This morning we sailed through Queen Charlotte Sound and also here the turmoil had died down. When the weather is bad this area can be even worse than Alaska due to the fact that the storm gets sort of locked in. QCS is fairly open but with the Queen Charlotte Islands to the West and the Canadian mainland to the East any sort of bad weather coming from the West is pushed in there. Coming closer to the American border the open area gets less and the storm has to push itself back through to open waters again. Thus the wind can nicely build up the swell and as the Queen Charlotte Sound is shallow at the North side, the swell can really become high as the water has nowhere else to go. In the winter time this can be a very dangerous place to be. Continue reading

We had a very quiet night tucked away in the Behm Canal. The ship slowly steamed up and down, making a run every four hours. A bit boring for the pilots and the navigators but everybody was just happy to be in the lee of the mountain. In the morning the wind started to pick up as the direction of the wind flow shifted more to the south. That was good news as it meant that the weather system was moving to the west. Time to come out of hiding and go south. Continue reading

We raced down Chatham Strait to out run the approaching storm. When you do that, it gives a bit of a strange feeling that there is nothing wrong when you come to a location where you do not want to be later. We had to be back inside for shelter before 10 am and we were there as planned by 6 am, making the turn shortly after. It was a little bit windy but nothing that would make you think” what is all the fuss about”. Once we were back inside, the wind almost dropped to zero as we were completely in the shelter on a northerly course. The storm is coming in with South Easterly winds and that caused it to breeze up when we turned to the East. How much would be anybody’s guess as it all depends on the exact angle of the wind in relation to the mountains, which acts or not as a funnel. Continue reading

With calm weather we sailed up the Lynn Canal and joined the convoy. We were scheduled to be the last one to go in and that pleased me as it would mean that I could dock at the Railroad dock aft. As mentioned before we had to change from Haines to Skagway as the Haines dock was going to be reconstructed. I would have thought that they would have waited for the Cruise Ship Season to end, as we are bringing in at least a $100,000 per call for the local community, but they said that they could not and thus we lost the dock. So Skagway got another financial injection from the visit of the Statendam as they had a spare berth available. The pecking order today was, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Jewel, Diamond Princess and the Statendam. When I got my berth assignment I had a good look at it and that gave me the idea to park the ship the other way around than normal. Normally all the ships dock nose in but occasionally, when the weather is pleasant on arrival, they swing around for maintenance. Today my idea was not just maintenance but saving time for tonight. The plan is out outrace the bad weather and to be back inside again before the swell starts building up in the ocean. Wind is a much lesser issue than seas as it does not make the ship move. Wind only becomes an issue when going in and out of port as with a cruise ship you quickly drift all over the place. Continue reading

The weather front which so nicely stayed to the south of us, giving us calm seas yesterday, curled up a bit further towards the Inside Passage. It produced a lot of rain but not in dense columns. That kept the visibility good and that is what I had hoped for, no visibility problems in Glacier Bay. We picked up the pilot at 07.45 and then sailed towards Glacier Bay. Ahead of us was the Westerdam and thus we were on schedule for a 10.00 Ranger boarding. In principle two big ships are allowed in the bay at the same time but it is preferred that they do not get in each other’s way. That made the company decide to have their ships come in nicely apart to avoid conflicts of interests (or feuding captains) Continue reading

I always like it when the weather forecast is right. Especially if it is a nice weather forecast. As I mentioned yesterday we were hoping for flat calm seas and little wind and that is what we got. It was flat calm with little wind and it stayed that way until the early evening when slowly the wind began to breeze up to 20 knots. Also as expected. The large depression to the south of us was nearing the land and it curled up a little bit and that brought us then in the top corner of the system. Then it will start to intensify with speed of up to 65 knots expected in about 48 hrs. from now. But tomorrow morning we are going inside again and then the mountains will protect us from the upcoming wind. How that wind is going to blow through the mountain valleys is at the moment anybody’s guess. We will find that out in the next 36 hrs. Continue reading

The pilot came on board at 04.00 hrs. in the morning and we were all looking forward to a nice day in Seward, which near the end of the season is always something one hopes for but not always gets. But it looked good; no wind, clear skies and a starry night. Also the pilot only reported good things about Seward and thus the good ship Statendam proceeded accordingly for what was going to be our last call of the season. You could maybe not see that the season was coming to an end on a day like this but you could feel it. The cold was definitely in the air and later even after the sun had shone for a few hours, it just remained very cold. Continue reading

As expected we got the low swell against us the moment we came in open waters, but the weather chart looked good. At least for the Gulf of Alaska, good for the time of the year and good for our situation. After September 1st the weather here becomes a bit more un-predictable. The first autumn storms are starting to develop in the South West Aleutians and it all depends on how they move to the East for the weather that we will get. Thus far the weather systems roll East with bending to the South East, then head for the coast of Oregon where they produce quite a bit of rain. But it just a matter of time that they will bend to the North East and start following the arched coast line of Alaska until they hit land just outside Glacier Bay. That is the moment that you do not want to be in this area anymore. Continue reading

It looked good when we arrived at the entrance of the bay. The clouds were halfway up the mountain and it was dry with good visibility. We were all confident that we would have a nice day in the upper bay. Behind us was the Carnival Miracle, exactly on schedule, as was the Ranger boat. Thus we could continue our journey without any issue. In general the whale sightings have gone down in the bay, apart from a cluster in the northwest lower bay, west of the steamer track. That means that we can still see the whales but they are not where we normally sail and thus we can go a bit faster. As explained in previous blogs those speeds are regulated by the National Park based on daily sightings. That works out very well as near the end of the season the whales seem to cluster more together. Maybe because there is food there or because they have more time for socializing. But there is always one who does not conform and thus we keep a sharp look out. Continue reading

The company is moving servers at the moment so this post fell out yesterday.

Sometimes you would just want to make an announcement at 05.00 in the morning, if it is a beautiful Alaska day. Especially if it is a perfect Skagway day. As number three of the convoy we arrived at the top of the Lynn Canal at 05.30 This was the moment that the nautical twilight started. The moment that it is still dark but when you can already see the horizon and the contours of the mountains without the need of moonlight. The lights of Skagway were shining brightly up the valley and in front of it there were the two Princess ships maneuvering to go alongside the Skagway Railroad dock. It was simply, very very nice. Continue reading