07 July 2015; Glacier Bay, Alaska.

The weather in Seward and yesterday in the Gulf was really too nice and thus we had limited visibility from late yesterday afternoon until we entered Glacier Bay this morning. That is the price you pay for sunshine in Alaska.  Still restricted visibility only bothers the Captain and the navigators, the guests do not suffer much apart from the fact that there is no view outside the ship.

It is still much better than having a bumpy ride in the Gulf of Alaska. A good example was autumn 2012.  Details can be found in the Blog archives. I was joining the ship in Seward and my colleague Capt. Consen was going home from there. There was a very nasty storm brewing under the Aleutians and all the worry was about getting to Seward on time for the overland tours and those who were going home. In the end the Captain had to make a very difficult decision and that was cancelling Glacier Bay. Highlight of the cruise and the ship was full of unhappy campers. In the end everybody understood the issue, they were still not happy, when they saw the bad weather approaching on CNN. The Statendam slipped in, just in time, into Resurrection Bay before all hell broke loose outside.

The ship came early running ahead of the storm and that gave an overnight in Seward. This place is not exactly known for its abundant night life but everybody could leave on schedule when the time came. I joined that day, had one look at the weather, and decided not to sail as the swell at the entrance to the Bay was still about 25 feet. Luckily for me it was easier to do this as I had spare time on my sleeve to get to Glacier Bay. So I sailed the next morning when the swells had subsided to 15 feet and then with wind and waves in the back surfed to Glacier Bay without a worry in the world. As it was still windy there was no restricted visibility either so it was the best of both worlds.

We were in Seward on the 5^th. and that meant that the day before it was the 4^th. of July, which is also in Alaska a National Holiday. They have the usual parade and everything else an American town does but they also have the climbing & descending of Mount Marathon just outside Seward.  I never realized it but there is a sort of sub culture among  mountaineers who specialize in running up and down a mountain as fast as they can. In the beginning it was just a few locals who did this here in Seward but slowly and steadily it has become an international scene.

I pulled this photo off the Internet (thank you to who ever posted it) as it shows quite nicely the hair raising run which it is,

The fastest runner/climber/glider or whatever you want to call them was this year a man from Spain who participates worldwide. He managed 41 minutes (according to our local pilot; I have not verified this) for the whole parkour. I have walked near the start of the route and in my opinion it is sheer madness but there are people who like to take things to the extreme. Mount Marathon is such as extreme and on occasion runners have been crashing down in quite a spectacular way. This year all went well and there were no accidents. (Again I rely solely on information provided by the local pilot)

Glacier Bay is less extreme and we had a quiet and overcast day in the bay. During the Southbound cruise we have a late morning arrival so we can time our sail around in the Bay with another ship which arrives early. Thus the Rangers joined at 10 am and they left again just after 19.30 hrs. They really do not mind leaving at that time as it means they can have an extensive dinner on board. Always better than the local grub at the Ranger Station.

Tomorrow we are in Haines. Holland America is still the only cruise company who consistently calls at Haines while other company’s limit themselves to a few calls. Sometimes only if they have been blown out of Skagway.  I like Haines as it is less commercialized than Skagway.  The Council of Haines wants more ships of course as it helps the economy and has slashed the docking fees by 50%. I believe it was $ 3000 for a call and it is now down to half.  If that helps remains to be seen as such a low docking fee does not make much impact on a ships turnover of more than a million a cruise.

Maybe free beer, from the local brewery would do the trick, as it is really good stuff. Maybe free tickets to the hammer museum as well; as that is truly unique.  Whatever the case, the Haines people have arranged for dry weather and that is all that we want. So Holland America will be there every week of the summer with a ship.