HALONG

 ....is a super typhoon that went to Japan and turned east toward us in the Pacific, we had 70+mph winds and 20ft seas. Plenty of rain, I think Japan had 1ft overnight. Last night was pretty rough & noisy, it threw all the water bottles, glasses & TV controller on to the floor, a big heavy pot plant slid 6ft along the sideboard, but didn't fall. Getting up in the night for a pee was treacherous, you had to hang on and aim for the centre of the pan! The typhoon is now about 300 miles to the south of us & getting weaker, so with any luck we are over the worst.

We have been touring the ships engine room, bit like the star ship Enterprise. Do you see the wind screen display.

Also been to a blowout fish meal in the Crab Shack - you see Lin has her bib on. Lots of after meal wreckage.

Crossed the dateline so we are on the same day as you only 10 hours earlier.

WHITTIER

 Whittier is the deep water port for Anchorage to which it connects by a tunnel built by the Army Corps of Engineers. It's a very small town of around 250 persons who mostly live in the same apartment block.

You can see my trophy fish. Whittier closes down on 15 Sept but reopened for our visit, the last cruise ship of the season. Trains stopped running on the 15th. There was a big army base here from the 30's up to end of the cold war - firstly to combat the Japanese who invaded the Aleutian Islands off the tip of Alaska and then the Russians who are just across the Bering Sea. There were some big battles in WW2 to take the Aleutian's back.

The weather's not great we have some typhoons in the area some of which caused damage in Taiwan, China & Vietnam. Typhoon Halong a category 4,  is just approaching Japan and is due to turn towards us in the next 3 or 4 days. We already have high winds & big seas, you can't go on deck and the ship is crashing & bashing.

We are crossing the international Dateline tomorrow. At the moment we are 12 hours behind you, tomorrow we will be 12 hours ahead of you. I think there are 6 or 7 people with birthdays on the 8th and we are going straight from the 7th to the 9th - hey ho, not another year older.

Linda's off at the laundry. 

HUBBARD GLACIER

We left Juneau to cruise in foggy weather towards the mouth of the glacier. Hubbard Glacier flows from the Saint Elias Mountains down through Canada’s Yukon Territory before terminating in Alaska’s Disenchantment Bay, near Yakutat. It's the largest glacier that reaches the sea in North America.

It is 76 miles long & 7 miles wide at the mouth. The face is 700 feet high with 300 feet underwater. It is one of few glaciers still advancing at over 80 feet per year. While we were watching substantial chunks were calving off the face - very noisy. The ice is a startling blue, because all of the air has been compressed out of it. The snowfall at it's mountain source is over 100 feet per year. The pilot boat met us well out to sea, a big powerful vessel.

JUNEAU D'Y'KNOW

State capital of Alaska, but no roads or rail to anywhere else. We've been before but couldn't really remember it. We took the cable car (locally know as a tram) last time to the mountain top. Noticed inflation as we paid $20 last time, now $60 pp. Didn't bother.

Has a nice old town with shops selling jewellery, souvenirs and bars. I think we are the last cruise ship through before winter, so a lot of the shops were shutting up. Someone said they moved to the Caribbean for the winter. Wanted to try the King Crab legs on front but wasn't hungry enough. Weather has been stunning, warm & very little wind. Got back on board & fell asleep in the lounger chair for an hour in the sun - lovely when you're jet lagged.

The native totem poles are a bit hairy raising.

 

KETCHIKAN

 On board Discovery Princess, the same class of ship we had sailed before, so we sort of know our way around. We had a display of the Northern Lights on our way up, but our jetlag is still making us over tired especially so for Lin with her cold. 

We must be near the end of the season, Ketchikan was pretty quiet & all the businesses closed as we set sail at 14:30.

That pretty row of painted cottages are the prostitute's residences. That creek was full of dead and dying salmon, I guess they all die after spawning. There were so many that the seals were playing with the remaining live ones, not bothering to eat them. We're off to Juneau next.

SEATTLE & ONWARD

 Well, if we tired before we were certainly exhausted after the first day. Cab to Gatwick was good as was check in - the first time we have enjoyed "the no need to take anything out" bag security system. Norse flight good, arrived early but it took over 2 hours of kicking your bag in the queue for passport entry. Then off to the Delta terminal for the run up to Seattle. That was also an excellent flight arriving early. After the cab to the hotel we finally got to bed at 11pm, all-in-all 27 hours after we left the flat, and no sleep and jetlag.

Lovely in Seattle, hot - got a bit of sun sitting on dock and enjoyed a good US burger in the bar overlooking the front. Pike's Market was busy, beautiful flowers on sale, lots of street music.

SETTING OFF

Five weeks away, packing is a bit of a challenge as our two cases are not overly large. Forced the shoes into the carry-on bag - made the cases easier but now they weigh a ton(told you a million times, don't exaggerate!) The prep for the trip wasn't great. Granddaughter's birthday bash went on to 3am & left us putting the great grandchildren to bed. It was nearly all great but left us exhausted. It not completely great as there was a super spreader present and loads of people have developed colds & coughs including YT & DB.

The start of the trip has been a bit stressful, airport's checking in software hacked, big delays - the route to ship boarding involves a change at LAX to get to the port in Seattle. Don't want any delays. Started well, cab at 5:30, smooth ride around the M25 parking lot, checked in, bags dropped, through security and sitting in the cafe with coffee & breakfast by 7:30.

Flying with Norse, something over 11 hours or so, I hope it's not too uncomfortable. Premium Economy should help.

Just ordered dinner on line for the LAX - Seattle leg. Modern luxuries, eh?