – Ketchikan and Bears

Posted on by Ian C.

Approaching Ketchikan today had us looking at the busy port areas but also at the low fog on the hills surrounding …

We had a planned sea-plane excursion today, flying us out to watch bears catching salmon – but the low fog canceled that flight! Luckily we found an alternative way to hopefully see bears, in a wildlife preserve walk about a half hour coach ride from the docks.

About 20 minutes in to the walk someone spotted a bear – exciting! But we could not imagine what happened next, which was spotting a mother bear and two cubs coming out of the forest to feed at the river (there were many [mostly dead!] salmon in the water, offering easy pickings for the bears). While we watched these bears, a big male appeared, then another mother bear with cubs, and yet more … at least 10 in total! Our walk turned into a “stand” as we spent an hour or more just watching and photographing all the bears …

I also took a lot of video of the bears, and I’ve compiled it here:

Alaska Cruise day 5 – Juneau

Posted on by Ian C.

Today we had no excursions booked, planning to wander the town and rest a bit, even having in-room breakfast while the ship approached the dock; once again we joined a number of other cruise ships but the town wasn’t too busy (presumably because other people had gone off on their excursions!)

Our town exploration showed us a number of totems, and we also visited the Alaska State Capitol, and got views over the town …

By the afternoon we were back on the ship enjoying our Pinnacle Suite, watching the sail-away, and eventually watching another nice sunset …

Alaska Cruise day 4 – Skagway and the White Pass Railroad

Posted on by Ian C.

Our cruise ship arrived in Skagway along with about three other ships, which might make everything busy …

… But we started our day on a booked excursion riding the White Pass Railroad (another train!) upgraded to a carriage with only 14 passengers! There are a lot of choices on the White Pass Railroad, our choice took us up to the Canadian border then returned without ever stopping – but offering fabulous views everywhere!

Returning to the busy town we opted to avoid the crowds and take a walk to Yakutania Point (which also gave us a distant view of Nieuw Amsterdam!):