An Alaska Cruise in (many) Photos

Finally have a chance to post some of the pics I took on our recent 7 day cruise to Alaska. Itinerary was Seattle - Ketchikan - Tracy Arm Fjord (awesome!) - Juneau - Skagway - Victoria BC - Seattle. We had fantastic weather and I took lots (as in 4900+) of pictures.

Say Bye to Seattle

Making Tracks

Food as Art

Promenade Deck

Ketchikan is old territory for me, we lived there from 64--69 and Deborah and I cruised there in 2002. Instead of doing an excursion we wandered around downtown and on Creek Street, which was the old "red light" district, now preserved as an historic landmark. Ketchikan is also known for its totem poles.

Creek Street

Chief Johnson pole

Raven (?)

If you have lots of money you can charter a float plane . . .

Which will bring you right back to your ship.

As we headed north we saw crab boats and fishing boats

And whales . . .

The sunset lasted forever

More to follow . . .

Chris
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http://www.pbase.com/sinnettc

About 6:00 AM on our 3rd morning on the ship, my wife looked out the window and said "I see something white!"; it was an iceberg. I was out of my bunk and out the door, gear in hand, in record time. I spent the next 3 hours on the bow of the ship with both cameras firing away.

There really are no words to explain the feelings I had as we sailed slowly up the fjord. I've been to the Grand Canyon, I've lived on/near the ocean all my life, but nothing prepared me for the absolute grandeur of the scene before me as we moved forward. At each turn of the winding path the glaciers had dug through the mountains I literally didn't know whether to giggle like a child or burst into tears. These photos depict a mere shadow of the reality.

More to follow when I have some more free time.

Great. It reminds me my recent trip. What lenses did you take?

Very nice series, Nice capture of the sea-plane. The scenery is amazing!

Peteo

The shots of the boat look familiar. Princess lines, correct? Looks like you had a lot of fun. What excursions did you try, and which were the best? I'm thinking about taking an Alaska cruise, and would like your opinion.
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I'm thankful to still be able to...

Very nice series of photos. Looks like you had a great vacation.

Dave
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Yes, Star Princess, all 900 feet and 2600 passengers! We had an outside, unobstructed view, room. Nice to be able to peek outside and see what was going on. We were on deck 5 (Plaza) about as close to mid-ship as you can get on that deck. Worked out well as there's little movement, especially as compared to either end. Might have been interesting in big seas though, as we were the closest staterooms to the water (1 deck above the crew quarters I think).

For excursions we did the Duck in Ketchikan. That was a last minute thing as we'd been there before and weren't going to do an excursion. Not sure I'd do it again from a photo standpoint, but it was fun and my wife loves to do the Duck tours when we find them. If you've never been to Ketchikan, I highly recommend doing an excursion that goes to Totem Bight or Saxman so you can get the totem poles and the meeting houses.

In Juneau I did the Photo Safari, my wife shopped. I'll post pictures from that in a bit. Got close to some humpback whales and had a nice nature walk/discussion with photo tips at Mendenhall Glacier afterwards. I'd to that one again.

Skagway was the White Pass & Yukon Railroad trip. There are several versions but we just did the one that goes to the top of the pass & back. They tried to say it was best to be at the front of the train (i think they want the weight forward) but I wanted to get shots of the entire train so we went to the last car, which becomes the first car after they switch then engines around at the top. Definitely fun and some great photo ops, but you better be quick!

In Victoria we did Buschart Gardens, which included fireworks. It's a 7pm arrival there so we didn't have much time/light for flowers but I got a few good ones, and the fireworks. We talked to some folks afterwards who had done the Buschart Gardens/Butterfly Garden trip and they didn't have much time at either. If you're there for fireworks, get your seat early, in the main viewing area. We were off to one side and I think we missed out on some of it.

Thanks! I took the DA* 16-50/2.8, DA* 50-135/2.8 and DA*300/4. I also took my Tamron 1.4x TC, which I tried out on the 300 in Seattle as we were leaving, but I didn't like it. Too picky on focus and flat/undersaturated images unless I really cranked down on the f/stop. Probably an SDM thing. Or dirty contacts.

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like a good trip.
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I'm thankful to still be able to...

My last post had us heading out of Tracy Arm Fjord. As we moved out of the ice area and the light was getting a bit harsh, I took a break, found my wife, and got a late breakfast. Or early lunch. Maybe it was both - it's a buffet!

Apropos of the icebergs we'd seen, a couple of the crew were putting on an ice sculpture demonstration.

We saw more fishing boats

And the scenery remained amazing

All the way to Juneau

Where I went on a Photo Safari.

Our first stop was to get some pictures of the Fireweed blooming with the Mendenhall Glacier in the background.

Then on to Auke Bay where we caught a custom built RHIB to search out the wildlife.

We saw an eagle

but he was just an appetizer for the real reason we were there . . .

Humpback Whales!

The DA* 300/4 did great here, btw.

We would have stayed all day but there was more to see and do, so back to the marina . . .

Then off to Mendenhall Glacier. The salmon are just starting to return to spawn.

We hiked a trail through he woods

and took pictures of photogenic stuff

Until we could see the glacier.

The scale of things up there is amazing. That "little" waterfall on the right of the photo above is really quite spectacular when you realize the specks below it are people!

The icebergs are in a lake

Surrounded by wildflowers

And apparently hungry bears craving a smoke

Next stop, Skagway...
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Chris
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http://www.pbase.com/sinnettc

Wow, you were lucky you got a sunny day for Tracy's Arm! I was also on an Alaskan Cruise (July 2n through 9) and it was grey, grey with light rain, and in Ketkchikan it was pouring rain for our Floatplane trip...it was beautiful nonetheless but icebergs and glaciers have much more shades of blue under the sun...

I was about to publish some pics from Tracy's Arm...but seeing yours under a sunny sky, I'm not sure there's any point in showing mine!

Thanks for sharing, great pics!

We had terrific weather the whole week. Just 5 minutes of almost mist in Juneau as we were walking to the RHIB and that was it. I was amazed.