Cruising Alaska, day nine: Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska on Star Princess

Our alarm blared at 5:00am. Though I was up wrangling sea-bound WiFi and posting about Skagway until after 1:00am, it was no matter…time for glaciers! We quickly bundled ourselves in warm layers, grabbed our cameras, and set up camp on the balcony. A quick glance up and down the side of the ship revealed a similar scene on nearly every balcony. The Star Princess had begun her journey into the Tracy Arm fjord.

Turning into Tracy Arm Fjord, hoping to be able to get close to the glaciers!

Glacier Bay is the common destination for cruise ships to catch a glimpse of the icy behemoths. Tracy Arm may be off the beaten path, but the area known as “Little Yosemite” is worth the trek. The fjord is 29 miles long, but only 1.5 miles wide. The narrow cliffs rise up to an elevation of 3,000 feet. Shari Newitt, a naturalist on staff with the Star Princess, narrated portions of our scenic cruise through the fjord. Here’s what you would have learned if you were on our balcony with us: A fjord is any area carved out by a glacier and subsequently filled with salt water. The Tracy Arm fjord was created by an ice sheet so large it once covered all of Southeastern Alaska, Canada’s Yukon Territory, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. It could have held the entire population of the world on its surface and we’d still each have 10 feet of space all to ourselves. An ice sheet, in glacier speak, exists prior to the smaller ice field (i.e. the Juneau ice field Heather and I recently experienced). The glacier, then, is an even smaller piece of an ice field (i.e. the five glaciers I saw from the air and the Mendehall to which Heather hiked). From there you get down to icebergs and ice shards, respectively, through which our captain skillfully navigated all morning.

Sailing through iceberg, with 90% of their mass hidden below the water. Just hold your breath and cross your fingers. 

Our goal was to sail around Sawyer Island. We would either sail on the left or the right depending on the concentration of icebergs, and get as close as possible to the South Sawyer Glacier in the south arm of the fjord. It was clear by the time we reached Sawyer Island, there was no way for Star Princess to make it though the icebergs guarding the glacier. The ship slowed to a crawl and we buzzed with anticipation. Will we turn around? Are we done? Are we going back to bed? Will our captain pinball his way through it? How have we even made it this far? The ship started moving.

This is as close as we could safely get to the South Sawyer Glacier. Sawyer Island is in the foreground.

Doing my best to zoom in on the glacier and convey the electric turquoise color of its face.

A few facts for your ice literacy toolbox (depending on the cocktail party, one never knows when this will come in handy): A white color indicates a lot of air, cracks, and loose ice. Blue ice is the glacial motherlode. You want your glaciers to be blue, and many are a nearly electric turquoise hue. This means they are pure glacial ice with no air pockets. They have been rolled and turned to the point of incredibly density. As you watch the icebergs float past, it will appear as though there are streams of pollution in the water every so often. It’s almost like an oil slick, but typically yellow and grainy. In fact, this is most often minerals and even pollen floating near the surface. It can be freed from the melting ice or simply fall from the hemlock stacked on either side of the steep fjord walls. Calving is probably the most exciting glacier experience one can have. Calving is when skyscraper size chunks of ice fall from the face of the glacier and splash into the ocean. We did not see any calving this morning. We did, however, see the rarely-visited north arm of the fjord.

Pure ice is solid and blue. White ice indicates air pockets and loose ice. 

The Star Princess sailed right next to this iceberg, our captain confident and cool as a cucumber. Or should I say as a glacier?

The north arm of the fjord is rarely visited, because the water is rarely passable, making this the more illusive of the two glacial experiences. Our captain decided to go for it and we were eventually successful in reaching the North Sawyer Glacier! It is turquoise and massive and gorgeous. Later, over the ship’s broadcast system, the captain said: “It was a rare treat to make it to the north arm and see the North Sawyer Glacier. This will be a highlight of my cruising season. I hope you enjoyed that experience and for those of you who have traveled Tracy Arm before, you know how special that was.” I haven’t traveled to Tracy Arm before, but I do agree we had a special experience this morning.

Everyone was full of anticipation as we rounded the corner into the mysterious North Arm.

Victory! The illusive North Sawyer Glacier, described by our captain as the highlight of his sailing season.

