Cruise, Inside Passage 2015

Zürich - Juneau

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We flew Swiss/Edelweiss direct from Zürich to Vancouver

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Mario and Marianne joined us for the cruise and the trip afterwards with the motorhome.

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Our flight path took us up the west coast of Denmark and near SW corner of Norway. We could see Stavenger from the plane.

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We then flew north of Iceland and straight across the middle of Greenland in beautiful weather.

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Here we have just reached the east coast of Greenland.

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The frozen fjords of Greenland looked fantastic

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There were glaciers leading from the icefields down to the fjords.

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We also had a clear view of the Canadian Rockies as we came closer to Vancouver.

We later spent two weeks touring this area in a rented motor-home.

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After arrival we had a look around the wharf area of Vancouver. This is a view from Harbour Centre Tower.

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In Vancouver we met Lorenz Becker a friend from Switzerlandwho was touring USA and Canada in his motor home.

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Our ship the "Nordam". A vista class ship run by the "Holland America Line

Further info if any one is interested:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Noordam

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First leg, Vancouver to Juneau. There was still too much ice in Tracy Arm, so we had to miss that.

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Elisabeth checked out the balcony chair as soon as we moved on board.

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Looking down over Canada Place from the upper deck of the Nordam

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Part of the aft deck.

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Mario Elisabeth and Marianne

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Ready for departure

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Casting off the lines.

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The ship was very maouverable with Brown Boveri Azipod drives

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Departing Vancouver

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Passing under the Lions Gate Bridge

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Looking back over the north shore.

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Early morning on the observation deck, Elisabeth waiting for the stretching exercises in the fitness room.

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It was not really crowded.

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Cruising in the protected waters between the islands.

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Our friendly neighbours.

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Relaxing on the observation deck.

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We had very good luck with the weather.

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Aproaching Juneau

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Our sister ship, the "Westerdam" was in port.

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Docking with the azipod drives and bow thrusters was easy,

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for an experienced captain. This was taken from our balcony.

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As soon as we were on shore, Elisabeth made aquaintainces with the locals.

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We made a walking tour of the town,

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before heading for the airport to board our plane.

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The yellow Otter in the background was our plane.

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The runway was wet, but smooth.

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All aboard!

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We first flew south east down the passage then turned north into Taku Inlet, which is to our left in this photo.

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Taku inlet

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Flight area, photo taken from Google Earth.

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Map of the Juneau Icefield

 

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This is taken looking up the Taku Glacier, which is actually advancing.

It has a habit of blocking the Taku Inlet forming a lake which then bursts with spectacular results.

Here is an interesting article on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taku_Glacier

 

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Breaking ice on the face of the Taku Glacier.

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View looking down the Taku Glacier

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The upper end of Taku inlet.

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I think this is the northern fork in the Taku Glacier. Note the icefield behind.

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We viewed five different glaciers and the pilot flew a route that allowed all passengers to view everything without changing sides.

It is difficult to work out which glacier is which.

 

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This again looks like the northern fork of the Taku

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This could be the Norris Glacier, but I am not certain.

We flew over five different glacies and each one also looks very different from different directions.

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Glaciers do turn corners!

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It is difficult to realise the size of these blocks of ice, as there is no comparison, but they are BIG!

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Looking back up the Taku Glacier to the Juneau Icefield on the right.

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Again looking back up the Taku Glacier to the Juneau Icefield

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Pools of glacial water.

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Looking up the Icefield. It is immense.

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Here we are about to turn back up the passage towards Juneau.

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Flying by our floating hotel.

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Westerdam and Nordam in Juneau.

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Looking back over Juneau and the passage.

Juneau is tha capital of Alsaka and there are no roads leading in or out. Access is by boat or plane.

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Here we look north up the passage towards Skagway, but it is much too shallow for our ship.

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Now we are floating again.

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Mario seems very happy with the experience.

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I didn't get his name but this was our pilot. He was very capable.

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and this was our plane,

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a DeHavilland Otter turboprop float plane.

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This photo was taken from the web, but shows the special windows which give super

views of the glaciers and also allow for good photography with few reflections. The windows were also clean!

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We can highly reccomemnd them, but we can't guarantee that you have weather like we did.

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The taxidermist  does a roaring trade around here.

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These animals were all in a bar.

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A natural car burglar alarm system

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An old clock down town Juneau

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Trading Post, built when?

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We heard music coming from the Alaskan Hotel so we went in for a drink

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and were entertained by this group.

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Cheers!

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The pub was a hundred years old in 2013.

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I liked the beer taps.

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This was the teeshirt the barmaid was wearing.

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Afterwards we headed for the Red Dog Saloon which has a pretty good reputation.

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Brian Gale was playing. We didn't know him, but the performance was good

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and lots of others were also enjoying it.

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This didn't happen in real time, it was a picture on the wall.

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Everythging gets hung on the wall here, but that is quite a fish.

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We found a table under an Aussie flag.

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and tried some more of the local beer.

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The barmaids were listed as being for display purposes only.

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Our ship was waiting for us

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This is the location of our cabin, so I was able to keep an eye on the bridge.

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We then departed for Skagway. This photo was taken at 4:00 am the next morning.

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