Back when I was in school teachers would always scare me with stories of how my exploits would end up in my permanent record. I believe this is it! – Geoff Fox
Still working on the photos from Alaska. Crazy, right? You’d think I’d be done by now.
Here are two side projects that sort of turned up.
A friend of Helaine’s has a son who loves trains. For him I compiled my best shots of the White Pass and Yukon Route, a narrow gauge railroad we took from Skagway into British Columbia.
This train is unlike any excursion train you can imagine with some unbelievable views.
My friend Jacob Wycoff lent me a GoPro Hero video camera for the trip. I had so much else going on I hardly got to use it, except for timelapse. This one was taken as we cruised into Glacier Bay.
The camera was mounted above the sliding door to the balcony. The lens is a little too wide for this particular shot, but there’s no way to redo it now.
Here’s the math: Approximately 6100 shot which lead to 165 making the final cut. That’s 2.7%. I took a lot of bad shots!
With my back giving me fits I’ve become one with the sofa in the family room. It’s where I’m spending all my waking hours. There’s a good view of the TV, but not much else productive you can easily do on your back or side. I know this because I spent a good part of last night and today wrangling vacation pictures from our Alaska cruise!
Here’s the math: Approximately 6100 shot which led to 165 making the final cut. That’s 2.7%. I took a lot of bad shots!
Each of the 165 got run through Photoshop. No shot leaves the camera perfect. They all need a little help. Sometimes it’s little things like contrast and sharpening. A significant percentage of the pictures need more.
I’ve removed spots from dust on my camera’s sensor, straightened the horizon where it was tilted, cropped, dodged and burned. In a few cases I’ve changed the relationship between the sky and clouds to eek out more detail.
This is very time consuming, but it’s an integral piece in turning a snapshot into a photograph.
There will be three ‘outputs’ from the trip.
Animated slideshow
Photo book
Large prints
I created the slideshow last night (the YouTube video at the bottom of this blog post). In the past I’ve used Animoto and was very happy with the result. This time I used Windows Live Movie Maker, the free video editing program built into Windows. It’s not particularly good nor particularly versatile.
The slideshow itself came out nicely, though it was a time consuming pain in the ass.
The photo book was also labor intensive! I began working on it last night by uploading each of the individual 16 megapixel photos. Today, with the photos online, I worked on putting the book together.
If you’ve never done one of these you should know they’re not difficult. Some sites even allow you to automate the entire process. You still get a book, but I don’t think they’re as good. The quality of your finished product is be reflective of the effort you’ve expended.
My book is 48 8″x8″ pages. Some pages have one photo while others have as many as four. They’re grouped together by geography. I can’t wait to see how it comes out.
A few years ago I stopped by Ikea and loaded up on large picture frames. I will print another five or six images to fill those. That should happen tomorrow.
Most of the time I take pictures they don’t get printed. If I did we’d have run out of walls years ago!
My best advice is plan an extra day or two at the end of a vacation, especially a physically active vacation like our Alaska cruise, to relax and get ready to reenter society. That’s advice we didn’t take!
Our ship pulled into Seattle early Saturday morning. We were bushed. We also had plans… oh did we have plans.
As Helaine and I cruised the Alaskan Panhandle a few weeks ago I diligently posted to my blog every day. By the time we got back to Seattle… well, I was just too beat. That’s a shame, because Seattle was just as much a fun surprise as the rest of the trip!
Here goes.
My best advice is plan an extra day or two at the end of a vacation, especially a physically active vacation like our Alaska cruise, to relax and get ready to reenter society. That’s advice we didn’t take!
Our ship pulled into Seattle early Saturday morning. We were bushed. We also had plans… oh did we have plans.
We got our bags, found a stevedor, hailed a cab and headed to the Sheraton. This day was destined to be a tip-o-rama. Oy!
Our room wasn’t going to be available until mid-afternoon so we gave the bellman our bags (and some cash) and headed out to explore the city. As was the case a week earlier when we’d boarded the ship, Seattle was sunny and welcoming.
We’d spent the previous week walking and today would be no different! I asked the concierge for directions to the Pike Place Market. We set out downhill.