After the fjord, and after 178 photos of ice, we enjoyed an afternoon at The Lotus Spa. We timed our spa day well after three full days of active excursions, an intentional decision when we pre-booked our treatments along with our excursions two months ago. My girlfriends and I always get a giggle out of the creative, usually pretentious, ways spas describe their treatments. Heather and I were recently booking a spa day for a friend’s wedding in San Diego and are still laughing at the “body mousse soufflé” that normal people call “lotion.” For the record, this is what happened to us today:

Heather booked the Thai Herbal Poultice Massage (75 minutes): “This treatment utilizes warmed muslin poultices of Thai and Chinese herbs that are steamed and applied directly to the body in a kneading action. This traditional ceremony has been practiced to soothe muscle tension and stiffness on key areas. Heat and herbs are absorbed by the body to help reduce aches and pains, increase lymphatic drainage, and condition the skin.”

I booked the Exotic Lime & Ginger Salt Glow with Massage (75 minutes): “An exotic exfoliation ritual that will invigorate and revitalize your body. Warm oil is dripped luxuriously over your body before our lime and ginger glow is applied. We then apply Elemis Exotic Island Flower Body Lotion, leaving skin replenished and vibrant. After rinsing away the salts you will receive a deep tissue muscle massage.”

The Lotus Spa & Fitness Center, including an adults-only pool.

The treatments were excellent with high-quality products and professional service. However, my girlfriends and I have turned spa days into an Olympic sport. We’ve had them all over the world and we know of which we speak when it comes to indulgent pampering. Keeping that in mind, the one thing I’ll say about my treatment: Princess needs to invest in a Vichy shower for its scrubs and wet body treatments. Rather than a ceiling-mounted track of warm shower heads raining down on me while my therapist salt scrubbed away, I laid on what felt like a combination astronaut slash camping blanket, a silver hypothermia baked potato crinkly thing. I then hopped in a shower and rinsed the salt away before returning to the massage table, now foil free and outfitted with a soft sheet. Vichy shower, Princess. Vichy shower. Trust me. One additional comment that actually relates to our previous review of the yoga classes. Efficiency rules the day at The Lotus Spa, just as it rules the yoga class. What does not rule the spa is a lush spa experience. This could be mostly remedied with a proper lounge, one in which guests find tea, water, fruit, magazines, plush chairs and ottomans, etc. Typically the genders are split with private lounges. As it is, the spa and fitness center are more or less connected and with no real space to decompress. The outdoor pool, with two hot tubs, is adults-only and a quiet place to relax; but there should be an indoor option. This is standard design for quality spas and more attention should be paid to this at The Lotus Spa. Our solution: Allow guests receiving spa treatments to access The Sanctuary free of charge on the day of their services. This is an existing infrastructure that can remedy this issue almost completely.

Peaceful surroundings at The Lotus Spa.

I hope you’re enjoying your virtual vacation. You can follow along on each day of the adventure through my Live Voyage Report landing page. If you're interested in following other Live Voyage Reports, visit The Avid Cruiser website to see where the team is exploring now!

Bon voyage…and love,
me


This article was originally published on the Avid Cruiser Live Voyage Report website. 

Cruising Alaska, day eight: Skagway, Alaska on Star Princess

The indigenous Tlingits called it Skagua, meaning approximately “the place where the north wind blows.” The gold rush stampeders mispronounced it Skaguay. and it has since been spelled Cquque, Schkague, Shkagway, Schkawai, and Skagwa. In 1899, someone in a Washington, D.C. post office ended the confusion, changing it officially and forever to Skagway. Nestled between the Taiya Inlet and the Coastal Mountains, this small town of 850 residents and 455 square miles sits at the northernmost tip of Alaska’s Inside Passage. It’s most known for being the “Gateway to the Klondike” and the 1897 launching point for those seeking riches in Canada’s Yukon Territory.

Skagway retains many original Gold Rush era buildings.

“Gold! Gold! Gold!” The infamous July 17, 1897 Seattle Post-Intelligencer headline announced the discovery of gold in the Canadian Klondike. Once stampeders reached Southeast Alaska, there were two possible routes to their goal, the Chilkoot Trail and White Pass. The two trails met up at Lake Bennett, near the headwaters of the Yukon river and 550 miles away from the gold fields. Chilkoot is a grueling 33-mile trail, including a final quarter mile climb of 1,000 vertical feet. Seeking an alternative route, many people opted for the White Pass. The trail was 10 miles longer, but the summit less steep. Pack animals were not allowed on the steep Chilkoot trail, but it’s debatable as to whether or not they should have been allowed on White Pass either; 3,000 horses died in just one winter season of trekking.

