A Reputable Journal

I mentioned type 3 fun in a previous posting, and although there was plenty of type 1 fun to be had in Icy Strait I’d like to begin this post with a little description of some type 3 fun. As a reminder, the definition of type 3 fun is something that is lame when you do it, and remains lame and not fun even in the retelling. Thus was our bike tour of Hoonah.

I should start out by saying that it is not the fault of the bike tour guide, or anyone else involved with tours at Icy Straits. We signed up for the bike tour / zip line combination tour through the cruise line because that was the only way we could sign up for a zip line tour in the afternoon. The idea of an eight mile bike ride sounded appealing, a bike tour is a great way to see an area at a faster pace than walking, and is a nice way to get to know an area better than you do in a tour bus. but, the simple truth is that Hoonah is a nice small fishing town in Alaska, but there really isn’t that much to see. So, we saw the ferry terminal (3-4 ferries per week), the office bar, the seaplane dock, the library, the post office, and the airport. Oh yeah, and it was RAINING yes really really raining. We were absolutely soaked to the bone through our pants and jackets and everything. Yuck!

We all agreed that what we should have done was just not ride the bikes. We could have stayed at the visitor center for a while staying warm and dry and then gotten on the bus to the top of the zip line. Our mistake. So, yes a wet cold bike ride through a town of 800 is virtually the definition of type 3 fun.

But, lets leave that in the past and talk about the highlights of our day in Icy Strait.

It began in the morning with our whale watching adventure. We had booked a small tour with a private operator. I would highly recommend that everyone does this. The small boats are so much more nimble, and you get to know some of the local people in a way that you can’t when you are on a big boat with 100 other people. So it happened that there were only six of us on the boat with captain Floyd. We had plenty of room to spread out and we were not vying for position with other people when the whales showed up.

As whale watching trips go, this one just couldn’t be beat. We were not even out of the harbor before we were treated to a humpback bubble netting. Bubble netting is one feeding strategy used by the humpacks. They circle under the water making tons of bubbles that confuse the smelt to the point where they don’t know which way is up. Then the whale swoops in from below with mouth wide open and scoops up hundreds of gallons of water and fish. The whale closes its mouth and strains out all the yummy fish through its baleen. Here’s a picture of the first whale we encountered.

Location:Hoonah, AK

Our guide for the Mendenhall glacier trek told us that there are 3 kinds of fun. Type 1 fun, is just “fun fun.” Its good while its happening and afterward you remember it as fun. Type 2 fun is the kind of thing where you do something and even though you might be totally exhausted or in pain when its all over you remember it later as being an awesome thing to do. Type 3 fun, is no fun at all, it sucks when you do it and it doesn’t get any better in your memory over time.

Yesterday was all about Type 2 fun. Today was 8 hours of hiking, rock scrabbling, and walking on the glacier. The last two and a half hours of hiking were in pouring rain. But already, just one day later we are remembering yesterday as an awesome day.

We left the ship at 8:15AM to meet our guide, Gabe, who drove us out to the trail head. Gabe had backpacks for us with our glacier gear in them, a hiking pick axe, a helmet, a harness, and crampons. Also some light snacks. We were in our Alaskan layers of Dry Fit, Kuhl Fleece, and North Face. To this we added rain pants and a rain jacket. There was a light rain falling at the beginning of our hike, but that stopped somewhere along the way. The hike starts out pretty easy, and gets gradually more difficult the closer you get to the glacier. There was one point where we were truly climbing up the rocks next to a small waterfall. It was great, but it wasn’t easy.

After only a half a mile, people were stopping to shed layers of clothing like crazy. We continued this process for a good portion of the hike.

After two and a half hours of hiking and climbing over rocks we were really getting close to the glacier. With Gabe’s help we did some estimating on where the glacier would have been the last time we were in Alaska. It was really interesting to take a picture from that point and to see how far it has receded.

We took a short break to get our glacier gear unpacked and to gear up for our trek on the glacier itself. About this time it started to rain a bit harder, and it even looked like a few snowflakes by the time it hit the ground, so we cooled off very quickly while we were getting ready.

On the glacier, we found some cool blue ice holes and practiced walking with our crampons. Then Gabe asked if we would like to try some ice climbing. Why not?! The vacation has been injury free so far so we might as well try something new. This was really a blast even though it was just a short little climb to get the hang of it. Ice climbing involves driving your crampons straight into the ice wall, while hanging from two pick axes. Of course we had a safety line so we wouldn’t fall, if we lost our grip. It was really fun but took a lot of effort. Brian and I made it all the way to the top, and Jane and Holly both made a good run at it.

Its a lazy, rainy afternoon here in Ketchikan Alaska. We are back from fishing and have warmed up with some lunch and a nice soak in the hot tub. The ship should be pulling out of port any minute now and we’ll be on our way to Icy Strait.