Pike Place Market is probably more known for its iconic sign than what’s inside! Shame. It’s a really cool collection of small stands selling produce, flowers and fish with a some professional crafters thrown in for good measure. The market overflows onto the adjacent sidewalks. Everything is grown, caught or created locally.
Helaine was immediately impressed by the beautifully large bouquets of flowers $10-$15 bought! Other items… well you’re paying for the experience I guess. Everything looked fresh, wholesome and inviting. We bought some jam to take home and a t-shirt for me so I could change out of my long sleeve shirt!
There are a lot of street musicians in Seattle. Near Pike Place most of them were playing jazz. It fits perfectly.
We noticed a long line outside a Starbucks across the street from the market. Seattle is a coffee drinking city, but this queue was more than you’d expect. The non-standard sign was the giveaway. It’s the original Starbucks!
I should have. I didn’t. So shoot me Howard Schultz.
A phone call from the hotel brought us back uphill to get our bags (same bellman, second tip) and settle in. That didn’t last long. There was more to see and do!
Helaine had purchased a half price Groupon deal for the Columbia Center Observation Deck. At 73 floors up it’s the best view of the city… better than the Space Needle!
Unfortunately the observation deck is tough to find! In fact even getting in the building was tough to do! Once inside we were pointed to an elevator which needed a key card to head to the 40th floor transfer station. We had to find someone to do that.
Someone on Yelp summed it up this way:
Finding the elevators, and figuring out where to go really is confusing. It’s like a secret club, and a maze all mixed up into one.
I wish there was a way to take photos without glass between me and outside. There is not.
In the elevator down we ran into two high school friends. We had tickets to see the Mariners and asked if Safeco Field was walkable. They acted as our tour guides tagging along through Pioneer Square.
This is a good time to hit pause and talk a little about Seattle itself. It is a big city and by all outward appearances prosperous. We were in the business district and it seemed stores were moving in, not out. The city is clean and full of people.
There are also more homeless people than I have ever seen in an American city. Is it the affluence that’s their draw? I don’t know, but they’re there.
We were never approached or bothered in any way, but we felt uneasy going through Pioneer Square on the way to and from Safeco Field.
Helaine purchased our tickets on Stubhub before we left Connecticut. We sat on the field level 20 rows behind home plate and paid under $100 for the two tickets. A losing season for the Mariners is probably the reason why.
The roof was over the field when we arrived. Around 20 minutes before game time it slowly and silently slid open exposing us all to this spectacular Seattle weather! Nice touch. It was better this way than if it had been open from the get-go.
The game itself was pretty good too… unexpectedly good. Seattle’s “King” Felix Hernandex struck out 10 while Texas starter Yu Darvish got lit up early. The Mariners won 7-0 and they passed out free Ichiro shirts!
Helaine needed to wake-up at 2:30 AM to get ready for our flights back to Connecticut, so we left after the 7th inning stretch and walked back to the hotel. Damn Seattle is hilly! My post trip calculation was a little less than five hilly miles of walking as we ended our vacation.
I’d very much like to go back and see more of the Pacific Northwest.
I had a goal as today approached: Don’t leave the house. Mission accomplished!
I still haven’t recuperated from our Alaskan vacation! I’m sure my cold has something to do with it, but I just haven’t snapped back yet. Every day has has ended with me still exhausted.
I had a goal as today approached: Don’t leave the house. Mission accomplished!
I still haven’t recuperated from our Alaskan vacation! I’m sure my cold has something to do with it, but I just haven’t snapped back yet. Every day has has ended with me still exhausted.
There were still a few goals beyond remaining in pajamas. My Alaskan photos still needed attention.
Before leaving Connecticut I cleared out 100 gigabytes from my laptop’s hard drive. That should have been enough space, right? In a perfect world, yes, but hard drives need a little breathing room. You shouldn’t fill them to the brim.
I ended up using an old iPod I’d brought along as a backup drive! Ask me how scary it was to move the photos there while at sea and then erase the original photo files? Extremely! You can only pray it works.