I cannot begin to imagine the engineering challenge of building a railroad in this terrain in the 1880s.

The gold rush era was also the height of railroad construction across North America. Michael Heney, who ran away from home at age 14 to pursue his dream of working on a Canadian railroad project, partnered with Sir Thomas Tancrede to build a railroad on the White Pass. Everyone doubted Heney’s seemingly-impossible plan to follow the Coastal Mountain range, but he’s known for exclaiming: “Give me enough dynamite and snoose and I’ll build a railroad to hell.” In an astoundingly fast 26 months, a narrow gauge railroad blasted through 20 miles to the White Pass summit. This involved an increase in elevation of 3,000 feet, steep grades of 3.9%, and cliffside curves of 16 degrees. Work on one of the tunnels happened in the middle of winter with temperatures reaching 60 below. Tens of thousands of men chipped and hacked their way through the granite mountain face, using 450 tons of dynamite along the way. The White Pass & Yukon Route was the northernmost railroad in the Western Hemisphere and took over $10 million to complete. In 1994 it was recognized as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, an honor shared with the Eiffel Tower, Panama Canal, and Statue of Liberty. It is known as the “Scenic Railway of the World,” and for good reason.

The White Pass & Yukon Route Conductor.

A thrilling perspective on the narrow gauge WP&YR railroad.

The Brakeman was a total ham.

I spent my entire day clacking along this scenic railway. To be more accurate, I spent my entire day standing on the outside platform in between two train cars, wind in my hair, eyes wide in amazement. I realized later I’d captured over 230 photographs of some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen, particularly after we reached the summit and dropped down into Canada. Just when you think it can’t possibly get any more breathtaking, the antique train clacks and clatters around another corner and it does. The highlight of the day was Lake Bennett. Mid-way through our six-hour journey we arrived at this former crossroads of the Chilkoot and White Pass trails. In the old train depot we enjoyed a “miner’s lunch” of stew, bread, and apple pie (included in the price of the excursion). I expected the food to be passable, but I was unprepared for how seriously delicious it was. Perhaps it was the historic setting. Perhaps it was the hours of fresh air and inspiration. Perhaps it was simply the best stew ever made. I will say that this shore excursion was a highlight that rivals even the seaplane adventure of yesterday. I’m a bit obsessed with trains when it comes to modes of travel, I find them impossibly romantic, nostalgic, and even sexy. I’m also a mountain girl, so I’m biased to basically every aspect of this excursion. Regardless, I strongly recommend you book the White Pass Bennett Lake trip. There are many WP&YR train excursions that stop at the summit or at Lake Bennett, whereas we continued for another two hours along the 20 miles coast of the lake into Carcross, Yukon Territory. Astonishing beauty. Do it.

Bennett Station is now used to serve a delicious "miner's lunch" to travelers on the WP&YR trains.

I mean, seriously.

Lake Bennet is 20 miles long and the train ride alongside it lasted nearly two hours.

Meanwhile, Heather spent her day with orphaned and rescued animals native to Alaska. Kroshel Films Wildlife Center is a 60-acre wild animal preserve located 27 miles outside the town of Haines. To reach Haines, Heather and 19 other passengers took a 45-minute scenic, narrated ferry ride. Were they to have traveled over land, it would’ve taken 8 hours from downtown Skagway. Once there, they were guided through the preserve by Steve Kroshel himself and fellow naturalist and falconer Mario. Heather describes these two hours as an intimate experience, both unstructured and ideal for up-close encounters with the animals. Her favorite experience was feeding an organic banana to an orphaned moose named Karen. She was also excited by the informal nature of the grounds themselves. There were no signs, no uniformed staff, no trappings of familiar zoo environments. This is the private world (and private property) of an animal whisperer who literally talks to his beloved friends in a series of noises and clicks unique to each one. As Steve wandered barefoot through his property, which is only open for scheduled tours and private appointments, he shared stories of his childhood on a farm in Minnesota where his family also rescued animals. Heather said that without a doubt this off-the-grid excursion rounded out her Alaskan experience. She enjoyed her time with the whales – and our time at sea is clearly focused on experiencing those animals in their home – but spending time with Steve’s animals in their natural environment was a highlight of the trip.

