Guy Gadwa

With 35 minutes left there was time to enjoy the outdoor patio at the restaurant.  I mean the ship is right there...




Beer time.

I loved ISP last year and I really enjoyed it again this year.  This port never seems to make it on the Seattle round trip itineraries despite being very close to Juneau and South of Skagway.  I like this port enough I may cancel my 2019 Ovation booking and look at doing another one-way.  The friends I will cruise with next year will definitely enjoy this port.  It's uniquely Alaskan without the commercialization yet with modern luxuries, great food and very friendly locals.

The blue sky was too much for me and I had to ask.  How much for a do-over on the zip line?  The girl gave me a break on the price and my 1pm zip line time was set.  She warned me it was the last zip of the day and they need a few more guests to operate it.  They guaranteed my return to the ship well before the 2:30pm all aboard.
1pm arrived at the waiting area in the building and I counted more than six.  Houston, we have lift off.

The bus drive this time yielded much better views, both near the port and in the mountains.  


Our driver spotted a deer and stopped the bus.





A fellow victim zip rider.







Video, of course:
 
What a ride!  What a view!
Time 1:55pm.

The restaurants have free wifi that is limited to one hour.  My phone had 3G coverage which was fine for most needs, except scoping.  So I scoped from the restaurant:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1ynJOYOdPZkKR
After my early lunch I made my way back to get some pictures with the blue sky.


These are private residences.  Maybe grounds keepers for ISP?

The wooden pillars have small Inukshuks on top of them.  I couldn't resist taking some pictures of them.



What a difference on a clear sunny day makes.




There is a short nature walk that starts near the Adventure Center and runs through the woods then along the water in front of the ship.  It's well packed and accessible.  I did see a guided tour was available that I presume uses the golf cart type shuttles that are used on the pier.  That path is very wide.






Inside the main building you first enter is a small store.  

Its quite nice inside and also serves as the excursion meeting point for some of the excursions.  

The ladies in red shirts are the excursion desk.  Just in front of them are a series of tablet stations where you can sign waivers electronically and have a copy emailed to you.  Very professional. 
The pier walkway is covered in case it's raining (it's Alaska, it rains).

They have a shuttle for those that need it with a covered waiting area on the pier.

All in all they did a great job on the 2016 renovation.

The restaurant and bar didn't serve until 10am but they were open for us to walk into.




We started seeing hints of blue sky.

I started walking towards the old packing building.




More blue sky!  Looking better!




They have some of the old buildings set up as a museum with old packing equipment on display.  Part of the building contains different local artists and stores.








I was starting to get hungry (and thirsty) and ordered some lunch and a beer to enjoy the very blue sky.




Not a bad place to eat lunch.


Inside I ordered a Halibut Sandwich and a red ale.  They handed me an electronic tracker that i placed on the black mat on the table.  With this they were able to find me.    

It was very good and the beer tasted great while looking out at the water and blue sky.
Time 11am.

Day 5 - Icy Strait Point
Scheduled stop 7:00am to 2:30pm
Icy Strait Point is native owned and operated by the Huna Totem Corporation.  All profits go into the local community.  Part of the charter in operating a cruise port is to limit it to one ship at a time.  Often ships will split the day, one taking an early shift then another ship will take the second shift.  With long Alaskan summer days this works.  
Hoonah is the name of the nearby village and originally this was the site of the Honnah Packing Company in the 1930s.  The cruise port operated by tender when it opened in 2004 being used by Royal and Celebrity.  With success proven other lines began to call here.  A zip line was added in 2007.  In 2016 they added a floating pier and several new buildings. 
You won't find any diamond stores or other typical stores like in most other Alaskan ports and that is one of the things I like about ISP.  It's location is prime whale watching territory and some excursions guarantee a sighting.
We arrived to fog like low hanging clouds shrouding the port.

They had a nice fire waiting for us.


The clouds grew thicker.  This can happen this time of year due to the 'warm' waters and cooler air temperatures.

I had booked the "Early Bird Zip Line" which meant early times in the morning.  The additional discount I received now made sense.  At the other end of these zip lines is a mountain somewhere up there.  My zip line time was 7:30am.  Who needs coffee to wake up when you can zip?