Today the iPod and laptop’s drives were spooled off onto a 3 terabyte external drive I ordered from NewEgg before we left ($129 including shipping for 3,000,579,911,680 bytes of storage). Nearly three hours just to move the files!
I shot over 6,100 photos in Alaska. It’s less than you think. I shot with reckless abandon. Often the ‘motor drive’ function kicked in. That’s eight shots a second while hoping a whale would flaps his tail or an eagle take to the sky. Most aren’t worth saving.
In Canon’s RAW format that’s 72.3 gigabytes.
My job is to go through each photo day-by-day choosing the best. That’s harder than it seems. I’m hoping to hang onto fewer than 200 shots from the nine days we were away.
Here are the ‘best of’ shots from our whale watching trip out of Juneau. Tomorrow I’ll try and finish the rest and finally post a blog entry from our day in Seattle.
Yesterday when our FoxCT anchor Alison Morris suggested I show some vacation photos during my science segment I was uneasy. Too easy! Self serving! Gratuitous!
Maybe I was wrong? Our 4:00 PM and 10:00 PM producers thought it was a good idea and the pics would run on their shows.
Yesterday when our FoxCT anchor Alison Morris suggested I show some vacation photos during my science segment I was uneasy. Too easy! Self serving! Gratuitous!
Maybe I was wrong? Our 4:00 PM and 10:00 PM producers thought it was a good idea and the pics would run on their shows. I decided to do it.
The science tie-in is the Alaska Panhandle’s relationship with water. It has shaped and controls nearly every piece of nature. The land has been scoured and shaped by water.
Our vacation is over, but there are still pieces I need to talk about. One is Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. We went knowing it would be pretty. Nothing prepared us for what we found. It is nothing less than spectacular, even on the thundery night we visited.
Our vacation is over, but there are still pieces I need to talk about. One is Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. We went knowing it would be pretty. Nothing prepared us for what we found. It is nothing less than spectacular, even on the thundery night we visited.
Robert Butchart was a Canadian businessman who manufactured Portland cement using limestone from a quarry he owned.
As Mr. Butchart exhausted the limestone in the quarry near their house, his enterprising wife, Jennie, conceived an unprecedented plan for refurbishing the bleak pit. From farmland nearby she requisitioned tons of top soil, had it brought to Tod Inlet by horse and cart, and used it to line the floor of the abandoned quarry. Little by little, under Jennie Butchart’s supervision, the abandoned quarry blossomed into the spectacular Sunken Garden.
Today Butchart Gardens is still in the family and tended to by fifty gardeners who keep it in bloom year round.
We’ll be off the ship in less than 24 hours. That’s sad, but no regrets. This has been a great cruise and a great vacation.
Our ship, Golden Princess, is spectacular. It’s large. There are times (though not often) when you look around and say, “Wow, there are lots of people here.” Most of the time there’s plenty of room.
Having a balcony is a luxury, absolutely. I, much more than Helaine, have taken advantage of that.
The ship is beautifully maintained. You can’t walk through the Golden Princess without seeing someone vacuuming or polishing or (if you’re on deck) painting. Raul, our room steward, fixes the room and brings fresh towels twice a day.
The food has been excellent, though we grew tired of the pace and formality of the dining room. For the past few days we’ve eaten all our meals at the buffet. Secret: it’s same food! Last night we had lobster tails… and it was much easier for us to get seconds and thirds!
We haven’t taken full advantage of the entertainment. We’ve gone to none of the review shows. These usually feature an ensemble cast of eager young singers and dancers. We did see an illusionist and comedian. Both were very good.
There are spots on the ship I still haven’t visited! There’s a nightclub high above the ship’s stern in a structure that looks like an autombile’s rear spoiler. I couldn’t tell you how to get there though one afternoon I tried!
There’s an immense movie screen above the pool midship on Deck 14. They show movies ‘under the stars.’ The lounge chairs are covered and blankets handed out for warmth. It looks like a blast. We haven’t gotten around to it.
Everywhere you look there are signs the end is near. I had to cash out my poker account at the casino. As is often the case I did better in cash games than tournaments. Even with the ship’s high ‘rake’ I was able to cash out a profit of $9.50! I’ll try not to spend it in one place.
