Rain, Rain and More Rain
Our port stop in Juneau is even shorter than Ketchikan, so I opt for room service breakfast, which, same as last time, comes half an hour early and wakes us up. I dash off the ship, only to find that we are a short hop from the town centre, with shuttle buses provided. It’s also pouring down, so I get to wear my garbage bag again.
Juneau is very pretty. It is a little wedge, with green, tree-covered mountains on either side. It is packed full of cruise ship-oriented jewellery and souvenir stalls. My objective, as per usual, is postcards, so I pick out a few, grab a coffee, do an optimistic search for a WiFi network, then give up and head back to the ship to the meeting point for my tour.
Of my ship of 2,225 passengers, I am the only one who has chosen the bike and brewery tour. They team me up with people from other ships at the cycle starting point. Until then, I have my own private bus and tour guide. Apparently Juneau has rain 220 days of the year. I wish I’d know these rain-related facts prior.
We meet the rest of the group, kit up in wet weather gear, have a practice cycle in the car park, then away we go. The rain is constant, but not too heavy, so it’s not too unpleasant to be out in it. We stop a couple of times on the way – once for restrooms, and once to see salmon in the stream. It is spawning season, where the salmon all swim upriver as part of the mating process. Sadly, they die afterwards. I wonder if you can catch the salmon as they die, but no-one can confirm whether this is possible. What a culinary waste.
From our next stop, we have views of the Mendenhall Glacier over a lake. It is stunning. There are small icebergs floating in the murky waters of the lake, some clear and others white. On the other side of the water, the glacier is pure white at the top and sides, then in the central strip is an unearthly aqua blue. Apparently this is due to the density of the ice – it is made from compacted snow, rather than frozen water as such, and therefore, is so dense that it projects the blue colour. I’m sure there a little more scientific theory in there to do with refraction and colour absorption, but I guess I can’t quite take it all in as I stare rapt at the ice flow. It’s hard to believe the icebergs in the lake were one part of the moving flow of ice that is the glacier.
This is also a hot drink and muesli bar stop, which we welcome, and as fortune would have it, the rain momentarily eases. Fortune does not shine on me directly, however, as this is the moment where my camera decides it will no longer zoom. I try everything, but have to concede defeat and ask one of the ladies to send me her shots. The rain comes back as soon as we get on the bikes again.
We cycle around to the glacier visitor centre, which is still across the lake from the glacier, but is closer. It is also teeming with tourists as the bus tours come here as well. The views are great, but the crowds are annoying, so we don’t spend long here. We’re also damp and a little chilly, and I have torn a hole up the side of my waterproof trouser leg, so my jeans are also soggy.
This is where we pack the bikes up and jump in toasty-warm vans to be taken to the Alaska Brewing Company. We all feel we deserve beer now. At the brewery, we have free tasters of the seven or so different brews, refillable for as long as we’re there. We also listen to a brief introduction on the beer-making process. I rate the Pale Ale and Summer Brew quite highly, but I’m not so sure about the Rauchbeer, which has a deliberate smoky flavour. It tastes a little too much like food, rather than drink.
A little red-cheeked, we pile back into the vans and head back to the port, arriving five minutes before the final boarding call.
In the late afternoon, the ship is scheduled to go in to the Misty Fjord to see another glacier. On my way up to the observation deck, I run into Casey, Devo and Jenny, so we go up together and stand in the freezing cold, waiting to enter the channel. My camera takes its last gasp and shuts down entirely. Game over. Time for a new camera. Crap timing. As I am inside warming up, I run into one of the couples I met during a quiz. I mention my camera and Gail immediately offers me the use of hers. She’s quite happy for me to stand in the cold and get the great glacier shots, so she can stay inside, particularly as she and Bob have been to Alaska several times. I eagerly accept and arrange to return the camera later.
The views in the narrows are beautiful, with mountains on either side, some snow-capped, others just green, framing the green-blue glacier water. There are glacier melt waterfalls trickling into the water, and plenty of small- to mid-sized icebergs floating around us. The glacier itself is as stunning as Mendenhall, if not more so, as we manage to maneuver in quite close before the pack ice starts. Again, it is the aqua colour of the ice that is so mesmerising.
After a few hours of this, I run down to the cabin to download the photos so I can return the camera, organising to meet the others again. I find Gail and Bob and they offer me the use of their camera for my excursion tomorrow. Such kind people.
I can’t find the others anywhere, so I give up and go and sit at a table alone. Just after the wait staff remove all the additional place settings, they show up. They had been sidetracked by the sunset. I’m glad I have company for the meal, although the wat staff look somewhat less pleased as they re-do the table settings.
Mushing and More
Once again, room service arrives half an hour early. By now I’ve worked out that I could just order it half an hour later, but knowing my luck, it would be the one day they bring it on time and it would make me late.
I step off the ship in Skagway, and yes, it is raining, but it’s only a light drizzle. Today is the highlight of my shore excursions. I have totally splurged and am going by helicopter over the mountain glaciers, up to a dog mushing camp, where I will be riding on a dog sled. It better be worth the $500 it cost me. It feels like a lot of money, but this may be my only chance in life to do something like this.
