Category Archives: Antarctica to Alaska

180. The Smurfs

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Thursday, 20 June 2019

Madeira Park, British Columbia, Canada

 

Two options for today.

Go north to Kamloops in the interior and drive in a loop back to Vancouver over the next few days.

Or.

Drive to the Sunshine Coast. As Miss Vancouver recommended.

Grateful to old friend’s (as in longevity) little sister for also suggesting Sunshine Coast. And her time in looking up these things. Thank you Bloss.

Sunshine Coast it is.

Off we go.

You’re probably wondering, dear reader, where the Sunshine Coast is. Google it. Go on. Do some work.

Pootling back along the Sea to Sky Highway, which I suppose is now the Sky to Sea Highway. Some urgency in this morning’s drive as a ferry needs to be caught.

Fortunately arrive at Horseshoe Bay in time. In need of lunch, the only option is a vegan, hippy shack selling anything but a bacon buttie. It’s all humous and vegetables. None of these vegans look very healthy and happy do they.

Forty minute cruise across an inlet of the Straits of Georgia to Langdale. As soon as you land, you can immediately tell there’s a different vibe here. Like Hornby Island, the Sunshine Coast is a chilled out place with plenty of laid back people. Think Dylan from the Magic Roundabout.

Still on the mainland but only accessible by boat, this 50 mile stretch of coast line, from Langdale to Egmont, is the Sunshine Coast.

And gloriously sunny it is too.

The only main road closely follows the coast line and every so often are side roads leading down to small hamlets with names like Smugglers Cove, Secret Cove and Halfmoon Bay. Half expect the Famous Five to come bounding around the corner.

With lashings of ginger beer.

It’s that sort of place.

Peaceful. Relaxed. Scenic.

Very pleasant afternoon drive exploring hidden coves and beaches. One such foray results in an ice cream on the beach. Saddens me to think that this time next week, it’ll all be over. Really don’t want this trip to end. Having the time of my life.

Laugh somewhat when I see a road sign warning of deer. Which has been doctored. See photo below.

One thing that does strike me is that at every bus stop is a chair or two. Either a cheapo white plastic one or a wooden affair. It’s that sort of place that people would put chairs out to sit and wait for a bus.

Slowly wending my way up the coast, arrive at The Painted Boat Resort (https://paintedboat.com/). Only booked it last minute and no time for detailed research. So don’t fully understand what I’ve booked.

Oh my.

Assumed it was a bog standard type hotel suite.

Oh no.

This is a two bedroom villa on the waterfront. With a big outdoor deck.

This isn’t a hotel room.

This is a home.

Give myself a pat on the back. Have struck gold.

Seems a shame to waste the view and the warmth of the sun by sitting in a restaurant for dinner. So it’s home made dinner al fresco on the deck. After a bit of local shopping.

This is the life.

This is most pleasant.

This will do very nicely.

Well done Miss Vancouver and Old Friend’s Little Sis.

Such a nice evening that a post prandial perambulation perhaps required down on the floating boat moorings belonging to the resort. Gaggle of people gathering on the gangway. All are in lightweight blue brushed cotton pyjamas. With a white rope tied around their waists. Nothing else. And I mean nothing else. Men and women. Their attire doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination.

They’re a white hat away from being a Smurf.

Curiosity gets the better of me. Papa Smurf introduces himself as he’s a fellow Brit. From London. They’ve been here all week on a training course.

Meditating.

179. Whistling in Whistler

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Wednesday, 19 June 2019

Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

 

Staggeringly beautiful view of a bright and sparkly harbour from my room as I open the curtains.

This is the life.

Pick the hire car up from the airport and given a free upgrade. Yep. There’s upgrades and then there’s upgrades. Given a 5.7 litre Dodge Ram 1500. Again. Except this is a higher spec than the one I had in Alaska. This has a panoramic sliding roof. And all the gadgets. It’s a beast of a car. Which I shall enjoy driving very much.