Steve Kroshel introduces a linx to Wildlife Center visitors.

Heather makes a new friend. 

Steve, perpetually smiling, and Mario at Kroshel's Wildlife Center.

Heather said this shore excursion was a highlight of her trip, and a must-do for all animal lovers. 

Tomorrow at 5:00am we’ll be up with the sun and on our balcony for the five-hour scenic cruising of Tracy Arm Fjord. After a leisurely brunch, it’s spa time. Ah yes, spa time. We spend the rest of the day and the entire next day at sea on Star Princess. We’ll be in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on 01 June.

I hope you’re enjoying your virtual vacation. You can follow along on each day of the adventure through my Live Voyage Report landing page. If you're interested in following other Live Voyage Reports, visit The Avid Cruiser website to see where the team is exploring now!

Bon voyage…and love,
me


This article was originally published on the Avid Cruiser Live Voyage Report website.

Cruising Alaska, day seven: Juneau, Alaska on Star Princess

Heather and I booked different shore excursions in Juneau today, but both discovered the epic, bucket list Alaska we’d been waiting for. The Alaska we explored today is the Alaska you can’t believe is actually real. Nothing can be that huge, that remote, that green, that wild. But it is…and even after today it still feels unreal, dreamlike. Don’t get me wrong, to even casually sail up the coast is to experience nature of near ridiculous proportions. If you never step foot off the Star Princess, you’ll still go home changed by this landscape. Heather and I chose to not only step foot off the ship, but to also step into a whale watching boat, into a tiny seaplane, and out to a giant glacier.

Before we get into the details of our shore excursions, there are a few things you should know about Juneau, Alaska’s capital city. The population of Juneau is 32,290 and 50% of residents work for the government in one way or another. The town spans 3,081 miles and is the only capital city in the United States accessible only by air or water. Take that in for a moment: Juneau, the capital of our 49th state, is not accessible by a road. Living in Salt Lake City, I’m accustomed to the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains (peaks as high as 11,000 feet) butting up against the city. I easily travel from my downtown front door to a ski resort in 20 minutes tops. Even I was shocked as I stood out on my Star Princess balcony this morning to see what is essentially water, then five city blocks, then a steep, spruce-covered, uninhabited mountain face (complete with a waterfall, of course). Now when they tell me there are no roads into or out of Juneau, I believe them. We are still in the coastal rain forrest and it dumps 86 inches of rain per year on this small town. This specific area is known for a high concentration of wildlife. There are entire islands full of brown bears (Admiralty Island), 300 species of birds, all five species of salmon, 60 humpback whales, a handful of orcas, and 10,000 bald eagles who call Alaska’s capital home.

Juneau, Alaska's capital city, as seen from our Star Princess balcony this morning.

Something unique to know about the Princess berth in Juneau, you’re not on a dock and you cannot walk ashore. To reach the downtown waterfront you need to hitch a ride in an orange tender boat. The ride is short and comfortable, so is the boarding process. As with every potentially chaotic moment, Princess has it completely under control. The Princess Patter newsletter let passengers know the night before to make their way to the Capri Dining Room, Deck 5 Midship, to pick up a tender ticket anytime after 8:00am. With that ticket your complimentary tender is secure. You can stay on shore until the last tender leaves at 8:00pm. If you’re booked on a shore excursion, your tender is handled separately from your meeting point in the Princess Theatre. You also have priority boarding on specifically designated tender boats. It could not be easier and we were about 30 minutes early for our excursion. Fun Tip: Sit on the top of the tender boat, outside in the fresh air, and snag unique photos of the Star Princess surrounded by Juneau’s mountains.

Tender boats shuttle passengers to and from Juneau.

Quick and efficient, you're in Juneau or back on the ship in no time at all.

Logistics out of the way, let’s get back to the wanderlust fantasy of remote landscapes. I chose to access my wild Alaska in a seaplane. I came to Alaska with the goal to experience our planet as she exists untouched by human hands. In my wanderlust fantasies as of late, I’ve been captivated by empty spaces; the idea of sheer isolation and of the earth being allowed to take care of herself without us mucking it all up. I came close to this years ago when I took helicopter tours over volcanoes, rain forests, and pristine Pacific beaches in Hawai’i and Kauai’i, but today’s adventure was something else entirely. Over 89% of Alaska cannot be developed. The landscape I saw today can only be seen from the air. I now respect that statistic on a whole new level. As poet Mike Burwell writes about this land, “Mountains only half-known to the eye / drag across the sky’s rough palm / their slopes distinct / with green jewels. Man is masterless / swallowing his own sound.” Those mountains that are only half-known to the eye were fully exposed to my eyes today. The photos will not begin to do Alaska justice, but nonetheless…

The spruce blanketing the Tongass National Forrest is an image that will stay with me for years to come.