The helicopter company reps meet us at the port and once everyone is gathered, we walk over to a small building nearby for our safety briefing. There we don bright orange safety jackets, gloves and hats, and then we move to the landing pads to wait for our helicopter. I was extra nice to the rep and quietly requested the front seat, which I get. There are three in the back and three in the front, including the pilot. I’m in the middle and the views are spectacular, although riding in a helicopter feels a lot more precarious than a standard plane. You can feel the wind currents tugging and pushing the helicopter as you fly. It’s a little unsettling, but the views can’t be beaten as you fly quite low and have windows all around. There are glacial flows all through the mountain range, along with waterfalls and of course, the mountains themselves. It really is spectacular. Luckily, we have headsets on and you have to flick a switch to be heard, otherwise I think all you would have been able to hear would be all of us saying “wow” continuously.
Over one of the mountains, on a snowfield on the edge of the glacier is the dog camp. We touch down here and climb out onto the snow. It’s about 5 degrees, but there is no wind, so it doesn’t feel that cold. There are a couple of white tents for the mushers (the people who take care of the dogs), and off to either side of these are the dogs. There are 250 of them in all, and each one is chained to its own little box kennel. The dogs live most of the year in different towns across the US, but are sent to Alaska during summer to train. They are all racing dogs and compete in dog sled marathons throughout the year.
We follow our musher over and meet the dogs. They are cross breeds and love affection. They also love running, so as soon as they realise they’re going to be on the sled, they go mental. They bark, jump up and down, roll in the snow and strain at their harnesses trying to get started. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Once they are clipped on to the sled, we take our places. I’m with a British couple and we decide we’ll swap places throughout the ride. The dog musher drives the first sled and the lady of the couple sits in front of her. The gentleman sits in front of me as I drive the back sled. This basically involves balancing on the sled rails and holding on until the front sled stops and then you have to push down on the break so you don’t collide. Not too complex. We speed along for a while, then stop for photos, which sets the dogs to barking and leaping around again. We swap places a few times on the way round. It’s a lot of fun.
The helicopter flight back down is much faster. I head to the ship for lunch since it’s free – why pay when I don’t need to? I then walk along the pier into the town. Skagway is a cute little place. A lot of the buildings are original from the gold rush era, including the Red Onion Saloon. There are also the jewellery shops every metre. I stop in at the visitor centre, which is quite interesting in itself as the builder collected over a thousand pieces of driftwood to decorate the façade.
My next stop is the library so I can get online, which takes a few hours, then I take myself on a self-guided walking tour of the town…in the rain…wearing my garbage bag. I fill in the rest of the day browsing the stores.
Lost at Sea
We are at sea for the next two days, which I’m not looking forward to, but I decide to go to all the trivia quizzes and get some gym time in. I start with a couple of hours at the gym after breakfast. Throughout the day, I run into all the people I’ve met so far. I also return the camera to Gail, along with some chocolate to say thank you. The day passes by surprisingly quickly.
I meet up with Casey, Devo and Jenny for the show before dinner. Tonight’s show is called Cirque Pan. It’s an attempt at a Cirque de Soleil-style version of Peter Pan, which doesn’t really work, although there are a few fantastic acrobatic stunts in there. The story is a bit obscure though, and some of the characters have no relevance…or none we can work out anyway.
After dinner, the dance party starts in the disco. It is White Hot and everyone has to wear white. This doesn’t really work for me, since all of my clothes are black. Casey is using a bed sheet as a toga, so I get creative and wrap toilet paper around my waist and sleeves, with a big bow at the front, plus a bow tie. The party is so much fun. We spend a few hours on the dance floor and my toilet paper comes in handy as sweat towels – we just tear pieces off as required.
Onboard Entertainment
Another sea day. I go to breakfast, then head to the dance class scheduled for today. The teachers obviously haven’t planned ahead at all. They start with a review of the Cha Cha Cha routine from the first day, without checking how many people actually came to that class, so that is a little chaotic. My previous dance partner is there, but he has brought his Mum, so naturally, he dances with her and I have to beg a different guy to dance with me. After mashing the Cha Cha Cha, we start on a quick Rumba routine, which is quite interesting since I’ve never done it before, but they teach the basic step and one move, then give up. They then teach the basic jive step before ending the class. I think I see relief on their faces.
I stumble across a BBQ on the back deck of the boat and the sun has finally made an appearance, so it’s quite pleasant sitting outside. After lunch, I go to the gym to work it off. The afternoon is filled with trivia sessions. Dinner is memorable – I try escargot for the first time. The snails are cooked in butter and garlic and are delicious, but I suspect you could put old shoe leather in butter and garlic and it would be delicious.
The first show tonight is an amateur show done by the staff of the ship. Some are incredibly talented. Others not so much. Between the first and second shows there is a karaoke competition. Three singers have been selected already from a previous session and they are competing. They are all pretty terrible. We cheer anyway.
Later, we join something called Quest, in the disco. None of us has any idea what Quest is. It turns out to be a kind of scavenger hunt, where we have 30 seconds to find each item, show the hosts and collect the points. It starts tamely, with things like find someone with a tattoo that is not on their arm (I covered off on that one) and get two shoelaces out of the shoes. It then moves on to tougher challenges, like get two guys without their shirts to skip on the stage. For the finale, they turn the lights off and a couple from each team has to exchange clothes. We don’t win, but we have fun trying.
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