We woke up today already docked at Haines Alaska. Our side of the ship got the view of the town, which was a quaint little town, with giant snow-capped mountains in the backdrop. The other side of those mountains is Glacier Bay National Park.
Haines, Alaska from our balcony
We had an excursion with LPCR’s family, but we were free till 12:30, so we spent the morning hiking around town, first down Front street, then up Main, then cross 3rd Ave, then back to Haines Road, and back to the dock. You can cover the town in 30 minutes if you want, but we took almost an hour because we also stopped for shopping. It reminded us of Ushaia, and them of Ticondaroga.
After lunch (I ate very light - just a bibimpap and seafood salad) we went on our excursion. This one is a big excursion, of 49 people. We got bussed up the Chilkat river and went onto a raft (our raft has 9 people on it, plus the raft guide, who was also the team leader) along with 5 other rafts, and we floated down the river. The guide would provide commentary and steer the raft away from shallow areas of the river so it wouldn’t get stuck. The Chilkat Valley is walled on either side by giant mountains, and the river was very high today, so the trip looked like a scene from Jurassic Park. I half expected a Triceratop to come out of the trees and take a drink of water. Chilkat Valley is actually an eagle preserve, so along the way we saw some eagle nests on trees, plus some eagles, arctic terns. No animal sightings though, prehistoric or otherwise.
After rafting down stream to the pick-up point, we had some snack and hot drinks, which was much needed (it was chilly on the river: the air temperature was 70, but the water, being glacial melt, was only 36 degrees, adding in the persistent wind in the Valley, it make for a very
cold trip). We then bussed the 1/2 hour back to the dock.
Rafting down Chilkat Valley
We went back to the ship, took a dip in the pool (it was hot when not on the river) and I went off to take pictures of the Chilkoot Inlet, while La Prof and her college roommate hung out in the observation lounge. I joined them later, and we all went to have dinner (I was starving at
that point). The Chilkoot Inlet looked beautiful as we sailed out and the sun set, so I braved the wind on the top deck to watch the scenery. When I came back down, I noticed that, while I was up there, the section I was in was roped off for high wind. I stayed up there till the sun went down and it became too cold. There were a fair number of people doing the same things. La Prof had the right idea though - she just sat on our balcony to watch the same scenery.
It was worth it though - I thought it looked like Lemaire Channel, but with trees. La Prof thought it looked like the Napoli coast, but not as tall.
Sail-away on Chilkook Inlet
Loading comments...