Princess contracts with Wings Airways and their 5-Glacier Seaplane Exploration itinerary. I’m the furthest thing away from a gear head you could ask for, but a veteran in line with me was thrilled we were flying in classic DeHavilland Otter Floatplanes. He served as a pilot in a former life and the goal of his excursion was part Alaskan wilderness and part nostalgia for our mode of transport. Wings Airways has a fleet of five DeHavilland Otters. The planes were manufactured between 1951-1967. Then, between 2004-2008 the Wings Airways fleet underwent conversions from the original Pratt & Whitney R-1340 piston engine to the Garret TPE331-10 turboprop engine (900 horsepower). The US Army is the largest operator of Otters, with a fleet of 190. All of that totally came from their brochure…I have no idea what I’m typing right now. Mechanics aside, it was the opportunity for quality photography that was important to me. I was thrilled to learn that every passenger has a window seat, the flight path is in and out the same way so every person saw the view from each side of the plane, and portions of the 40-minute flight are narrated.

The classic DeHavilland Otter Floatplane.

Alaska's wilderness is the very definition of epic.

Our bush pilot flew the Otter through 75 miles of the Tongass National forrest before we swooped out over five glaciers: The Norris, Taku, Hole-In-The-Wall, West Twin, and East Twin. The Taku glacier is the largest in Juneau, and the deepest and thickest in the world. It’s the only glacier in the Juneau Icefield that is advancing, while all others are retreating. In total the Juneau Icefield has 40 large glaciers and 100 small glaciers. The five glaciers I saw create one outer edge of the 1,500 square mile field. Interesting aside: I’ve quickly learned that Alaskans measure rain in feet and they measure distance in Rhode Islands. Poor little Rhode Island, but I swear to you I’ve heard no less than five times each day how big something is based on how many Rhode Islands can fit inside of it. It’s one of those quirky cultural ticks you pick up only by traveling to a place and interacting with locals. In this case, the pilot told me the Juneau Icefield is bigger than Rhode Island. Of course it is.

The Juneau Icefield covers 1,500 square miles.

There is simply no way to capture the depth and size of the canyons on the glaciers.

Heather decided to access her wild Alaska on a whale watching tour and a hike near the famous Mendenhall Glacier, which is also part of the larger Juneau Icefield. She chose it because the variety of the tour appealed to her. She would’ve been less inclined to select it if it was just the whale watching or just the glacier. Gastineu Guiding Company took 14 passengers by bus to Auke Bay to begin the adventure. The boat is small and the passenger area enclosed, but large glass windows open fully to allow for clear photos of the whales. These humpback whales travel 3,000 miles from Hawai’i to reach Auke Bay with their baby calves in tow. They make this trek in April and teach the babies how to feed in the bountiful Alaskan waters until they return to Hawai’i in November. Throughout the journey the mother is nursing the calf with 100 gallons of milk per day and she is not eating any meals herself. She loses 1/3 of her body weight by the time the calves are weaned, a process that actually takes 2-3 roundtrips over 2-3 years. The whale watching was a success, as was a sea lion spotting. It was noted that the native tribes call these animals sea bears (which makes perfect sense when you consider the fact they’d never seen lions). These creatures, unlike the California variety that bark, growl like the bears found throughout the Juneau hills. Adult makes can reach 1,500 lbs.

On the lookout for humpback whales.

Alaskan Natives refer to these animals as "sea bears."

Whale sightings are so common that most tour companies offer a 50% return on your money if you do not see a whale.

After spending time in Auke Bay, the group drove a quick 15 miles to the other side of town to visit the Mendenhall Glacier. The Mendenhall is 12 miles long, half a mile wide, 300-1,800 feet deep at various points, and stretches back to Mendenhall Lake. It formed during the “Little Ice Age” approximately 3,000 years ago. It’s iconic face is 100 feet thick and a striking electric blue. The Mendenhall is called the “drive up glacier” because it’s only 14 miles from Juneau’s city center. Naturalist John Muir wrote that it is “one of the most beautiful of all the coastal glaciers.” After a short, but brisk hike involving multiple grades and series of stairs (in case that’s a concern for some), Heather viewed the glacier’s face through her binoculars. She was astounded at the details of the texture. With the naked eye, and even through a camera lens, the glacier face looks deceptively white. With her binoculars, the crevasses revealed a variety of bright, beautiful colors.