I had a few minute to kill so I wandered around close to the Duck Point Smokehouse and Adventure Center where some excursions meet.




I signed my waivers electronically on the tablets in the building and waited for our guide.  At 7:30am she led us outside to a bus that would make the 45 minute drive up the mountain.
Immediately after leaving the port area we saw some deer on the road.


A few minutes through town and we hit the dirt road to the top.  "Free back massage" they joked.  It wasn't that bad.

Our driver wore a microphone and narrated the drive.  We stopped at several lookout spots to see we were above the clouds.  



Once at the top we had to walk down a hill toward the zip line.  Our drive warned us, watch out for the bear scat.  

An easy walk downhill but too steep for the bus that would likely struggle to make it back up.


Finally we made it to the zip line station.  

Here are some pictures from my GoPro. 
You sit in a chair like harness and put your feet against a gate.  When it's time the gate flies open and away you go.





Here is the video:
I actually enjoyed flying into the clouds.  It was a very unique experience. 
The clouds were breaking a little, maybe.  I headed back to the ship to get my good camera.   

Day 4 - Evening.
We followed Explorer down the channel. 

It was another beautiful Alaskan evening.


Early start with a 7am arrival in Icy Strait Point in the morning.  Time for bed.

Skagway - continued...
I walked through town and shopped some local arts shops and picked up a couple of locally made coasters.  With that I started back towards the ship.  
I was keeping an eye out for the Dewey Lake trail system and found a sign near the train crossing not far from the ship.


Time:  3pm

View of the town, or towards the town as the trees are blocking the town itself.  You can sort of make out the train tracks directly below me.

Basically you are climbing the ridge beside the ship but staring on the gentler side of it.

Most of the gain in elevation occurs along the beginning of the trail.  I was regretting those beers at lunch.  Slow and steady. 
Once "up top" there wasn't as much vertical and switch backs.
First I came along a small reservoir.

The water surface was very still so there were great reflections.

I kept going and came to the lower lake.


On this side of the lake the trail was well established and packed.

Venturing around the end of the lake there are several small streams running through the woods.

For some reason I decided to go for the loop around the lake.
At first this wasn't too bad.

As I continued around the lake the trail became more rugged.

This only lasted for a short while before the trail became better defined.

The trail doesn't always allow views of the lake but when it did it looked spectacular.


Near the end of the lake was another picnic area.


I noticed rails nearly covered in the dirt.  At one point this was an active mining area.  To think this was all done by hand up here on the top of this hill.  Incredible.
 
 
Time 4:38pm
I was definitely growing tired.  It was a long day of walking and hiking.  However I was just beginning the turn around the lake's other end and making my way back to the beginning where the trail up the hill first placed me.  Diamond happy hour had started, time to crank it up. 
One last panoramic before I make haste and speed up.  Alaska really is beautiful.


Phew... back around the lake, down the hill and to the pier!

 Thirteen miles in just over 8 hours including stops for the cemetery, lunch, museum and lower Dewey Lake.  
Time 5:19pm. 
My walk today:

Cemetery at the top
Dewey lake near the bottom and the ship in the bottom left.
And... back in time for my 5:45pm My Time dining reservation - after a cold beer and a shower.

Walking back through town the Ladies found me, remarking "Oh, what a big lens you have..."


This show, "The Days of '98" aims to show you what it was like back in those days.
 
 

Skagway - continued...
While in town I found a small museum on the edge of town near the train tracks.
Admission $2.  

I was welcomed in and informed I could take pictures.  





Bear!



White Pass had it's own airline for a while.

With a map like this no wonder everyone thought gold was abundant and all you had to do was bend over and pick it.  This is what led to the Klondike gold rush of 1898.  There's gold everywhere!

The reality was a little different.

 Now I understand why the railroad built and owned the pier:


Outside they have an old locomotive on display right beside the active train tracks.


The museum is all on the 1st floor and not large by any stretch but it was full of history, some native, some gold rush and some war time.  It was $2 and money well spent leaving me with memories I'll bring back on my next trip to Skagway. 