Still don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing over the next few days. Busking it a bit. What I do know is that I’m going to Whistler. The site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Stunning scenery yet again as I drive merrily along the Sea to Sky Highway. Like Toad of Toad Hall, in my big, bright blue, beast of a car. Horses aren’t spared.

Last went to Whistler whilst whiling away a few days with Miss Vancouver in 1999, 20 years ago. Much more developed now, especially with the Olympics taking place. Having not booked a hotel yet, sit in a public car park upon arrival in Whistler, choosing a suitable hotel on my phone app and then go and check in at the Crystal Lodge (https://www.crystal-lodge.com/). There’s last minute and then there’s last minute. The wonders of modern technology. When I first started travelling in the late 1980s, one had to write to the hotel and enquire about availability. Not now.

Told to take the cable car up to Whistler, cross the valley on a 4.5km cable car to the other mountain, Blackcomb, then return down on the Blackcomb cable car. Very windy at the cable car station, at about 6,000ft altitude, enough to make the cable car swing a bit too close for comfort towards the support pylons.

Given how windy it is, surprised that the Peak to Peak cable car running between the two mountains is still running. Two queues form. One for a normal car and one for what is advertised as a ‘glass bottomed’ car. Having a head for heights, wait about 30 minutes for one of the two ‘glass bottomed’ cars to appear. Somewhat disappointed to discover that the ‘glass bottom’ is actually a small piece of glass that is cordoned off by a barrier so you can’t actually stand on the ‘glass bottomed’ floor or actually see much through it as it’s covered in cack.

Not much to see at either Whistler or Blackcomb as snow has still closed many of the trails and, unlike Mount Titlis in Switzerland, there’s not a great deal of activities to do other than ski or hike. Soon on the cable car going car down.

Told to be on the look out for bears on Blackcomb mountain.

Didn’t see one bear.

Nope.

Saw two.

Both just off a hiking trail and a reminder that you could come across a bear on your hike. Not only do you have to be beware of the bear.

Also warned of cougars.

The animal.

Not an ageing woman.

178. It’s electric and goes 30km/hr

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Tuesday, 18 June 2019

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

 

Had only booked two nights in Vancouver upon disembarking cruise ship, merely as a day spare to plan ahead. Thought it wouldn’t be a problem to extend my stay in the Pan Pacific. It was only late yesterday evening that I finalised my plans for the last 10 days of the trip. Necessitates staying an extra night in Vancouver.

Except.

The Pan Pacific is sold out tonight.

So.

Have to move hotels.

For one night only.

Fortunately, there’s a room at the inn across the road. The Fairmont Pacific Rim (https://www.fairmont.com/pacific-rim-vancouver/) also, thankfully, has harbour and mountain view rooms. But from a slightly different angle to that which I have been used to.

Had a brief pause in my mammoth catch up on admin day. Decided I needed some fresh air and a bit of exercise after lunch so was going to go for a walk in Stanley Park. But then saw some electric bikes in the hotel lobby. Bike guy said they were electric and you could get up to 30km/hr on them. So, dear reader, I naturally assumed the battery propelled the bikes and all I had to do was sit on it and do nothing.

Nice leisurely ride coasting around Stanley Park, I thought.

Only after a few blocks do I realise that I actually have to cycle and the battery only acts as a booster.

Whoever said cycling was nice, was wrong. It’s like sitting on a razor blade.

After an hour, back in room, knackered with a sore bum!

I am not designed for bikes.

177. Joseph isn’t it?

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Monday, 17 June 2019

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

 

Really exciting day of doing nothing, dear reader. Today is a day of catching up on admin and emails. And planning the next few days.

Have a cracking view from hotel room overlooking the harbour and the mountains. The cruise ship below my window is a Disney ship. All I can hear all day is sodding Disney music permeating the air.

Walking back from dinner, see a shop selling Cuban Cigars. Hmmm. Not immune to the odd Cuban once in a while, pop in to have a look.