The Mendenhall Glacier from afar.

The Mendenhall Glacier is melting at a rate of five inches per day; but it’s also sliding from an elevation of 4,500 feet down to the ocean by a few feet each day. Along the trail that Heather hiked to the glacier’s face there were signs marking the retreat since it began in 1765. The tour coach parking lot now sits where the glacier did in 1900, for example. Even the postcard she purchased in town shows a larger glacier than the one she saw today. There is at least one local company profiting directly from the glacier’s migration. Glacier Smoothie makes soap out of the glacier silt left behind in the Mendenhall’s retreat. Clay-based soap is good for purifying pores and now, remembering an amazing day spent in Alaska’s capital. As Heather and I enjoyed a casual room service meal and reflected on the day’s adventures, she said she felt humbled. She felt humbled by her proximity to wild animals. She felt humbled by the sheer mass of the glacier. She felt herself catching her breath all day long and exclaiming to fellow travelers that she was having an unbelievable experience. That, in a nutshell, is epic Alaska.

A camera will never be able to capture the full intensity of that classic glacial turquoise color.

I hope you’re enjoying your virtual vacation. You can follow along on each day of the adventure through my Live Voyage Report landing page. If you're interested in following other Live Voyage Reports, visit The Avid Cruiser website to see where the team is exploring now!

Bon voyage…and love,
me


This article was originally published on the Avid Cruiser Live Voyage Report website. 

Cruising Alaska, day six: Ketchikan, Alaska on Star Princess

What we were told about Ketchikan prior to arriving: Ketchikan is the rain capital of Alaska. It rains 240 days a year. Locals measure rain in feet, not inches (13 feet annually). The town is nestled in a coastal rainforest. Locals are fond of saying, “If you can’t see Deer Mountain, it’s raining. If you can, it’s going to rain.” You get the idea.

What we experienced as the Star Princess floated into town this morning: Clear blue skies and a sunny 63 degrees. Go figure.

Ketchikan is a small fishing town (pop. 8,142) clinging to the western edge of Revillagigedo Island. It’s known as Alaska’s “first city” because it’s the southernmost port of call for for ferries, cruise ships, and explorers heading up the Gastineau Channel. Ketchikan is located in the Tongass National Forest, which is the largest national forest in the United States at 17 million acres. It’s also the Earth’s largest remaining temperate rainforest. As we made our way northward, the sun rising behind a seemingly endless blanket of Sitka Spruces created a breathtaking memory. These giant trees are everywhere you look. It feels like you’re experiencing a hundred different shades of green. They cover every island in the Tongass Narrows, every inch of every mountain that dominates the skyline behind Ketchikan.

Sunrise over the Tongass National Forest in Ketchikan, Alaska.

When I posted a couple days ago about preparing for this trip by reading poetry instead of guidebooks, I mentioned Cartography of Water by Mike Burwell. When I read his piece “Dream Island” in the airport in Salt Lake City, it was lovely. When I re-read it on our Star Princess balcony at 5:30 a.m., the sun peeking through thousands of Alaskan spruce trees, it resonate to my core.

Dream Island 

At the head of the bay
sits the island,
unreachable and rich as woman.
Knife edge peaks
are fallen slices of the moon
stuck in a hem of spruce.
The island floats
like a fabulous, green galleon
at the edge of the ocean’s dream.
Like the mountain and the spruce,
I join the dreaming.
I taste the salt in the magic,
water nerve. I smell the green.
I touch the cool waist
of the planet.