Skagway - continued...
By this time it was approaching 1pm and I was getting hungry (and thirsty).  My walk back to town led me to the Skagway Brewing Co.



The Alaskan Sandwich:

Quite tasty.

A couple of the Chilkoot IPA went down nicely as well.
While Skagway does have tourists by ferry and roads (beyond cruise ships) the bartender mentioned that in the evenings after the ships have left it's quite a party town for the young men and women who work the tourist trade.  Most of them work here for the summer then return South in October.

Skagway - Lower Reid Falls
Continuing the trail through the cemetery leads to you in the direction the falls.

Five minutes up the trail you start hearing rushing water and eventually you see the falls.



This is very enjoyable area and a few people came and went but it was never crowded.
A short video approaching the falls:
Returning back towards the parking lot you have two trails you can follow.  The one I came up through the cemetery or the left trail that bypasses most of the cemetery.


Another train sounded it's horn so I took some video and scoped from area:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1YqKDQymlmVGV


Video of the train:
From here I walked back out to the main road and a bridge over the Skagway River.


I walked back to town along the edge of the river.
 At least as far as I could as the river runs past the end of the runway for the airport which is fenced off.


At this point I walked down the residential side streets of Skagway to get back to the main strip.

Skagway - Gold Rush Cemetery

A large parking lot for those who take an excursion or who drive their own car.  Toilets near the parking lot. 


 
"Streetcars" drove past me as I walked here on the dirt road.  

The cemetery was primarily used during the era of the 1898 gold rush but there we a few burials over the next few decades after that.




 
Frank Reid played a prominent role in Skagway's history.  When I first arrived the Streetcar guide was giving a talk to her tour about Frank's interaction with 'Soapy' Smith that led to both of their deaths in a shoot out.

Continuing through the small cemetery takes you to a trail to Lower Reid Falls.

Day 4 - Skagway
We arrived on time and settled into our position on the pier with the sun trying to rise above the surrounding mountains.  


As expected Explorer was behind us.

Breakfast in the Windjammer with the type of incredible views you only get in Alaska.

The White Pass and Yukon Route train is a popular excursion so very convenient since the railroad owns the pier and drives the train right to the ship.  

I had no no excursion booked having the train last year and a different excursion in June.  I wanted to check out the Gold Rush Cemetery and with good weather it looked like this would be the day to do it.  Before heading out I did a quick scope from the ship:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1gqGvXnwzzAxB
For anyone who didn't buy the train excursion prior to causing they have ticket booths set up just outside of the secure pier area.

You can walk to town or for $2 each way ($5 all day pass) you can take a SMART bus (Skagway Municipal and Regional Transit).  It picks up not far from the pier.

 The 20 minute walk is easy so that is what I usually do.



This connects to a small river walk or you head straight into town.

At this point with the blue sky and old train parked near town I decided to scope when I discovered I left my phone on the ship.  Forty minutes later I picked back up from this same spot.

You can drive to Skagway from the lower 48 and Canada so there are other tourists in town.  A campground near the river above is popular in the summer.  Those folks wanting to ride the train would use the regular train station in town.


A large portion of the area is part of Klondike National Historic Park.

My mission was to reach the Gold Rush Cemetery just outside of town.  I scoped my walk through town, or at least part of it:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1OdKrpRkeleJX
After walking through town to the railroad yard and workshop:

The cemetery is on the other side another 1/2 mile up a dirt road.

The carcass of an old locomotive long out of service:



A few trains rattled past.

Juneau - Evening
A quick look outside to judge sunset potential.  Here is Explorer.  

The Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise was on Explorer in June and around this time of night in Juneau I was on that ship looking over at Radiance.
 
A quick scope at 7:30pm:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1lPKqkdEmwLJb?t=39s
Up to the Concierge Club to hang out with my new friends for a few drinks.  From here I could see a sunset getting better so I ventured out through the Viking Crown Lounge to take a look.



The sun was going quickly.  This next photo was at 8:10pm.  Sail away soon after the 8:30pm all aboard.  