Shop owner is an Arab. With a limp. He greets me with, “Welcome back, Joseph isn’t it?”

Not called Joseph.

Never been in the shop before.

Don’t know him from Adam.

Accepting that he’s not the full shilling, agree that I am, indeed, Joseph.

After a Cohiba Siglo VI cigar.

Yes, my friend, we have. Here you are. As he pulls out a cigar from a box.

As soon as I walked in the shop, immediately suspicious that this is not a pukka cigar shop.

James J Fox Cigars (my usual haunt) on St James’s Street, London, this is not.

This is a grubby little newsagent kiosk type shop. The sort one might find in the Maid Marian Way/Friar Lane underpass in Nottingham of old. You know the one. That little shack.

Lots of old folk from Nottingham are reading this remembering how it used to be.

Handed what he says is a Cohiba Siglo VI. Having educated myself on legitimate Cohiba cigars and dodgy knock offs, can immediately tell it’s a dodgy knock off. All to do with the paper band wrapped around the cigar. Cohiba bands are top quality and there are tell tale signs to look out for. This cigar’s band is dreadful, blurred and blotted. Could do a better forgery with my 1970s John Bull printing set.

Arab is told it’s knock off. He’s adamant it’s not.

An argument ensues. Seeing that he’s losing the argument, he then tries to sell me some property.

I kid you not.

He obviously still thinks I’m his friend Joseph.

176. Au revoir Alaska

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Sunday, 16 June, 2019

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

 

Really don’t want to disembark the ship. Has been an amazing week. Am quite taken with this cruising malarkey so if you have any cruise recommendations, please do let me know.

It’s also the end of the Alaska segment of the trip. Very sad. Five weeks I’ve spent in Alaska and it has flown by. Thoroughly enjoyable. One of my favourite US states.

Au revoir Alaska.

Quick waltz around the ship for a final time. You can get an idea of the facilities from the photos below.

Disembarkation is a breeze. Was expecting hours of immigration queues again to enter Canada. But no. Off ship and in hotel in five minutes. Canada security entails taking a customs declaration form off you and that’s it.

Return to the Pan Pacific Hotel (https://www.panpacific.com/en/hotels-and-resorts/pp-vancouver.html) above the cruise terminal. Has to be a harbour view room. No point paying for a city view to get a view of another tower block across the road when you can have the most amazing view from your bed across the harbour to the snow capped mountains.

175. Abracadabra

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Saturday, 15 June 2019

Inside Passage, British Columbia, Canada

 

Another full day at sea. But a busy one. Plenty of entertainment on board to amuse.

Being involved with theatre (primarily as an amateur lighting designer), thought it would be interesting to ‘Meet the Cast & Crew’ of the ship’s theatre. Very little ‘meet the crew’ sadly, as would have loved to have a tour of their sound and lighting technical room. Instead, it’s just a line up of the dancers and singers. Many a friend of Dorothy amongst the male dancers and singers. After 45 minutes of Q&A, given a backstage tour. Oh good, something interesting at last. Except, it’s not really a backstage tour. Not allowed on stage. The wings are out of bounds. No. It’s just a walk down the back passage to the changing rooms. The male dancers like going up and down the back passage. Everywhere is painted white steel. No soft furnishings here. The dancers get bored apparently. Only have to perform two shows for an hour each week and that’s it. Nothing else to do. They’re glad they’re on a Holland America ship though, as they are allowed to wander about the public areas and use the passenger facilities. Not the case on some other ships apparently, where you’re confined to crew quarters only.

The biggest audience is reserved for the ‘Ask the Captain’ session. He’s a middle aged Dutchman with a very dry sense of humour. Very funny. Really interesting to learn how they navigate, basically a sat-nav like you get in your car, and how they dock. Three booster propellers each side of the bow and the two main propellers at the stern are azimuth types. They negate the need for a rudder as they can rotate 360 degrees.

