Thursday 16th September-All day at sea

Awake to fairly choppy seas and Bert feeling a very ancient mariner.Apparently he is also looking the worse for wear but it is a bit difficult to gauge from the top half of a rather green face peering out from under the bed clothes!
He recovers enough for all of us to catch a very entertaining show put on by some of the crew members. Variable quality but a gutsy effort by all concerned.
11.30-Visit to the bridge following an invitation from Andrew Harris, the ship's Hotel Director, whom I had met the day before on the stairs. He is an absolute fitness fanatic and obviously saw in me a kindred spirit and another finely tuned athlete.
Quiet afternoon as we travel the 530 miles between Ketchikan and Vancouver.
Bert feeling much better and back on the desserts for lunch.
Late afternoon and early evening spent looking for Orcas, ( all to no avail) but we do encounter at fairly close quarters a huge pod of white-sided dolphins attracted to our ship.
Finally enter the famed Inside Passage which lives up to all of the advance publicity and more.
Dinner in Waterfall Bistro as good as ever and the day finishes with a quick and somewhat farcical game of table tennis.( vaguely reminiscent of Doug Walters being asked to find the snooker table on board the ship on his debut trip to the UK)
Late phone call to Lyn and Bert from their son Dean to let them know that he has broken his collar bone in a motorbike accident. Boys will be boys!
The Obese Ferret
PS More to come when I have adjusted to becoming a landlubber again.

Wednesday 15th September-Arrival in Ketchikan

Arrive am in Ketchikan and decide not to take any of the numerous tours on offer. Instead we take a stroll around town, especially the area around the creek feeding into the bay. What we saw at the creek was both fascinating and very confronting as literally thousands of salmon tried to get upstream to spawn. So many do not make it and the creek banks are littered with dead and rotting bodies. It was particularly hard to watch fish in their death-throes gasping to take their last breath in the shallow water. Apparently the salmon die,not because of the effort of swimming upstream but because their bodies react adversely to the freshwater after spending so much time in the salt water of the ocean. Obviously some are taken by bears when they have almost reached their spawning grounds- life just ain't fair sometimes.
Visit to salmon hatchery ok but the young guide was Alaska's answer to Kylie Mole,only less articulate.
Ketchikan generally rather unsavoury and Bert apparently viewed a blood-soaked body through the window of house on our way back to the ship. The attitude of police outside the house seemed to suggest that this was just another everyday occurrence.
No lunch during the day as we have been building up to a special dinner( another formal dress occasion) in the very up-market Olympic restaurant. Olympic was a 1920's sister ship to the Titanic and the wooden panels from the original ship now adorn the walls of the Olympic restaurant.
All in all a memorable evening topped of by a very impressive 'Broadway' show in the Celebrity Theatre.
Someone has to do it!
Cheers
The Rapidly Beoming More Obese Ferret

Tuesday 14th September-Arrival in Icy Point Strait

Relatively late start but take the tender into the jetty at Hoonah as harbour too shallow for ships of the size of the Millenium. Hoonah on ICP is a small native Alaskan Indian community with a very informative museum providing some background to the very tough early days in this area.
Leisurely stroll along beach and through forest a pleasant change.
Resist the temptation to take the longest zipline in the world- 1 mile long,1300 ft vertical drop and top speed of 60 mph.
Uneventful evening with last dinner at the Metropolitan Restaurant- excellent as always as our waistlines are starting to testify.
Cheers
The Obese Ferret.

Monday 13th September-Arrival in Skagway

Early arrival in Skagway,former Klondike Gold Rush town in a superb location.After some gym work(!) walk into town and take the White Pass and Yukon train to White Pass Summit. Quite the most spectacular rail trip I have taken and definite brown trouser territory. Apparently we crossed over a cantilever bridge 1000 ft above a gorge but my view was a little obscured from under the seat.
Skagway a beautifully preserved town in contrast to its twin rush town of Dyea which is now no more.Local Rail Museum gives a real insight into the hardships of the gold prospectors who had to carry a full year's provisions to be allowed up to the Klondike goldfields.
Back on board by 4.00 and have dinner at the Waterfall Bistro for a change of scenery. Great ambience and food.
Question of the day which I posed to the Captain when I met him by chance on the stairs- when does a boat become a ship? His answer- any vessel carrying more than 12 passengers and more than 12 metres.I think I'll get a second opinion!
Cheers
The Obese Ferret.

Sunday 12th September-Arrival in Juneau.

Arrive in Juneau, the capital of Alaska at 8.00 am on another superb day weather-wise. Relaxed breakfast in the Aqua Bar, which offers a healthy option.( quite sparcely populated).
Shortly after disembarking we take a tramcar up to Mt Roberts ( 4000 ft) which ,given my well -documented aversion to heights , is quite a test. This will one of a number of occasions when my brown pants come in handy.
In spite of some of the usual (for me that is) gastro problemswe decide to take a bus/boat tour, first to Mendenhall Glacier and later out into the bay for some whale-spotting.
The bus driver, Patrick looks like a derelict but turns out to be quite a well-read character who gives us a very informative short tour of Juneau before heading to the glacier.
The skipper of the boat,a young guy called Chad, is a very laid-back young fellow who nevertheless manages to find some humpbacks for us to view at close quarters. Only towards the end of the trip does he reveal that the Orcas have now moved too far south for us to see. Any temptation to keel-haul him passed fairly quickly and we just made the most of the situation.
Another Gailism when she identifies a group of seagulls as ducks, much to Chad's amusement-definitely one for the archives.
On to Skagway.
All the best
The Obese Ferret.

