Cruising Alaska’s Inside Passage
Hubbard Glacier.
✪ Text and photos: Bel Kambach, [email protected]
Cruising Alaska’s Inside Passage provides an opportunity to experience the thunderous roar of a
glacier calving from a 1,000-foot wall of brilliant blue ice as it crashes into the waters below, get
up-close and personal with local wildlife, catch wild Alaska salmon and experience Alaska’s native
culture at its best. But getting to this pristine slice of heaven isn’t easy. Southeast Alaska has no major
roads, and to get there you must fly or float.
T
he heart of Alaska’s Inside Passage is the Alaskan Marine
Highway. This long coastal strip of Southeast Alaska consists of a myriad of islands, an infinite curve of coastline, still
unexplored rivers, inlets, and coves – all backed by the wilderness
of mountains, glaciers, and waterways.
Of a certain age and decorated to impress, Regent Seven Seas
Navigator is the perfect size ship to explore Alaska’s Inside Passage. My family’s recent northbound voyage between Vancouver,
BC, and Seward, Alaska was proof positive that the 49th state is no
longer the geriatric destination it was once thought to be. Instead,
it’s one of great appeal to younger, more active travelers, and
thanks to the line’s eclectic program offerings – both onboard and
ashore – now couples and families with children can also enjoy this
fun-filled, nine-night cruise. The estimated average age of the 490
cruisers aboard Navigator I’m guessing was around 50, and we
were among the families in their forties traveling with children in tow.
The line has a nine-day Grand Alaska cruise, starting in Vancouver, Canada and ending in Anchorage (Seward). These cruises
are offered in May, June and July, offering some unique insights
into the Alaskan landscape and way of life and include enrichment
programs that focus on culture, history, wildlife and the natural
wonders of Alaska.
First port-of-call: Ketchikan
We were glad the first full day on the ship was spent at sea. We
needed a day to recuperate from our full day of air travel from Minnesota to Vancouver. Ketchikan is not only the fourth largest city
in Alaska but is most likely the most colorful cruise town too. The
gold rush era supply depot is now a center for Tlingit, Haida and
Tsimshian native cultures. Ketchikan is also known as ”Alaska’s
First City” because it is the first town travelers reach when ferrying
north. It is also called the salmon capital of the world due to the
abundant salmon returns each summer.
The ship continued through Tracy Arm, a deep fjord over 30
miles long where large chunks of ice fall off the side of a nearby
Skagway ”Gateway to the Klondike”.
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glacier. Our local guide said it is believed to be 1,200 feet at its
deepest point. The sides of Tracy Arm rise steeply, with many
waterfalls visible. The water is glacial blue due to the microscopic
sediment or glacial floor it contains. Sea lions, eagles, terns, mew
gulls and mergansers can be spotted, and some smaller birds
flew around the ship. The bends in the fjord add to the spectacular
views.
The only sounds here, as in most of our cruise, are birds or ice
cracking as it thaws and water lapping against the ship’s hull or
the couple of small seaplanes landing. Aviation has long been a
lifeline to rural Alaska (”the bush”) and an unforgettable way to
discover the magnificence of the “Last Frontier.”
Glaciers and another gold rush era town
Visiting glaciers is surely the highlight of a journey to Alaska, especially if you have not seen one before. There are an estimated
100,000 glaciers in this state, covering three percent of the landscape and creating most of its rivers, and on this trip we saw
three. Glaciers are rivers of ice that flow from ice packs high in the
mountains, where more snow falls then melts. In constant motion,
they can move ahead at speeds of several feet a day or in sudden
surges of as much as 300 feet. Our guide mentioned that some
are retreating or shrinking due to global warming.
A light misty rain and cloud-covered mountaintops greeted us
as we sailed into Juneau. Alaska’s colorful capital is a picturesque
city surrounded by beautiful mountains and streams. Juneau is
also the home of Mendenhall Glacier, one of the most spectacular
natural wonders in Alaska. And one not to be missed! The 12-mile
glacier dates back to the Ice Age. Wanting to take a closer look at
the glacier, Ilse and I went for a short hike and dipped our water
bottle into the pure waters to drink melted ice from centuries past.
