Atlantis Summer in Alaska Cruise
June 4 – 11, 2006
Rarely do you get to experience 7 days of Alaska without a drop of rain.
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June 4 – 6
We left Vancouver, BC on a cloudy evening and set sail north towards the Inside Passage. We awoke to our ship sailing this narrow channel between mountain ranges with waterfalls and streams dotting both sides. For those who say we don't need that much unspoiled wilderness, visit this part of the world where all you see and hear is nature.
Ketchikan was a fishing town. Cut off by the mountains to the East, it is only accessible by water and air. We created quite a stir when a small walking tour with one of our "celebrities", Miss Richfield 1981, turned into a full-on parade with 150 people mobbing the small streets. Needless to say, we didn't make everyone happy, but it was Ketchikan's first Pride parade!
June 7
Junea is an old fishing and mining town wedged between the Gasineau Channel and Mt. Hunter. It's also the capital of Alaska and a very small town. The day we were there it was host to four cruise ships. I rode the Mt. Hunter tram 2000 feet up the mountain, and took a short scenic hike with some friends. You could see for a 100 miles in any direction.
Click here to view some panoramic images I assembled of Alaska.
Click here for some Quicktime Virtual Reality tours (Beware! Very large files.)
June 8
As you approach Hubbard Glacier, you have no idea of its actual size. There are no landmarks to help with the scale. The face of the glacier seen in the pictures spans 6 miles with Russell Fjord poking out at the right side. The ship approached slowly through an ice field for about an hour before turning broadside to the glacier about a half mile from the face. It was then we realized that our 150 foot tall ship was dwarfed by the 300 foot face of this massive ice wall. As it "calved", the sound of the ice crashing into the water was like thunder. It's hard to imagine a thousand people staring at ice for almost three hours!
June 9
Sitka was alternately claimed by the local tribes and Russia before finally being sold to the US. It still has a large Russian and native population as well as a large quantity of souvenir shops selling nesting dolls and apparel made of fur. The weather changes constantly with banks of low clouds and fog rolling through unexpectedly. Bald eagles fly overhead in amazing quantity.
© 2006 Joseph Hoffman