I played a lot less poker than usual, probably because the poker table was mostly empty.
Folks are settling their onboard tabs. We don’t drink, but it’s my understanding it’s significantly more expensive drinking here than onshore.
People have also been buying at the shops and art auctions and have to settle up.
Why buy here? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this is among the world’s most expensive stores.
There’s an old joke about Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. “They’re having a big sale,” it begins. “Everything’s marked down to retail!” Same thing here.
Cloudy skies have returned. We’re hoping it’s dry tonight in Victoria. We’re going to Boucher Gardens. Think of it as a treat for “Clicky.
The time difference makes it tough to get to Connecticut from Seattle on a Saturday afternoon. We’ll spend the day exploring the city, see the Mariners play the Rangers and leave early Sunday morning. ATC willing we’ll be reunited with Doppler before the Sun sets.
Ketchikan is sweetly quirky as only a small town can be. Chico’s Mexican Restaurant claims to have the town’s best pizza. A young blond women holding a cup of coffee was the traffic signal at one corner. She was coordinating with an equally young man across the street.
I am living a scene in a movie! I’ve just leaned back to look out the open door from our cabin to its balcony. Sunset is nearly six hours away, but the Sun is now low enough to make the entire ocean glisten. We’ve moved away from land.
We spent this morning in Ketchikan. It is America’s rainiest city¹. There are a handful of days each year with blue skies. Today was one!
If you’re from Ketchikan I mean you no disrespect, but cruise ships stop here because it’s convenient. Ketchikan is about as far south as you can go and still be in Alaska. There’s little else here that can’t be found elsewhere… and usually with better weather.
We went to the world famous “Liquid Sunshine” rain gauge. They’re up to 80″ this year already! I tried to jump to the marker. The takeaway: I can dunk in the NBA when they put in seven foot baskets.
As with most cruise ship ports-of-call commerce flourishes dockside. There are places to get t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee cups and woolen Alaskan beard caps. A nearly constant parade of float planes (many older than their pilots or passengers) takeoff and land in the water alongside the sihps.
Ketchikan is sweetly quirky as only a small town can be. Chico’s Mexican Restaurant claims to have the town’s best pizza. A young blond women holding a cup of coffee was the traffic signal at one corner. She was coordinating with an equally young man across the street.
Walk inland a little farther you see Ketchikan isn’t living in good times. There are lots of vacancies and derelict buildings. One substantial structure has a wire mesh draped across the front–most likely to keep it from collapsing.
We walked over to Creek Road. The creek looks like it has a bus to catch! There are no lazy rivers in Alaska… at least none I saw.
As is the norm post-9/11 we were accompanied into town by a Coast Guard speedboat. On the bow stood a guardsman with a machine gun. This was unnerving in Seattle and the other ports. It’s still freaky.
I stood on the balcony as we started the long sail toward Victoria, BC. There were more water spouts from whales, one eagle flying by and the other standing sentry next to a channel marker. There was also a pretty ugly lighthouse. It’s still worth watching.
Just as there’s subtext to stopping in Ketchikan, the same goes for our call in Victoria. If a ship carries passengers solely between American ports it has to register in the United States and follow all our laws. By stopping in Canada, even for a just a few hours Friday evening, this ship gets to fly the flag of Bermuda and employ an international crew. Think of America as Princesses friend-with-benefits.
¹ – There is a mountainous area in Hawaii which gets more rain, but no one lives there.
I stood on the deck with my camera gear wearing a winter coat with lining, woolen socks, waterproof shoes, earmuffs and fingerless gloves. When the wind blew (and it does any time the ship’s moving) the cold cut right through me… and it’s July! No wonder this place empties out for the winter.
I can safely say I’ve never been anywhere like Alaska! This ship has taken us places beyond my imagination. They can only be described in superlatives.
Everything is bigger. Everything is farther. So much is untouched and unspoiled.
I’m typing this while sitting on my balcony. My comfort level is higher, but what I’m looking at is what the explorers who first visited Alaska saw.
During our cruise through Glacier Bay a National Park Service ranger mentioned the nearest road was 65 miles away! That’s crazy. Yet it’s easy to be even farther off the beaten path.