I do think a glacier is best seen by taking the Mendenhall Glacier
Helicopter Tour.
It is estimated that cruise ships land about 14,000 visitors a day,
so the sightseeing is designed for groups. Tours of old gold mines,
the brewery and rides on a zip line abound.
It takes only a few days on such a cruise to realize the scenery
in this area consists of beautiful forests and mountains flanked
by glaciers. The sun came out, and after our stunning veranda
breakfast we arrive in this little displaced Norwegian fishing town.
Skagway, located in the upper Lynn Canal and considered the
northern-most point in Southeast Alaska, around 80 air miles from
Juneau and 110 road miles from Whitehorse. Another town that
celebrates Gold Rush past, Skagway was incorporated in 1900 as
the first first-class city in the Territory of Alaska. During this time
Skagway was known as the ”Gateway to the Klondike.”
In Skagway, our excursion included a historic and scenic journey
including stops at the Gold Rush cemetery and viewing Skagway
from the lookout perched on a mountainside above the city. If there
is a tour you have to miss, it should be this one! Most of our cruising
friends took the White Pass and Yukon Railway up to Frasier, BC.
That may be a better choice.
SUOMI-USA 4/2011
Capital of Czarist Russia
After our seventh day on Navigator, we’d come to realized that the
fabulous amenities of the ship and the interesting shore excursions
were only part of our Alaskan adventure. Rather, the magnificent
beauty of Alaska itself was causing us to stop and look repeatedly
throughout the day from our stateroom, or while eating, or while
walking down the street at a port-of-call. Wherever we looked,
we saw snow-capped mountains, or should I say cloud-covered
mountain tops, or green forests, or a rough sea turned into a sea
as smooth as a lake.
Sitka was the oddest, and most interesting, of our Alaskan ports.
Russia’s abiding legacy is its religion, and here at the center of the
city is the “garlic-domed” St. Michael’s Cathedral. Well, it’s not
quite the full onion and has a spire the shape of an okra sprout
and is topped with the three-bar orthodox cross. The green and
grey timber building looks exotic on an American Main Street. Sitka
made me feel I was still on my Black Sea cruise and not in Alaska.
Here we took a whale-watching safari, and that is what we loved
most about Sitka, to get on a first-name basis with the local wildlife. The first of many sightings was a raft of very happy male sea
otters floating by, hoping to take a sizeable chunk out of the fish
population before moving on to their next feeding spot. Along the
way we also observed sea lions romp and play offshore and others
sleeping on a buoy. We score multiple wildlife sightings, but in one
panoramic scene a hungry brown bear grazed the beach foraging
among the rocks on shore, reminding us all we’re in bear country.
Hubbard Glacier is extending 76 miles from its source on Mt.
Logan in the Yukon. The cliff face you sail along is over six miles
wide, 300 to 400 feet from the top to sea level and about 300 feet
from sea level to the bottom. Hubbard is advancing, it creaks and
groans as it moves and is a very actively calving glacier. This
makes for some exciting moments when the huge chunks of ice
crash into the bay creating a wonderful sound called “white thunder” by the Tlingit people. Situated at the head of Yakutat Bay, in
Disenchantment Bay, the sail up to Hubbard is both leisurely and
truly beautiful.
Up-close and personal with local wildlife.
of the Alaska Railroad, dating back to its origins in the early 1900s.
But Seward is mostly known by the several major cruise lines as a
”turn around” port for their Alaska cruises. Seward has over 3,000
year-round residents, and the number swells considerably during
the annual Alaska cruise season.
Our memorable journey ended in Anchorage, while many cruises
continue across the Gulf of Alaska, but we flew back from here. On
the last day of our cruise, we had a three-hour bus ride to Anchorage, it may seem quite long to many, but it was filled with even
more beautiful scenery and wildlife. ✪
Seward, the quiet seaport village
Early morning we reached the final leg of our Alaskan adventure,
and we were not ready to leave Navigator. This small coastal town
is where most cruises end, known for its scenic views and as the
gateway to the Kenai Fjords National Park. Located about 125
miles south of Anchorage, the town is also the southern terminal
SUOMI-USA 4/2011
The writer is a travel and tourism Professor at St. Cloud State
University in Minnesota. Facebook: BelExplores
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