169. Mary Celeste

Sunday, 9 June 2019

At sea, Gulf of Alaska, USA

Unbelievably bright blue sky day. This is the life.

Absolutely cracking lunch at Chinooks. The salmon are coming upstream now and being caught. Have the freshest, tastiest salmon I’ve ever had. Sockeye, so bright red meat. The trouble with experiencing all this fresh fish is that once I return to the UK, no fish will now compete. It’s usually been frozen and transported thousands of miles. I have, once again, been spoilt. Halibut, crab, whale, salmon and prawns will never taste anywhere near as good.

For those that have a good memory, you will recall that yet another cruise has been booked to get me back to Vancouver. Original plan was to fly from Anchorage back to Seattle, a direct flight and hence why flying back from Seattle, rather than Vancouver. So enjoyable was the northbound cruise, am very grateful to  an old friend for spending some time and researching cruise departures from Seward for me. She used it as an excuse not to do some more gardening apparently.

Quite by chance, the cruise that fitted into my timescales is another Holland America trip back the way I came. This time though, it’s on the sister ship to the Noordam, the Westerdam. However, having left it late and the fact that it’s now the start of peak cruise season, have had to slum it in Veranda class. It being one of the very few cabins remaining. Rather than being at sea level in Ocean View, shall now have a veranda to sit out on deck 5.

Having experienced the over 2hrs it took last time to board the ship in Vancouver and faff about with check in, security and immigration, decide to board after lunch, despite ship not sailing until this evening at 2000hrs.

Am not looking forward to this part. 2,000 people queuing to board.

So you can imagine my utter disbelief and surprise when I walk into the check in hall to find it completely empty. Apart from a load of bored looking check in and security personnel.

Where is everyone, I ask.

It’s like the Mary Celeste.

Timed it right apparently. A load came in on the morning train from Anchorage. Another load are due on the afternoon train. Coach loads from Anchorage haven’t quite got here yet.

Great.

You can imagine the joy of being on board ship, having checked in and gone through security, in under five minutes.

Ah yes. That’s the way to do it.

Ask security what they’re actually looking for in the X-rays. Given the general age group of cruisers, somewhat surprised when he says they’re looking for guns, knives and bear spray. You would not believe how many people try and bring said stuff on to cruise ship to protect themselves from bears when on excursions, apparently.

I kid you not.

Cabin is about the same size as the Ocean View cabin I had before. Bathroom is exactly same size and layout. But has a small veranda to sit out on. The room, not the bathroom. Had I booked it much earlier and had more than a choice of three cabins (yes, this was one of three cabins left on this cruise), would have opted for a starboard side cabin, to take advantage of the sun going south. However, port side will suffice.

Lifeboat drill at 1915hrs. Slap bang in the middle of dinner. Most inconvenient. Despite the sunny weather, our lifeboat happens to be in the shade and there’s more than a few people shivering in the cold wind that blows down the Promenade Deck.

Depart Seward and sail down into Resurrection Bay.

Dear reader, I cannot begin to describe the insane views of bright blue sky, sun shining on snow capped mountains and whales spouting nearby. An awesome sight. As you will see from the video below.

Very, very lucky to experience these views. The weather has more than made up for the dreadful weather in Barrow (northern Alaska, not in-Furness).

So very, very lucky.

This is the life.