Yet another highlight of the day is a special matinee show put on by the magician, James Cielen. Has a camera rigged up over a card table so all can see the close up card tricks and other things. It’s so impressive. It is of course, a set up to sell lots of his magic kits, available after the show. All the tricks he demonstrates are in the magic kit and he guarantees that anyone buying the kit will be able to do his ‘magic’.

Well, dear reader, so impressed was I, that I succumbed to the sales pitch. Yes, I shall be impressing dinner party guests, nieces, godchildren and anyone else who crosses my path.

For. I. Am. A. Magician. Now.

A bit of hocus pocus.

Never mind hocus said the actress to the Bishop.

Like a kid at Christmas, I rush back to cabin, magic kit under arm. This is it. Takes an hour to master most of the tricks.

Paul Daniels that I am.

Now that’s magic.

Not a lot.

Easy when you know how.

Be prepared to be impressed folks upon my return.

The ‘variety’ evening show is a mix of the pianist and the magician. Both, once again, are excellent.

I can imagine myself in a few years doing my own one man show.

Bit of piano playing.

Bit of magic.

Ah yes.

Retirement plan.

Yet another awesome day finishes with an impressive moonrise above the Inside Passage as we follow an illuminated cruise ship (see photo below).

174. Hovering about

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Friday, 14 June 2019

Ketchikan, Alaska, USA

 

The most amazing sight as I sit out on deck in the glorious sunshine having breakfast of coffee and Swiss muesli, another Holland America thing I’ve become addicted to.

Yes, dear reader, it’s actually hot enough to sit outside. Gone are the low, grey clouds, rain and coldness that pervaded the Inside Passage further north. Warmer now as we head south.

Whales are breaching about 500m away off the stern. So far when I’ve seen whales breach have just seen a bit of the back, a pectal fin and the tail.

You can imagine my delight then, when a whale comes flying out of the water in a vertical trajectory head first, like a Polaris missile, before smashing itself down onto the water.

Wow.

A full on breach.

Absolutely awesome sight.

My one regret is that in one hand is muesli and in the other, a coffee. With no time to grab my camera from pocket, commit the image to my memory rather than a memory card. Staggeringly beautiful thing to see and experience. So very lucky.

Approach Ketchikan and surprised by how many cruise ships are in port. There are four already, we’re the fifth and another turns up a couple of hours later. Six cruise ships, approximately 13,000 passengers. The mammoth Norwegian Bliss carries 4,000 passengers! It dwarfs the other 2,000 passenger cruise ships in port: Westerdam, Oosterdam, Celebrity Eclipse, Seven Seas Mariner, and the Coral Princess. These cruise ships never fail to impress with their size.

As you may recall from the previous blog entry for Ketchikan. There’s a lot of Indian (as in curry not indigenous) jewellery shops in town. Each offering free charms to entice you in. Coupled with the cruise ship giving everyone vouchers for free charms, spend a charming few minutes collecting charms from various stores. Nieces are going to be inundated with charms. Wonder if I can get away with telling them that no expense was spared in buying jewellery for them? From their favourite Uncle.

For the first time, weather is warm enough to walk around in shirt sleeves and…wait for it…sit out on my veranda. At last.

Saw some hovercrafts as we entered port. Not been on a hovercraft before. Now is the time. Short hour and a half tour of the surrounding islands hovering about. Much quieter than expected and a lot smoother. The air cushion acts as a very good damper as it zips across the waves and wake of larger boats. Speeding along at about 27knots doesn’t feel fast when you look forward and it’s only when you look sideways that you get a sensation of speed.

Pull up in a cove and the crew start chucking frozen herring into the sea. Eagles soon start swooping in close to the hovercraft. Amazing sight being so close as they pluck the herring out of the sea. Sadly see no whales.

Back in Ketchikan, quick waltz around town and the infamous Creek Street. A row of shops and houses built on stilts over the local creek. One of the houses used to be a well known brothel during the gold rush era.