Our trip has passed more islands than I can count. They’re actually more like mountains in a flood.
There are no meadows or plains. There is no flat land. There is water and there is slope.
Mike, our driver from Tuesday, explained how to tell how high mountains in this part of Alaska rise. The tree line is roughly 3,500 feet. Glaciers once covered this land to 5,000 feet. If a mountaintop is smooth or softly rounded it was ground by glaciers. It’s under 5,000 feet. If it’s got a sharp peak it’s taller.
One of my Mississippi State professors taught us water is the universal solvent. Nowhere is that more evident than in Alaska. Everything we see was shaped by water, often in the form of ice.
We visited three major glaciers today. A glacier is just a river of ice. Maybe I should skip the word ‘just’ because at least one of them was 250 feet high and moves seven feet a day.
I’ll be honest, at first I was disappointed in Glacier Bay. Then it hit me. I can’t explain why or when, but all of a sudden the beauty struck me. I didn’t want the ship to leave. It is among the most awesome places I’ve ever been.
I stood on the deck with my camera gear wearing a winter coat with lining, woolen socks, waterproof shoes, earmuffs and fingerless gloves. When the wind blew (and it does any time the ship’s moving) the cold cut right through me… and it’s July! No wonder this place empties out for the winter.
We’re on our way to Ketchikan. We’ll spend a half day there before the long cruise to Victoria, BC.
It’s too large to be just a lighthouse. The large building is big enough for a family or families.
Whatever it is it’s only reachable by boat or seaplane and it’s really far from it’s nearest neighbor. Feel free to play the drums at 3:00 AM!
We left Skagway last night and headed south through the Lynn Canal. At 10:54 PM ADT we passed a small island. No big deal, we’ve passed hundreds of islands.
This one had buildings! That’s unusual.
The large building serves as a lighthouse. There are at least three other structures visible in the photo I took from my balcony.
What is this?
It’s too large to be just a lighthouse. The large building is big enough for a family or families.
Whatever it is it’s only reachable by boat or seaplane and it’s really far from it’s nearest neighbor. Feel free to play the drums at 3:00 AM!
I’m curious. If you know what it is please let me know.
From inside our small bus the bear looked soft and playful. Cute. He was the emodiment of a teddy bear. Looks are deceiving.
It’s finally getting dark. It’s near 11:00 PM ADT and we’re steaming toward Glacier Bay from Skagway. The air is chilly. The sky is overcast. We’re in a fjord. The mountains come right to the shore!
We had an amazing day. The morning started with an early departure on the White Pass and Yukon Route, a narrow gauge railroad that took us up nearly 3,000 feet in 20 miles. That’s steep.
Narrow gauge means the tracks are closer together than what we’re used to seeing. Narrow gauge railroads can navigate sharper curves… and this one surely did!
I spent most of the journey standing between cars shooting stills and video. The scenery is breathtaking with mountain vistas, sheer dropoffs, trestles, tunnels, waterfalls and rapids.
At White Pass Summit we crossed the border to Canada. We met our tour driver Mike at the station in Fraser, BC.
Mike drove north past large and beautifully clear lakes toward Carcross, Yukon Territory. This is one of those weird stories where an early settler was tired of his mail getting sent to one of the other settlments named Caribou Crossing, so he shortened it to Carcross. The name stuck.
We stopped there for lunch and to take a quick dog sled ride. There’s snow on the mountains, but where we were the dogs pulled a wheeled sled.
Helaine and I were apprehensive, but we both felt the driver who took us out was sincere in her love for the dogs and her explanation of their breeding and desire to pull.
Each dog was tethered to the main lead. Those tethers were taught. Each dog was pulling hard with no encouragement other than the driver’s voice. It is what they were born to do!
We headed south back down the mountains toward Skagway. We made a few stops at lakes and waterfalls and then Mike pulled sharp to the right. We weren’t in an official parking area, just on the shoulder. It didn’t take long to understand why.
Right under our window was an adult brown bear! Mike’s estimate was 165 pounds. Nop one was questioning that.
