What was supposed to be an overcast and gloomy day, turned out to be clear, dry and a bit crisp. However Mount Edgecumbe the dormant volcano could be seen and that meant it was a very good day for Sitka.

Today we tendered into Crescent harbor which is the fisherman’s harbor and boat marina for Sitka. The Infinity had its tenders going to the bridge dock and that thus the cruise guests were descending on the shops from both sides of the main street and that must have satisfied the shopkeepers. None was left out because their shop was on the wrong side of town.

Most guests find tendering a nuisance as it entails waiting to get on the tender to go ashore and waiting to get back again to get to the ship; except here in Sitka. As we are so close to nature it is a very scenic ride. It is not unusual that a tender has to wait for a whale passing by or to stop when a raft of otters paddles by. Today no whales or otters in the area but there were a lot of bald eagles, either flying around or sitting perched high on the buoys and dolphins. The tenders passed by closely, so excellent opportunities for photo taking.

A few blogs ago I explained that it was not me who is running the ship, but the ships Bo’sun as I have to park the ship in such a way that he can do maintenance on the outside of the ship. Another hot item on his list is to keep the anchor and anchor chain clean. So will I please ensure that I drop the anchor somewhere, where there is no mud that might dirty his ship, when we raise that anchor again. In the last few calls at Sitka I have managed to maneuver the ship above a location where there is only gravel on the bottom and then the anchor comes up clear and clean. Not everybody understands the importance of this and this morning I had a very puzzled pilot watching me maneuvering the bow of the ship exactly to a certain spot, within a 500 square feet area. As his background was the tanker trade, he was absolutely flabbergasted that cruise ship captains would take their work to such an extreme that we park somewhere so that the anchor stays clean. He thanked the gods that he decided to become a pilot and did not decide to work on a cruise ship.

With the continuing popularity of cruising to Alaska, the number of tours available to the guests continues to increase. Two years ago saw the arrival of amphibious tours in Ketchikan. This was followed by fast speed boat trips, something that had been exclusively a warm weather enterprise before. Another new item on the list of Shore Excursions is now a submarine tour. Not something I would have dreamt about in my wildest dreams to have happen here in Alaska. Most of the under water area’s are quite bare due to the currents running though the waterways and where there is soil it is mostly mud mixed with gravel which creates murky waters.


However the submarine has arrived in Sitka and offers underwater tours to the giant kelp beds, and an area where you can see the bottom inhabited with star fish, sea cucumbers, crabs and sea anemones. The submarine is really only half a submarine as the top deck remains above water but the submerged half has large picture windows. At one particular place it stops and a diver goes outside and brings wildlife to the picture windows for all to observe. For the rest there are video displays on board connected to a camera operated by the outside diver so the guests can see what the diver sees. At most places the water is too murky for seeing great distances from the submarine so they solved that problem that way.

My wife who was sent on a fact finding mission, said that it was very interesting. I for one would not want to be that diver in the water, much too cold for me even to contemplate, wet suit or no wet suit.

Sailing away was good as Mount Edgecumbe remained clearly visible all the way to the open ocean and only then did we run into our first shower of the day. The whales were quite prominent in the late evening, unfortunately at a time when most guests where in the show. One day I will put in a complaint with the Whale-Union to have them change those hours. Tomorrow we are in Skagway where it should be windy, chilly but dry.