Dinner at my usual table by the window at the stern. Taurean charm had secured this table for the whole week on day one. Best table in the restaurant. On the adjoining table, a couple are celebrating their anniversary. Bloke has ordered a nice bottle of red wine. He goes through the motions of smelling and tasting it before accepting it. As if he knows what he’s talking about.

Woman then asks for a Diet Coke with a load of ice in the glass. It comes in the can, yet unpoured. She tells waiter to leave it as she’ll pour it herself. Assume she wants a refreshing drink before she drinks her wine.

But no.

She pours a good old glug of Diet Coke into her glass of nice, good quality, red wine. Takes a sip. Smacks her lips. Goes. “Aah, that’s better!”

Oiks.

You’ll have to look at the photos below to see tonight’s towel art.

Once again.

Makes me laugh.

173. Oh my God, it’s real!

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Thursday, 13 June 2019

Juneau, Alaska, USA

 

Easy day in Juneau chilling out and visiting a couple of museums. I am, after all, meant to be on holiday.

Receive an email from old friend’s little sister. With a request. Please can I send blogs daily. I try. I do try. Not one to let a young lady down (although we’ve never met), rush back to the ship to retrieve laptop.

Find the local library. Top floor of a multi storey car park. Like Haines yesterday, it’s full of Filipino and Indonesian ships’ crew. There are 4 cruise ships in port today. Westerdam, Oosterdam, Celebrity Eclipse and Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth. You can imagine how busy the library is. And how slow the upload speed is. Takes ages.

So just the one, Mrs Wembley.

Clearly lulled her into a false sense of action. Takes a few more days before blog is updated again.

One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about these two cruises is the evening entertainment. Tonight though is exceptional.

James Cielen. Magician. Google him.

Wow.

Very impressive. Mixture of illusions making a sexy female assistant appear from seemingly nowhere and close up magic with cards.

He does one trick with a silk scarf. It then somehow transforms into a fountain of coloured silk scarves.

And then the piece de resistance.

From the fountain of multi coloured silk scarves a flipping dog suddenly appears. It’s a ‘how the hell did he do that?’ moment.

He picks up the dog. It’s a Pomeranian called Simba. He’s walking around the stage with a dog in his arm. Dog doesn’t seem to be moving. Is it actually real? Is it actually an automaton?

He puts dog down on the stage. It walks a few paces and then sits down.

Woman in the audience shrieks out rather loudly, probably after a glass of wine too many, “Oh my God, it’s real!”

Magician gives her a withering look and says, to much laughter, “Of course, it’s real!”.

He then does another trick with silk scarves and lo and behold produces a second Pomeranian from nowhere.

Two dogs now trotting about.

Very impressive ‘magic’ which leaves you speechless and thinking, ‘How the hell did he do that?’

172. Medical emergency team

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Wednesday, 12 June 2019

Haines, Alaska, USA

 

One of those nights were I just cannot get to sleep. Despite being tired.

1am. Awake.

2am. Wide awake.

3am. Still awake.

4am. Bored of being awake now.

5am. Sleep now required.

Must have been about half five by the time I drop off.

And then.

All hell breaks loose just after 6am.

In the bedhead units are loudspeakers for the emergency alarms.

I can assure you, dear reader, they are very LOUD.

My ear just happens to be inches away from said loudspeaker.

Having just dropped off to a deep sleep, woken with a jolt, the sort to give you a heart attack with fright, as the emergency alarm sounds.

BLAH. BLAH. BLAH. BLAH. BLAH. BLAH. BLAH.

“Medical emergency alert team to cabin 8131. Medical emergency alert team to cabin 8131.”

Jesus Christ. Frightens the life out of me.

Never mind cabin 8131, medical team is required in my cabin 5068. Heart is pounding having just been disturbed by this loud alarm.

It’s a groggy day as I walk around like a zombie in need of sleep.

Still dismal weather as we dock in Haines. Can only assume the ship is docking here as Skagway is for northbound cruise ships. If I thought there wasn’t much to see in Skagway, then Haines has even less. Have decided not to do any more overly priced shore excursions as I’ve already done the ones I wanted to do northbound. So. A day free in Haines. Hmmmm. A leisurely day then.