I picked up my camera. Wrong lens!
My 10-20mm was on. It’s a wide angle lens good for scenery, not bears. The lens makes him look farther from the camera than he really was. In reality he was nearly close enough to reach out and touch!
From inside our small bus the bear looked soft and playful. Cute. He was the emodiment of a teddy bear. Looks are deceiving.
The bear was the icing on the cake. It was another amazing day in a region that’s larger than life in every possible way.
I have noticed lots of questions on Facebook and in the comments here. As soon as I return I’ll try and answer all of them. Right now slow Internet access and vacationing is taking up all my time.
Some of you have said Alaska is on your bucket list. We still have three full days to go, but my advice is fill your bucket!
Our first sighting was a disappointment. My camera refused to focus in the murkiness and without focus it wouldn’t shoot!
From there things got better in a hurry. Spotting whales is as easy as spotting the spray from their blowholes then waiting for them to submerge… or at least that’s how it worked today.
I slept well last night. I just didn’t sleep long, up around 6:30 ADT. A quick look onto the balcony brought disappointment. The fog was pea soup thick!
I knew we were in the Stephens Passage heading toward Juneau, but there were no spatial clues. I couldn’t see the shore which I assumed was close.
I tried to get some more sleep unsuccessfully. A second look outside brought more fog–not as thick.
This is unlike any other place I’ve ever been.
Stephens Passage is flanked by stubby mountains speckled with snow patches. The lower two thirds of the mountains were covered with tall spruce trees. Intermittently the trees and mountains disappeared in fog streamers.
It was chilly, foggy and gloomy. At least it wasn’t rainy. That came after breakfast! It rains in Juneau on average 222 days per year and today would be no exception!
This was our whale watching day. Helaine made the arrangements with “Harv and Marv” before we left Connecticut. We were picked up dockside and taken by van to Harv and Marv’s place a dozen miles away.
Our guide was Captain Liz (who I’d later hug). Our boat had room for nine or ten, but was limited to six. The perfect size!
It was pouring as we headed out. Other boats full of tourists were headed in the same direciton. Many were larger with open air upper decks–useless today.
Liz monitored the radio chatter. Whales don’t seem to be spooked by boats, so we headed where others were seeing them.
Our first sighting was a disappointment. My camera refused to focus in the murkiness and without focus it wouldn’t shoot! Was that it? Would I be shut out?
Things got better in a hurry. Spotting whales is as easy as spotting the spray from their blowholes then waiting for them to submerge… or at least that’s how it worked today.
We caught sight of whales at least a dozen times. Once we counted a pod of eight or nine.
After the whales we found some seals and eagles We were never as close as I’d hoped for, but close enough.
This is one of those amazing moments never to be forgotten!
The steady rain got in the way of my shots. Nothing in the distance is sharp when shot through random drops. I am still pleased with how it came out.
On the way back from the dock we stopped at Mendenhall Glacier. Yes, Juneau has its own glacier with a remarkably swift flowing waterfall right alongside.
I’m not sure I was able to properly absorb the size. That will have to wait for Wednesday when we hit Glacier Bay.
The Golden Princess is heading toward Juneau. Off the balcony is the hazy outline of the mountainous Queen Charlotte Islands. It’s one of those places you see on a map and never give a second thought. It is wilderness in a far away and often inhospitable place.
It’s 9:20 PM PDT. There’s still an hour of daylight to go! You get that when you’re this far north and west.
The Golden Princess is heading toward Juneau. Off the balcony is the hazy outline of the mountainous Queen Charlotte Islands. It’s one of those places you see on a map and never give a second thought. It is wilderness in a far away and often inhospitable place.
It’s 9:20 PM PDT. There’s still an hour of daylight to go! You get that when you’re this far north and west.
Today is the lazy day on this cruise. We’re in transit at sea. The noontime announcement from the bridge said we were making 22 knots and over 6,500 feet of ocean beneath the keel. It’s tough to estimate, but I’d say we’re at least ten miles offshore.
Helaine and I got up early and headed to breakfast. There’s a large buffet on the Lido Deck. By law all ships must have a buffet on the Lido Deck, right?
