13 July 2017; Skagway, Alaska.

The Zaandam led the way into port and docked at the rail road dock under the mountain ridge which separates Skagway from Juneau. It was a very early arrival as the other ships needed to be early as well. By 05.00 the Zaandam was well secured and the other three ships arrived with 15 minute intervals after us and so by 06.00 hrs. the whole happy cruise fleet was safely secured.  Normally cruise ships arrive between 07.00 hrs. and 08.00 hrs. as before that time hardly any guests want to go ashore. But Skagway has a special crowd puller and a challenge as a result.

Locomotive 73 going up and down the trail with guests.

The White Pass train. A large percentage of the 7000+ guests who were in port today wanted to partake in that experience but there is only a single track and the trains have to go up and down that single track. Which means: to facilitate all these eager train spotters more departures have to be offered and that means earlier departures. Nice thing for us was of course that we are docked next to the rail road track and guests only have to cross the dock to get on board.

The train departing for yet another journey up and down the trail. All that billowing steam has a certain charm, sorely missed in modern trains. Some of the ships graffiti is still visible at the far end of the rail road track. But you have to be on the dock to see the full walls closer to the Rail Road dock aft section.

The railroad company mainly relies on diesel locomotives to run the carriages which are all old and restored carriages from years gone by. Not of all of them are local but they are nearly all of the same design and after restoration were given names relevant to the area. But apart from the Diesel locomotives they also operate a genuine steam engine and that gives a special charm to the whole operation.  Somehow the steam and smoke billowing out, a real steam whistle being heard and the very distinctive sound when it gathers power gives an extra dimension to the tour. It runs in conjunction with the other trains and thus it is a bit of a gamble if your tour will be with the steam locomotive or with one of the Diesels.

What used to be a colorful tradition in Skagway was painting the company logo, ships name and company name on the rock wall overhanging the rail road dock. And it was easy to do before they upgraded the cruise ship dock to facilitate the mega liners. You just took a ladder, walked over, and started painting or used a cherry picker if needed to find a free space higher up. Then the dock was refurbished all the soil between the old dock and the rock wall was removed and now you cannot get anywhere near the rock wall anymore.  Which is a pity as there is still some free space left here and there, for a budding sailor artist to put another logo up.

With the years progressing there is more and more vegetation growing on the mountain so a lot of the logos are now being overgrown. The highest one (Royal Viking Line, painted with the aid of a helicopter in the mid 1980’) is not visible at all any more but also some others, very old ones, are gone from sight. I have been told that the oldest one still there is from 1901 or 1909 but I have never found it. The oldest one still visible is from 1928 and depicts one of the old Alaska Steam ferries calling at Skagway.

Yesterday I mentioned that it was a HAL Group day in Juneau. Today it was less as we only had one other Princess ship in port. But we still had some extra floating HAL history present in the form of the small Glacier Queen. This little tour boat, sold by the company years ago, is still docked in Skagway. In the 80’s she was a regular sight first in Prince Williams Sound and later in the Skagway area. In those years employed by Holland America – Westours. And we all thought that this boat was a good size for sightseeing. Now it is small enough to dock in the regular marina.  I took photos of her docked here in 2003 and she is still there looking to be in very good condition but I have no idea for what she is currently used.

The Glacier Queen (I) docked in Skagway. for years it was a day tender for Holland America – Westours.

Today we had little wind but some rain and steady temperatures and that means that we might have a hazy arrival tomorrow in Glacier Bay. The most air rolling in from the Atlantic might start to condensate over the cooler waters of Icy Strait and will result in a white curtain being present. Normally it clears once we are in the bay itself.