Across the road from the dock is Fort Seward. Originally a church settlement built in 1881, the US Army arrived and took over the redundant church in 1901 and built up the fort due to the ongoing Canadian border dispute, a few miles away. Decommissioned at the end of World War 2, it was resurrected as Fort Chilkoot by WW2 veterans starting a new community and subsequently incorporated into the town of Haines in 1970. The former parade ground is now, in effect, the local village green and the turn of the last century buildings still line the sides of the parade ground. Interesting walking tour as you travel around the perimeter of the parade ground.

Nearby is the Raptor Centre, but the birds are all in cages hiding away which doesn’t make for good photos, even though you’re quite close. One of the birds, an Eurasian eagle owl, is being displayed on the hand of one of the keepers and you realise how big these owls really are as you get close.

Haines main tourist attraction though is…the Hammer Museum. The world’s first museum of hammers. I kid you not. Their mission? ‘To preserve the history of hammers.’ I kid you not.

Dare I say it, but it is actually quite interesting.

With some time available, make my way to the public library to take advantage of the free wifi and catch up on blogs. Oh yes. As with most libraries, it won’t be that busy. Will it?!

Ho. Ho. Ho.

The world and his wife along with Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all are there.

Never have I seen a library so full of people.

They’re all here for the free wifi. Not just cruise ship passengers, the silver surfers, but also the ship’s crew. It’s full of Filipinos and Indonesians. All taking up valuable bandwidth video calling friends and family.

The ‘high speed’ wifi isn’t so high speed now. It takes ages to upload all the blog photos and videos. Slow going progress. So slow in fact that I have to relocate to a café with free wifi.

Off I go. The things I do for you, dear reader.

Grab a coffee and ask for the wifi login. But. Can I connect. Can I ‘eck. There’s a problem with their wifi. Sod it. Needs to be rebooted. Come on, need to get back to the ship. This is taking ages. Loads of blogs to upload.

After 15mins the wifi issue is resolved. But is dreadfully slow. This is horrendous. Will be glad to get back to civilisation.

Ship silently slides out of Haines after dinner. These ships continue to impress with the silence and manoeuvrability.

As we depart, some lads have rigged up a winch on the quayside and using it to drag a line across the shore line at speed so they can waterski. Quite an ingenious idea. No idea how they’re putting up with the very cold water though.

Like the Noordam, the Westerdam also puts on the BBC Earth Alaska film with live music. It really is a sensational film highlighting Alaska in all its glory. Having watched it on Noordam, reminds me of just how good it is.

And how much I’ve enjoyed Alaska.

171. People playing piano perfectly

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Tuesday, 11 June 2019

Glacier Bay, Alaska, USA

 

Full day cruising up and down Glacier Bay. Given that it was dreadful weather the last time I cruised up and down Glacier Bay a few weeks ago, am due a beautiful blue sky day.

You can imagine my sadness then when I look out of my window to see nothing.

Nada.

It’s a complete white out of low cloud and rain.

Utterly dreadful weather.

Sod it.

Can’t even see the sides of the fjord.

Yes, dear reader, that bad.

As you will see from the photos below.

The weather is not playing its part today.

Highlight of the day though is the evening entertainment.

Jason Lyle Black. A pianist.

A brilliant show and his signature piece is playing the piano whilst lying on his back with hands behind and above, so he can’t see the keys. Best though is the ‘Cheers’ and ‘Pink Panther’ TV themes. Note to self. Start learning these tunes. Piano teacher may be reading this and she’ll be nodding wisely and saying to herself…don’t run before you can walk…

And if that wasn’t enough piano, the ship also has a piano bar with not one but two grand pianos arranged back to back. Two piano players play perfectly in unison.

Has given me impetus to do the ‘P’ word.

Practice.

Can hear piano teacher on the other side of the world exclaiming to herself, “At last!”.