I loaded bagels and lox on my plate and set out looking for somewhere to sit. A couple seeing our plight asked if we’d like to share their table. Breakfast with Joe and Michelle from San Francisco was very nice.
There was a poker tournament this morning. I placed second. $60 in, $150 out. I’m happy.
We’ve done a lot of walking, both vertically and horizontally. This ship is a few city blocks long and in spots goes to Deck 17. We walk everywhere… even to get pizza (Deck 14 24 hours a day) or coffee.
After dinner tonight we headed to the theater for Alexander, an illusionist. He was very good. The audience not so much! I felt his pain when the act was strong, but applause weak.
Tomorrow around noon we arrive in Juneau. We’ve got reservations to go whale watching with Harv and Marv. We’re psyched. Pictures we’ve seen lead us to believe we’ll be up close and personal with the whales.
To guarantee success I’m bringing a bag of Purina Whale Chow… and there’s always Photoshop.
Out in the open ocean my only Internet access is via the ship’s satellite. It is expensive and purchased by the minute. I’ll try and use it wisely. It’s going to make answering questions on Facebook much more difficult. I hope people understand. In the US ports there should be AT&T data and voice service for our cell phones.
And now, Day One at sea.
Good morning. I had a great night’s sleep as we head north rocking ever so gently.
The ship has a dedicated navigation and weather channel. We’ve traveled 335 miles since Seattle and are now abreast the northern tip of Vancouver Island. If you’re keeping score we’re at 50°22’ north 128°52’ west.
The sea is calm with hardly a ripple. The sky is overcast–thick, low overcast with a few sunny breaks miles east. The island’s mountainous terrain is dimly visible through distant haze. It’s unusual to see this kind of low stratus without rain, but there is none at the moment.
This kind of weather is what’s expected. The west coast of Canada and Alaska are wet! There are rain forests (not tropical) here. Last night as the Sun set we sailed alongside a well defined fog bank,
Yesterday was our departure day. At 3:15 PM, before we left, the ship held a muster drill. We’ve cruised before. Those drills are usually held at sea.
Post Costa Concordia the drill has become a scary affair! No, we aren’t scared of this ship hitting a rock and sinking, but the folks running the drills surely are! We were instructed in everything including the proper method in jumping off the ship.
We have ‘anytime’ dining. As it turned out that doesn’t work when everyone comes at once. We waited a half hour for a table with Helaine holding the kind of large beeper you’d get at Olive Garden.
The food was very good. She had fish, I had prime rib. For dessert Helaine had a soufflé and I had carrot cake.
We will eat well! In order to combat that we’ve turned the Golden Princess into our own gigantic Stair Master! We did at least 50 flights yesterday as we went to the large atrium, shops and public areas on Deck 5, the pools and casual dining on Deck 14 (there is no Deck 13) and everywhere in between.
I am sitting on our balcony still docked at Pier 91, Seattle. Our ship is the Golden Princess. At 4:00 PM PDT she is scheduled to back out of the slip and head to the Pacific via the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
I have a spectacular view of Seattle all the way from the Space Needle past Safeco and Century Link Fields and the working docks. From time-to-time large car carrying ferries head to suburban neighborhoods on nearby islands.
Dominating the background is Mt. Rainer. The upper half is still covered in snow. Think giant scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I am sitting on our balcony still docked at Pier 91, Seattle. Our ship is the Golden Princess. At 4:00 PM PDT she is scheduled to back out of the slip and head to the Pacific via the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
I have a spectacular view of Seattle all the way from the Space Needle past Safeco and Century Link Fields and the working docks. From time-to-time large car carrying ferries head to suburban neighborhoods on nearby islands.
Dominating the background is Mt. Rainer. The upper half is still covered in snow and a small trailing lenticular cloud. It looks like a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream.
In Seattle, a city known for its rain, we are looking at cloud free skies!
If you’ve been cruising you recognize ships like the Golden Princess. We’ve been on enough to see the similarities. It’s very pretty and very well kept.
Our cabin is on Deck 12, toward the stern, starboard side. We’ve never been in a cabin with as much closet space!
