As my seasonal summer tour job at home in Durango drew to a close in fall of 2013, we started looking for options on how to get back to Summer Breeze for the winter. It was time for us snowbirds to migrate. We happened upon a neat way to take a “boat back to the boat”. Rather than fly or drive to Florida, we booked a 30-day (really cheap) Norwegian Cruise Line “repositioning cruise”, which not only dumped us back in Miami, it knocked two pending items off of our bucket list on the way there. After a quick, free flight to Vancouver (thanks Capital One HassleFree Miles), our itinerary was as follows:
- Sept 9 – depart Vancouver, Canada
- Sept 10 – at sea
- Sept 11- Ketchikan, Alaska
- Sept 12 – Juneau, Alaska
- Sept 13 – Skagway, Alaska
- Sept 14 – Glacier Bay
- Sept 15 – at sea
- Sept 16 – Vancouver, Canada
- Sept 17- Nanaimo, BC
- Sept 18 – Victoria, BC
- Sept 19 – Astoria, Oregon
- Sept 20 – at sea
- Sept 21 – San Francisco, California
- Sept 22 – at sea
- Sept 23 – Los Angeles, California
- Sept 24 – at sea
- Sept 25 – at sea
- Sept 26 – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
- Sept 27 – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Sept 28 – at sea
- Sept 29 – Huatulco, Mexico
- Sept 30 – Puerto Chiapas, Mexico
- Oct 1 – at sea
- Oct 2 – Puntarenas, Costa Rica
- Oct 3 – at sea
- Oct 4 – Panama Canal
- Oct 5 – Cartegena, Columbia
- Oct 6 – at sea
- Oct 7 – Ocho Rios, Jamaica
- Oct 8 – at sea
- Oct 9 – arrive in Miami, Florida
What fun! We’re going to get to see Alaska AND the Panama Canal AND PUT ON 15 POUNDS OF WEIGHT. Nobody said this was going to be easy. As it turned out, I ended up taking about a thousand photos; I’ll do my best to keep it to a minimum in this blog. The added 15 pounds was easy even though we fought it the whole trip with daily walking & gym visits. Thank goodness beer wasn’t a temptation; at $8 per beer and $35 per bottle of wine, this was almost an “abstention” cruise. We had a blast!
SEPT 9 - we boarded the Norwegian Cruise Line "SUN" in Vancouver, B.C. and headed north up the inland waterway for Alaska
This is our "happy place". Every morning for 30 days we got up at sunrise and had coffee & breakfast "by ourselves" here at the stern Garden Cafe. This is always the best time of day, as we enter a new harbor for that day, and you wouldn't believe the size of the buffet right behind me. And everyone else is asleep.
VANCOUVER, CANADA - SEPT 9
Autumn & fiance Michael joined us in Vancouver to see us off.
"Banana Slugs" are a hiking hazard around Vancouver. If you'd like some interesting reading, google their mating habits.
Vancouver has a great aquarium that we visited, while hiking Stanley Park Island and the Lions Gate Bridge,all within walking distance of the ship which was docked at Canada Place, the olympic headquarters.
What? Could we have been wrong all these years in Florida? Or do Canadians just have a hangup about peeing on each other?
Canadian "Loonies" $1 and "Toonies" $2
Neat mural in Vancouver's China Town
Downtown Vancouver is an interesting mix of really upscale businesses and tourism in the Gas Town and Canada Place area. Immediately adjacent to the ritzy area are streets lined with the friendliest, non-threatening, happiest druggies & "less fortunates" that we've ever seen in a downtown (with the possible exception of the one guy flipping me off in this pic behind the blue trashcan). Canada takes better care of their homeless street people than we do in the US.
LEAVING VANCOUVER . . . AND LOOK WHAT POPS UP OUT OF OUR WAKE TO WAVE GOODBYE!
KETCHIKAN, ALASKA SEPT 11
The photo above illustrates the humor of the Alaskans; ya' gotta luv it!
The two photos below show possibly one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. We lucked out and caught the end of the salmon running.
Now THIS is a boat lift!
Leaving Ketchikan
JUNEAU, ALASKA, SEPT 12
Good morning, sleepyheads. This is our morning view while having breakfast outside on the stern. Everybody else on the ship is still asleep . . . what are they thinking?!?!
This is
MENDENHALL GLACIER and possibly my favorite photo on the whole trip, and unquestionably our favorite place.
Departing Juneau
SKAGWAY,SEPT 13
US / CANADIAN BORDER ON TOP OF WHITE PASS
WE ALL KNOW HOW FAST NANCY MOVES ON LAND, HOWEVER, SHE ACTUALLY SLOWS DOWN & RELAXES WHEN ON A CRUISE SHIP. LOOK BELOW, I ALMOST EVEN CAUGHT HER ON FILM ONE MORNING AS WE CAME DOWN FOR BREAKFAST.
GLACIER BAY, SEPT 14
ENTERING GLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK, AFTER PICKING UP A PARK RANGER NARRATOR.
IF THIS PLACE ISN'T ON YOUR BUCKET LIST, IT SHOULD BE . . . RIGHT THERE WITH VISITING PARIS, RIGHT THERE WITH CLIMBING AROUND ON MACHU PICHU, AND AHEAD OF A WHOLE LOT OF OTHER PLACES.
IN THE PIC ABOVE LOOK AT THE SMALL FLOATING ICEBERG IN THE LOWER RIGHT-HAND CORNER; NOW LOOK AT THE PIC BELOW . . . THAT'S THE BLACK DOT ON THAT BERG!
DEPARTING GLACIER BAY FOR THE TWO DAY PASSAGE BACK TO VANCOUVER.
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