The last 24 hours have been a lot of fun. In terms of a sea day, yesterday would have to rank way up there for the unique experience it provided us. As you know from my previous blog post I can’t say much about it. We were part of a very familiar kind of scene to those of you who actually watch this particular kind of show. Meaning we were a part of a large group that got to try out some wonderful food and then share our thoughts. Whether or not we’ll ever be seen by millions of people is all in the hands of some editor at this point. But I know I’ll look forward to this episode. It will always remind me that Holly does not know what Jamie Oliver actually looks like, since he wasn’t here.

Last night we had our second phenomenal dinner in Qsine. This is the restaurant that features the iPads, we were rewArDed by seeing someone faMous at the tAble next to us. We didn’t intrude on her privacy since she was having dinner with her family and celebrating her father’s birthday.

This morning we were up bright and early for our fishing expedition. It was just the four of us and captain Bob. Bob was a great captain, he’s a salty dog that has been guiding fishing trips here in Ketchikan since the 1970s. We had a lot of fun fishing for salmon, even though it was a bit on the cold and rainy side. The high for the day was about 57 degrees, and we had rain off and on.

Of course we had to turn even a small fishing expedition into some kind of a competition. Although as competitions go this was pretty tame since we took turns reeling in the fish. At the end of the morning we had 14 fish in the hold. All of them nice pink salmon, that we’ll look forward to receiving via Fed Ex when we get back home. Here’s Holly and Captain Bob netting one of our first salmon.

Good morning from stateroom 7199. I’m looking out the back of the ship at a lot of very low hanging clouds. We are in a “family view” stateroom, which means that we have one of the largest decks of anybody onboard. It is perfect for this Alaskan cruise as we can see both directions and even have a great forward view. When the ship is moving we can sit out on the covered part of the deck where we are sheltered from the wind.

Yesterday was a really fun day. We woke up in our two room suite at the Executive Hotel in Vancouver. Jane and I walked the two blocks down to Tim Horton’s to get coffee, bagels and donuts. The plan for the day was to shop for wine, water, and soda to bring on board. With shopping complete the next activity is to rent bikes and ride around Stanley park.

As we headed out for our shopping Holly realized that she was missing her tongue scraper!?? What the heck is a tongue scraper? Brian and I were full of extremely unhelpful suggestions for what might substitute as a tongue scraper. My suggestions of Emery boards or repurposed floss were particularly unhelpful since I had no idea what one should even look like. When Holly did finally describe one to me, it seemed perfectly reasonable that a spare plastic zip tie would work. Many pharmacies later we found one, and all was well with the dental hygiene world.

I must say the neighborhood we were shopping in was a bit sketchy. We passed by several very interesting sex shops, one featuring mannequins dressed in thongs fighting with light sabers. We tried to convince Holly that we had seen tongue scrapers inside the adult book store, but she didn’t go for it. The liquor store we were going to opened at 9:30 and it was quite an interesting study in humanity. People were literally waiting outside the door for the store to open. When the iron gate of the front door was finally unlocked there was a rush inside for people to buy their first drink of the day. Needless to say we were left alone in the fine wine section of the store. We found a nice selection of British Columbia wines to try including some very interestingly named varietals. Hatfield’s Fuse, Quails Gate, and Sandhill. As we checked out with our bottles to take aboard, the guy ahead of us in line was literally shaking to pay for his two beers and get out the door so he could pop one open.

With all of the shopping behind us, we returned to the hotel, where we were granted a late checkout time of 12:30. This worked perfectly for our bike ride. The bike rental place was just around the corner. Vancouver is an extremely bike friendly place. There were great bike lanes that took us from the bike rental place to the pier area and then around the park. It was really beautiful. Although it wasn’t a workout pace it was a fun ride, and a good way to get to know the city a little better. We will definitely come back someday just to spend some time in and around the city.

With the bike ride complete we ordered a taxi and headed to the pier. As we were going through the customs line we were joking with one man who was sent to the much shorter line for ‘the film crew.’ Yes, much mystery surrounds this first night on the ship. Our reservation in Qsine had to be changed at the last minute because of a filming for a ‘food related show.'
We of course pumped this guy for information, but he couldn’t tell us anything. I even tried the old, ‘blink once if its Alton’ line but he just laughed and headed through customs.


Later in Qsine we had a really great time with the wait staff and the maitre de. We said, OK, look we know something is happening because they changed our reservation, so who is it? Whats going on? Finally, a member of the staff, who identified himself as James Bond, agreed to the you guess and I’ll nod game. I got the person and the show right on my second guess. For which we were rewarded with an invitation to dinner at Qsine again tonight where we may be part of the taping. We will have to sign non-disclosure agreements, so although I would love to reveal the name of the show, I can’t. I will say that this could be at the Top of my list for exciting happenings aboard the ship. If I get to meet a celebrity Chef that would certainly be a highlight of my amateur culinary life.


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Location:Inside Passage, enroute to Alaska