Alaska Cruise Part 5: Victoria BC

Our last port of call was Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia.  We were excited to step foot in Canada!  Braden was happy because it was his first stamp in his new passport.

 We took a taxi from the port to the city, about 10 minutes away.

Then we just wandered around the city for a couple of hours.  We only had one evening to be there, but we loved it.  This first picture is of the British Columbia Parliament Building.  Such an impressive building and beautiful grounds.

On the front steps of the Parliament Building.

Fun to see the Canadian flag flying in the breeze.

Victoria is nicnamed "The Garden City" because of all the flowers and trees. It really is a beautiful city!

Here is the Parliament Building again later that evening on our way back to the ship.  So pretty all lit up!

Alaska Cruise Part 4: Whale Watching in Juneau

This excursion was amazing.  We took a bus ride to Auke Bay where we boarded a little watercraft specifically designed for whale watching, just like the one below.  We were one of several out on the water that day.


Our captain guided us through the waters of Stephen's Passage, surrounded by gorgeous mountains and glaciers.  We all loved Mike, our on-board naturalist, who informed us about the behavior and habitats of humpback whales.  When we were in position, we all went out on deck, and not 30 seconds later we saw our first whale.  It took our breath away.  And for the next couple of hours we saw whale after whale, some of them not 20 feet away from our little boat.  Rachel took the best pictures, most of these are hers.  So incredibly cool!  We will never forget this.

 

Alaska Cruise Part 3: Skagway Zip Line

One of our favorite excursions was zip lining in Skagway.  This was quite the high-flying adventure!  We began by taking a drive high into the mountains on an all-terrain vehicle called a "mog".   Expert guides outfitted us with state-of-the-art safety equipment, and then we flew through the tree tops.  I took a ton of pictures, here are a few of my favorites...

After we got the hang of it, Braden started getting tricky.  He was fearless!

About half way through the zip line course we traversed across a suspended "sky bridge" over a rushing river.  It wobbled like crazy and scared the girls and I half to death, but maybe that was because Kent and Braden were jumping up and down and shaking it as hard as they could.  So rude!

We made it!

Alaska Cruise Part 2--Tracy Arm Fjord

This picture was taken as we boarded the ship.  We were full of such excitement and anticipation for the adventure ahead of us!

Our first stop on the itinerary was Tracy Arm Fjord, about 45 miles south of Juneau. Oh my goodness, I cannot describe the grandeur of this place.  So I won't even try.  Our cameras were going nonstop, I took dozens of pictures.  Here are some of my favorites...

We learned that a fjord is a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs.  It is formed when a glacier cuts a u-shaped valley.  Tracy Arm is over 30 miles long, nestled between 3,000 foot granite walls. The waterfalls and granite were incredible!

We loved seeing the wildlife...especially the seals lying all over the floating icebergs.  Most of them would ignore us, some would glance up at this huge cruise ship sailing past, then go back to sleep, totally uninterested.

The water was so green, the iceburgs so blue.  The colors were spectacular!

There were people on every deck, pointing and taking pictures.  I think we were all in awe.

Our ship meandered through the twisting fjord for about 2 hours.  Then we got to a glacier, the captain turned the ship around and we went out the way we came. 

Kent and Rachel found us a perfect table on the 9th level near the buffet with a large picture window to stare through.  When one or two of us would go out on the deck, the rest would stay at our table, and we kept trading off.   We used that area all afternoon.  

One last look...