My sunset scope:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1vOxwVZblXLJB
We departed first with Explorer soon to follow.  We'll meet again in Skagway on day 4 and based on my Explorer experience, Radiance goes in first and docks, then Explorer occupies the end of of the pier in front of Radiance.  
Juneau sail away scope, sailing past Explorer
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1PlJQryRWDvxE


Heading in deck 12 after this I looked down through the glass portal into the Centrum:


Off to the Schooner Bar, another nightly tradition where I met the same folks night after night.  If you go during the shows it's empty and we enjoyed engaging with the crew.  As soon as the show lets out the bar gets quite busy.  On another night one of the musicians was very talented on the piano.  On this night the duo on strings were very good but their soft and slow music was putting me to sleep so I went off in search of something more lively.  Not finding it I went to bed.
The amount of daylight and sunset is remarkably different tonight compared to June.  These were taken from Explorer in June as Radiance sailed past Explorer at the same time of day:
 
 

Juneau - Dinner
My Time Dining.

Fish of the Day was Salmon.  I'm not a huge fish fan but I know it's good for you and I went with it.

Juneau - Mendenhall Glacier
With an 8:30pm departure there was lots of day left to keep exploring.  I had visited Mendenhall Glacier by helicopter and on a tour bus as part of a tour.  I didn't like the short times and must-follow-the-leader tour bus approach.  
I checked Lyft,.  Ride-sharing services are new to Alaska within the last 12 months.  They didn't work in Anchorage in June 2017.  Uber isn't active in Juneau yet ( it was in Anchorage).

For a solo traveler, $29 each way doesn't make a lot of sense compared to the local shuttle called the Glacier express or the "Blue Bus".  It is $45 round trip and that includes the park fee.  I walked up to the line of excursion kiosks on the pier and paid by credit card.  A bus, in the parking lot on the other side of the tram station was just about to leave.

It's a short ride through town, the Lyft app above shows the route.  It takes about 25 minutes and the driver acts as a guide and provides color commentary along the way.
The bus parking lot is a 4 minute walk from the visitors center.  In this map you can see it as a U shaped area on the left of the road.

At the end of the shuttle bus lot is a nature trail with a viewing platform.  From here you could see Salmon spawning in the river.


Here is a short video I took of them:
This nature trail continues towards the main visitor's center and is a path our bus guide took us down in June.  
It's an elevated boardwalk where sometimes you can see bears looking for food in the river.  No bears today.

Continuing along the boardwalk takes you to the main part of the park.


Walking past the visitor's center there are trails (in the map above) for great views of the glacier.  This is from the orange trail in the map.
My scope from this area:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1BRKjeegRqZxw


Today I wanted to explore Nugget Falls to the right of the glacier.  It's a 30-45 minute walk along smooth paths, paved in areas, packed gravel in other areas.  A scooter could do this trail.

This trail is the dark blue line on the map above.


There is a lot of mist in the air and it's hard to keep a lens clean.


Kayak and canoe trips to the glacier face are popular and you can see them in the water here:

Cell signal was strongest here so I scoped again:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1ypJdYYqBwYxW
By this time I had spent 3 hours here so I wandered back to the fish creek to see if any bears had arrived.  Unfortunately not.  
Tired after my morning hike up Mt Roberts and wandering around here I found the blue bus getting ready to depart (every 30 minutes).   I determined that I needed to get back to Diamond happy hour the ship.

Juneau - Mt Roberts Tramway
Weather looked good so around 9am I headed off the ship and purchased an all day ticket for $34 in the tramway station.  There were no lines so I walked right to the front to wait for a descending tram to arrive.  Later in the day there would be long lines.  There were still some clouds lingering near the top but I figured they would clear while I was up there.  Soon enough a tram arrived.

The tram had been in and out of the clouds so there were drops of water on the windows but it was still quite amazing.  I secured a spot looking back as most folks ventured forward.  I knew the best views would be rear facing.



I scoped the the ride up :
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1lDGLXXlElmGm
At the top the clouds were moving back in.

There is a raptor center that contains a bald eagle who was injured, walking trails and hiking trails.  The trails near the tram station are easy to walk while the trail to the very top of Mt Roberts is more aggressive and better suited to people used to hiking.  


