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