Alaska: Awesome!

On our small ship, the Spirit of 98, every cabin came equipped with binoculars. And the ship itself had a resident naturalist on board plus an extra Park Service guide who came aboard when we got to the Glacier Bay. The emphasis, as you can see, was on wildlife and nature ... so up close and personal we could see the teeth.

And did we see wildlife! Huge brown bears and cuddly black bears, hundreds of mountain goats, a couple moose, hundreds of enormous sea lions, two pods of Orca whales and too many Humpback whales to count. Harbor porpoises swam along and under the ship, sea otters flirted and harbor seals waited on shore. There was incredible bird-watching too, my favorites were the puffins. We saw more eagles than Minnesota has mosquitoes.

We started with a full day and night in Juneau and then got on the ship for a cruise down the Inland Waterway to Seattle. Cruise West has ships going both directions plus all sorts of land excursions too. Skagway was first with a ride on the Whitepass and Yukon Railroad, traveling high into the snowy mountains for a view of the old gold fields. We loved the old-world charm of Sitka with its Russian architecture and history. In Ketchikan we visited Saxman Village for native dancing, stories and an incredible collection of ancient totems.

The cabins were lovely, meals great and staff young and fun. With only 50-100 guests on board these smaller ships, it's like a posh party on a private yacht. But the thing we liked the best was the smaller size of our ship which allowed us to get really close to nature. We got so close the the glaciers, we could hear them breathing. We slipped into narrow passages where a big ship can't go. If he saw a pod of whales, our captain would turn the ship right around and follow them so we could get another look. Or he'd stop the ship entirely to give us a better look at a bear on shore without disturbing the bear.

We went to Alaska in May which turned out to be a great choice. While it still can be chilly, especially in the ice fields, all the animals are out and the hordes of tourists aren't.
   Joan Murphy Pride