10th September- Seward and departure on Celebrity ship Millenium to Vancouver.

Relatively late start on a beautiful clear day. Check out boarding details for ship before going for a short hike on Two Trails Track above Seward township. Take little notice of warning signs on forest trail and taken aback to learn later that a bear and 2 cubs had been seen very close to our exit point from the trail only a few minutes earlier. We had seen some droppings on the trail which contained some of the red berries for which the bears have a liking but weren't sure whether they came from a bear or someone who had eaten some berries and had encountered the bear along the trail!
Gail's earlier 'comfort stop' on the trail started to take on a whole new dimension.
Quick walk along the harbour front gave us the highlight of the day- a very close-up view of a sea otter,flat on his back in the water feasting on a huge pile of kelp.
Boarded Millenium at 4 pm and pleasantly surprised to find that we had a spacious stateroom with large double bed and view out over the water. Gail and I are not usually nervous sailors but we have taken to wearing our lifejackets all the time and the fact that our stateroom attendant is called Mohammed is entirely coincidental!
We had been considering going on whale-watch boat trip but an early stroll through the pool and spa area made us realise that once you have seem one you have seen them all, even if they are masquerading as humans.
The ship is beautifully appointed in every way and the dinner in the Metropolitan restaurant was superb.
Lowlight of the day- being advised that our Alaskan ULU blades had been confiscated by the security staff on board in spite of the fact that they are on sale in the shops on the ship. Later find out that the blades will be returned to us at the end of the cruise.
Cheers
The Obese Ferret.

9th September- Anchorage to Seward by train.

Touted as one of the iconic railway journeys in the world this 4 hour journey exceeded all expectations,taking us through some truly spectacular mountain scenery,complete with glaciers at very close quarters. Our decision to pay the extra for the scenic Dome car on the train proved to be 'spot-on' and it made for an unforgettable trip.
Had hoped to take a half-day boat trip around the bay at Seward but we appear to have arrived just a bit too late for the real action with the orcas, migratory birds, sea otters etc. Instead will probably do short walk up the lower reaches of Mt Marathon which every 4th July is the scene for a footrace to the summit ( record time to date 43 minutes).
Seeward a very pleasant port in a superb setting and this will be our point of departure tomorrow on our cruise down to Vancouver ( 7 nights, 6 days ).
All of us are eating far too much and are starting to resemble the Steller Sea Lions which we viewed today in the Seeward Sealife Centre!
Update on Gail Irelandisms- comment that 'there's a mountain here somewhere' when trying to find one of Alaska's major peaks on zoom. Given our location at the time it must go down as one of the all-time understatements.
From the Obese Ferret.

8th Sept. Copper Center to Anchorage.

Manage to get away from B & B by 9.30 on a fairly overcast morning for a 200+ mile drive to Anchorage.First part of the drive through some decidedly run-down areas which had obviously been part of the mining boom at some time! Scenery mediocre initially but after milepost 143 ( distance from Anchorage ) things pick up and at 101 the sight of the Matanuska glacier was truly awe-inspiring. Followed the Matanuska River down to Palmer which appeared to be one of the more civilised small towns in the area.
Ramada Inn in Anchorage a very pleasant surprise in a city which is as disappointing as the rest of the state is magnificent. Meal at fish restaurant. Food good but service appalling with waiter charging 15% service fee which is usually only automatic for groups of 6 or more. Ironically, we had been paying 15% tips in all previous eating places but it was more the gall of assuming that their arrogant, dismissive, grumpy behaviour deserved such a fee.
Turn in early as have to leave on train at 6.45 am for Seward.
More soon including a few flashbacks to earlier days of this great trip when I was slow to get my muse working!

Copper Mine Alaska- 7th Sept

Set off about midday from Fairbanks heading for Copper Mine and our accommodation at Copper Moose Cabin B & B. Views of the Alaskan Ranges to the east quite superb with the peaks of Mt Sanford, Wrangell and Drum visible for much of the afternoon. Bert did some of the driving but I wimped it mid-afternoon and took over when we came to what I thought was a mountain pass. The pass turned out to be nothing more than a drive across a plateau.
Arrive late arvo to be greeted by CD and Cathy, the owners of the Copper Moose, and to be presented with a birthday cake that CD had baked for me!
Off to nearby lodge run by Russians for dinner. The traditional dishes were a real treat, topped off by a good local brew of Alaskan beer.
Return to B & B to be regaled by stories from CD about his 20 + years working on the Alaska Oil Pipeline. Tales of corruption( some of it no doubt perpetrated by CD ), fornication ( not so sure about his participation in this area ) and very big pay packets.
Later than hoped into bed but all in all a memorable 66th in this truly remarkable state.