THE CRUISE OF A LIFETIME… The Alaskan Inside Passage

First time and repeat passengers fill cruise ships every year during May-July to sail the Inside Passage and experience some of the most breathtaking scenic beauty this sliver of Alaska can offer.

We recently had the fortunate opportunity to cruise the popular Inside Passage on board the Regent Cruises’ “Mariner of the Seas”. What makes this cruise so outstanding is not only the scenic wonders passing your private balcony everyday, but also the additional special activities on board; coupled with the mere fact that the ratio is 1 crew member to every 1.5 guests.

This ensures a very personalised environment to the 550 travellers. Most other liners on this route carry between 2500 and 3500 passengers, and can also not, as a result to their size, enter the inside passages, fjords and arms, as is possible on the Mariner.

The Inside Passage is usually remote, remarkable and also ultimately rewarding come rain or shine – the latter being the exception and not the rule. This virtual marine highway stretches some 2 000 kilometers from Vancouver (British Columbia Canada) northwards to Seward (Alaska, USA), on the Kenai Peninsula, past the Prince William Sound.

South-east Alaska is a water world; most of the towns are only accessible by boat or seaplane. The passage snakes through hundreds of islands, squeezing into straits, narrows and sounds.

Famous for its colourful totem poles, rainy skies, steep streets and lush island setting, Ketchikan is the first Alaskan port of call on the north bound cruise, and situated on the Tongass Narrows In addition to the interesting frontier architecture, the salmon fish-ladder route, the Deer Mountain Eagle Centre as well as the Totem Heritage centre, the main attraction of Ketchikan is the fact that it is the gateway to the Misty Fjords National Monument.
 

The Monument is a magical place, carved out by the steady progress of gigantic glaciers. As a Heritage conservation area, spanning some 10 000 square kilometers, this untouched coast and back country consist of ice-fields and glaciers feeding three rivers, misty waterfalls feeding into hundreds of small streams and creeks, ancient rain forests, snow-capped mountains and mirror- like secluded mountain-top lakes, reachable only by floatplane (an unforgettable experience we enjoyed). Well known sights are the New Eddystone Rock, a single sentinel in the Behm Canal, Rudyerd Bay, where we were met by a welcoming committee of at least 20 seals, and Punchbowl Cove, with its towering vertical granite walls, resembling the Yosemite Dome. These are enclosed from Canada by the mighty ice covered dividing range of the Coast Mountains.

Petersburg, at the north end of the Wrangell Narrows, is a picturesque fishing town, also known as Little Norway. Wrangell follows next en route to the capital of Alaska, Juneau, totally isolated from the outside world with no road connections at all.

From Juneau, a number of impressive glaciers can be viewed from the air.

Spilling into the Mendenhall Valley from Juneau Icefield, the large Mendenhall Glacier was named in honour of a physicist who surveyed the border area between Canada and Alaska.

However, the main street, Franklin Street, bustles with cute art shops and local bars. A cable car takes you to a vantage point from where one gets a breathtaking panoramic view across the strait.

A marine boat cruise is worthwhile into both the Endicott and Tracy Arms, with the thrilling possibilities of whale watching in the bay area. Black and white killer whales, humpback whales and fast swimming minke whales can frequently be spotted.

Skagway was founded on gold and dreams and its brief period of glory is re-created for the enjoyment of thousands of cruise passengers on a daily basis. A very special choice while visiting Skagway, is the White Pass and Yukon Route steam train journey: following the trails of the Klondike Gold Rush in the early 1900’s, for a very scenic journey you slowly travel up the valley, passing waterfalls, panoramic mountain views and crossing scary steel bridges over high escarpments.  

On leaving Sitka, as our last Inside Passage Alaskan town, before disembarking at our final destination at Seward, a young talented girl was sitting at the harbor-side, entertaining the visitors with traditional Alaskan folk music on her harp. 

Near the northern end of the Inside Passage, Glacier Bay National Park is one of the jewels of the entire park system.
 
Visiting Glacier Bay is like stepping back into the Ice Age – it’s one of the few places left where you can approach massive tide water glaciers – the other being Hubbard Glacier in Yakutat Bay: with a noise that sounds like cannons firing, bergs the size of a 10-storey building sometimes come crashing from the snout of the glacier. The crash sends tons of water and spray skywards, and it propels mini-tidal waves outward from the point of impact.

Land meets sea at Prince William Sound, a rough offshoot of the Gulf of Alaska. The Sound is a wonderfully irregular world of lushly forested islands, fjords that slash deep into the mainland, jagged peninsulas and deep waters teeming with life. 

Our cruise terminated at Seward, as gateway to the Kenai Fjord National Park. However, we were fortunate enough to explore the Prince William Sound by floatplane from Anchorage. Pristine clear inlets, blue and white chunks of floating ice, minute ecological islands, the Chugach Forest, all surrounded by the White snowcapped mountains on the fringe.  What a splendid way to end our unforgettable memories of our first encounter of Alaska as a natural wonderland!

 - Johann & Monique
 

NIAGARA FALLS

Although the majestic rumble of the falls can be heard from miles sway, there is no preparation for the sight itself; a great arc of hissing, frothing water crashing over a 52m cliff amid dense clouds of drifting spray. This spume of spray lifts high into the air as the dark green waters of the Niagara River thunder into the cauldron at the base of the falls.

There are two parts to this famous waterfall: the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. Between them is Goat Island, a tree-covered islet that sits in the middle of the river.

The Horseshoe Falls, some 800 meters wide on the Canadian side of the border, are perhaps the better known of the two. A road beside the river gives a good view of the falls at very close range, where the surface of the water has the appearance of dark green glass, turning to foaming white as it slides over the cliffs. On the Canadian side the Skylon and Minolta towers offers panoramic views of the whole area. It is also open at night to enjoy the floodlit waters.

An elevator from the Horseshoe Falls leads to the Journey behind the Falls, where a series of rocky tunnels take visitors behind a wall of water, where the noise from the crashing waters is deafening, and so thick it blocks out daylight.

The American Falls are smaller and have piles of broken rocks at their base, as opposed to the sheer plunge of the Horseshoe Falls. The sheer power and size of Niagara is best seen from the boats that brave the churning waters beneath the falls. Stunning close-up views of the falls are available from the vantage point of the Maid of the Mist.

Bridges and parks on both sides of the river provide good vantage points. One of the most popular is Rainbow Bridge, named after the rainbows that shimmer in the spray above the falls.

Originally the river dropped over an escarpment about 11km north of the present falls, but as the softer rocks underneath the dolomite were eroded by the fast-flowing water, the dolomite collapsed. Bit by bit the waterfall retreated, so that the falls today are a far way from where they were 10 000 years ago, and in their retreat they have left behind a deep gorge. The falls moved back at a rate of about 1m per year.

BIG BRAG