It was clear then more clouds moved in.  You can barely make out the outline of a ship along the edge in this photo. 


There are viewing platforms that can easy to access for non-hikers.

Here is a short time lapse video of the clouds from that viewing platform.  I quite enjoyed watching the clouds roll through the valley.
I continued up the trails in the direction of the peak.

Mt Roberts is names after Father Brown, a Jesuit Priest who was an avid hiker and volunteered with a newly formed trail association in Juneau in the early 1900s.  He erected a cross, long since replaced with this more modern version.




As you climb higher the trail becomes more suited to hiking boots over sneakers.  Fortunately I had brought mine.

With the clouds clearing I spotted an old friend who has been stalking me on this cruise.  

That's the Explorer of the Seas making her scheduled noon arrival in Juneau as her first stop since leaving Seattle on the same day we left Seward.




I scoped her arrival from this location:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1LyxBQQgXapJN
After this I continued the ascent.

The trail was getting steeper.

At this point it was noon and I was getting hungry.  Plus I wanted to visit Mendenhall Glacier.  The peak was another 90 minutes up which meant about the same to get back to this spot, plus at least that much to get all the way down.  Did I mention I was having Windjammer withdrawal?  

With the weather clear I was able to get a great view of the ships as I retraced my steps heading back down.

Day 3 - Juneau
I woke early to capture our arrival in Juneau.  I had the helipad to myself.

At this point we are still 20 miles or so from Juneau but this is what sets an Alaskan cruise apart from the Caribbean - sailing down channels with mountains on either side of you.

Our progress so far:

Overnight we sailed right past Icy Strait Point.  We head back there after Skagway in two days time.



Pictures are great but here is a video from the moment so you can experience it better.
I also scoped a little on our approach to Juneau as well:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1YpKkLLwzAdGj
Approaching the pier you can see the Mt Roberts Tramway and the clouds at the top.  More on those later.

Prime pier location this morning, right off the Tramway station and bus parking area used for many excursions.

No excursion booked today, just plan on doing my own thing.  I wanted to see how weather would be and would make a game day decision on the Mt. Roberts Tramway.  The other idea I had was to visit the Mendenhall Glacier Park on my own.  

Day 2 - Evening.  Formal Night.
I had a 7pm My Time reservation but with my stomach still on home time two hours later I wasn't going to make it.  Dinner in the Windjammer!  This gave me more time to enjoy the Concierge Club and take some pictures.  A regular crowd had already bonded in the club and sitting around the bar as a solo was quite enjoyable.  Much better than alone at a table for two in the club.  

We continued down the coast and much like last year some very prominent mountains were floating in the sky off our port side.  


Another relatively early night for me.  I wanted to catch our arrival in Juneau in the morning.

Key take aways
Don't just stay on your cabin balcony (if you have one).  Had you been on your balcony the whole time you might have missed all of the video I shot above, oblivious that it even occured.  Pushing through the ice and hearing it from deck 5 then heading to the helipad, then heading to deck 12, then the Viking Crown Lounge all yielded very different experiences. 
The face of the glacier is taller than the ship.  That puts into perspective the size of some of the ice chunks that were falling off and splashing into the water.
Still photos are great but when it comes to calving, video is best.  
There is plenty of railing for everyone, no need to hog one spot.  You are better to move around.
I had an interior cabin.  A balcony is not required to experience Alaska.  If a bucket list cruise is funded by a barrel sized bank account, go for a balcony, but don't miss this experience thinking you must save years to have a balcony in Alaska.      
Don't worry about the weather.  Bring rain gear, bring gloves.  Be prepared but if your day starts out wet and cold as this day did, perhaps it will turn for you as it did for me.  It's Alaska, you just never know.  
The calving was much better this year compared to last year.  You just never know how it will be on your day at the glacier.
We didn't do the circles we did on Explorer or Millennium last year.  One side had the view for a while, then the other.  Each Captain is different I guess.  No complaints, especially with the calving we saw.
I had to chuckle when I heard someone say exactly what I said last year as we departed Hubbard Glacier.  "If this cruise ended right now I wouldn't even complain". 

By now it was a blue sky kind of day and the views departing were equally magnificent.





Great views from the aft balconies:

Here is a video sailing away from the Hubbard Glacier:
 

The Captain had originally come in and placed the ship so cabins on one side could see the glacier.  By the time I took the video above the Captain had turned the ship so that cabins on the other side could see the glacier. 
I sensed our time was coming to an end so I ventured around the ship to get some ship photos with the glacier as a backdrop.







With that we began our departure from Hubbard Glacier.

Day 2 - Hubbard Glacier, continued...
After lunch commences with a distant view of our destination.  It's raining lightly and quite overcast.  Pretty much the same as my last visit to the Hubbard Glacier.  


I scope because I can!  I was surprised to see enough signal to broadcast so I scoped while I could!
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1OyKAQQeMkeKb
The weather was clearing and our views improving.


Periscope was still working so I scoped again as we approached closer.
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1YqKDQQnRXLGV
 
Crowds were starting to build on the helipad.

With my telephoto lens I could start to see the glacier in greater detail.


The skies were really clearing now and it was turning into a glorious day.



Drinks were offered for purchase:

I was moving around enjoying different perspectives from around the ship.

We sailed through a group of ice that made this weird but incredible sound as we pushed through it.  It was very cool and deck 5 was the perfect place to experience it.


I moved up to deck 12 to try to take in more of the entire face.







We started to see some hints of calving.  It had been pretty quiet up to this point.

I switched to video and managed to catch some great calving action on video.  Here are some still frames from that video:





 
 
Here is another section giving way in the right half of the face:
You can see it started with a small shower of ice falling away.

To the right of this partially hidden another small shower begins:

In the hole in the glacier I could larger pieces caving in:

A larger section then broke free and fell into the water:


Soon after a much larger section started its slide and crash into the water:


The splash was immense:


A decent sized wave started coming our way:


It's much more impressive on video so I uploaded some of my footage to Youtube:
It was incredible and the pictures and videos don't do it justice.  It's something best experienced live.

Day Two - Hubbard Glacier
Our arrival at the glacier was set for early afternoon so we had a regular sea day for the first half of the day. 
I discovered a letter on my cabin door informing me I had not attended the muster drill.  I had attended muster and gave my cabin number like I always do.  The letter said to attend the secondary muster at 8:30pm - the previous night.  I stopped by guest services and showed the pictures on my phone of the rainbow with a timestamp two minutes before muster officially started.  They said not to worry about.  They didn't ask my cabin number or name, they just told me it's okay.  I had been in and out of my cabin several times and had gone to bed after 8:30pm yet don't recall seeing the letter on my door the night before.   Nothing more came of this. 
I was up early due to my body clock being several time zones earlier so I took the opportunity to take some pictures around an empty ship.
The Centrum





Radiance does not have a Vintages.  Instead it has the Champagne Bar with awesome sea views and seating right by the windows.

I've often thought the entrance to the Schooner Bar on Radiance class ships is a waste of space since cruise ship real estate is hard to come by but it's pretty to look at.



 
Radiance class does have great views of the sea from many different public venues.

Breakfast in the Windjammer.  Custom made omelet at the omelet station and fruit.  The abundance of fruit is something I always try to enjoy in the Windjammer.
Our progress so far:

Lunch in the Solarium, double Kümmelweck.  Noted these options as well:

Dinner at 6pm

Totally forgot to take pictures.
Service was excellent and they honored Diamond Happy Hour drinks in the MDR.
Back outside a double rainbow appeared as rain appeared to be moving in with increasing cloud cover.

Time for muster approaching I dropped off my camera in the cabin and headed to muster.  U2 for me, outdoors on the covered deck 5 under the lifeboats.


The other end of the double rainbow appeared.  A few minutes later the muster drill started.

Soon after it concluded we started to sail away.
Sail away scope:
https://www.periscope.tv/thetwangster/1rmxPNNqwRXGN
The cloud cover had increased and with that there was no sunset tonight worth taking photos of. 




With that day one is complete.  I was tired from a late arrival in Anchorage and early departure the next morning so i went to bed shortly after this.