The exceptional weather greeting us was good news for our shore excursion and for our plan to walk into town and explore Creek Street. Heather and I signed up for the same excursion today, a visit to Saxman Native Village. Before I tell you about our time with the Tlingits in their Beaver Clan tribal house, a quick word about navigating shore excursions in general. I’ve already mentioned that I like to chill out at sea, but love to be active in ports of call. In my opinion, it’s always worth it to book a shore excursion or to research the port and create your own adventure. Heather and I chose to pre-book all our excursions online two month ago. You can wait until you’re on board to sign up, but you run the risk of the excursion you want selling out. The Princess Patter (daily onboard newsletter) that arrived last night featured a message from Shorex Manager Ian Harvey. He maintains an office on Deck 7, near the Crown Grill, where you can book excursions or simply receive advice about planning your own day on shore. There were a number of people on our excursion today who booked as late as last night, by the way. Since we pre-booked, our room steward delivered a package to us our first day onboard with our excursion tickets. The tickets list all the information we need: Excursion title, meeting location and time, and what to pack, wear, or prepare for physically (if anything particular). This is another potentially chaotic process that Princess has nailed down perfectly. It’s completely clear, seamless, and stress-free.

Princess makes shore excursions efficient and stress-free.

The Tlingits are one of the indigenous tribes that first settled Southeast Alaska, originally as a summer fishing camp. Saxman Village is located three miles south of Ketchikan and is home to more than 800 Tlingit people. A few residents are members of the Haida tribe. In the whole of Southeastern Alaska, Ketchikan and the surrounding area has the highest percentage of Native residents. I heard 14 percent yesterday and 19 percent today; regardless, the point remains the same. Also, Saxman is not a reservation but a fully independent village, an important distinction. When we first arrived we learned a few Tlingit phrases before watching a 15-minute documentary on the history of the people and the area. They welcomed us into the Beaver Clan tribal house and performed a few of their traditional dances. My favorite was the dance that sends fishermen off in their canoes, wishing them safe passage and a successful catch. Men, women, and children participate in the dances. Today, so did members of the audience at the invitation of the chief.

The Tlingit Beaver Clan tribal house in Saxman Village.

A Tlingit elder welcomes us in his native dialect and introduced the dancers.

Tlingit dancers share their culture and storytelling traditions.

Just outside the clan house is a totem park. Ketchikan as a whole is heralded as the best location in Alaska to see totem poles. I wasn’t prepared for just how many are scattered casually around town beside streetlights, stop signs, and other nonchalant accessories of daily life. Eighty varieties of totems are found in the three block area of downtown Ketchikan. Totem poles are an art form specific to tribes in the United States’ Pacific Northwest. They are used to preserve historical records, portray cultural stories, and identify clans. Totem carvers are trained in local mythology, in an intense way similar to a shaman’s training in healing rituals. Carvers are required to pass extensive oral exams before they’re allowed to start carving. Totems are often misunderstood as religious symbols, which they are not. The geometric patterns, animals, and people do have both literal and metaphorical meanings; so think of them as visual aids to thousands of years of rich oral history.

Totem poles in Saxman Village keep a watchful eye on the Tongass Narrows.

Detail of a totem pole in Saxman Village.

Interesting fact: I learned today that inanimate objects are never carved into totem poles, something I hadn’t noticed or realized until now. This restriction is meant to honor life in its full, animate, dynamic circle — including respect for the giant Red Cedar trees that are felled to create the totems. Once a totem pole is carved and raised — and it can take up to two years to complete — it is never removed. Many can stand as long as 60-80 years. It will eventually rot, fall down, and decay completely below where it once stood, but that is allowed to happen in its natural course. The same is true of homes and other structures built from natural materials. We drove past a chief’s former home and the wooden structure was rotting away peacefully. We were told: “We built it from Mother Earth and so it’s returning to her.” Beautiful.

A fallen totem pole is left alone to decay and return to Mother Earth. The Tlingit see this as a gift and as respect for the cycle of all life.

Totem poles share the history and clan lineage of Native cultures in the Pacific Northwest.

We had the chance to meet Tlingit master carver Nathan Jackson. In his workshop he showed us totem poles in progress and explained his traditional carving tools. I loved this moment because with my ignorant eyes I saw three piles of wood and assumed everything was Red Cedar. We then spent five minutes learning about the different types of wood that were actually in the workshop and the functional differences among them. It reminded me of something I learned years ago: The Inuits have many distinct words for snow. It was a reflective moment to realize how far we (city folk in general terms) are removed from nature and intimate experiences with it. I will say though, one intimate nature experience I do not wish to have is the traditional creation of paint for the totem poles. Women were once responsible for chewing salmon eggs and spitting out the oil to use as the base of the mixture for red paint. They would spit through their front teeth, using them as a strainer. Nathan the master carver joked with us that in 2014 they just drive down to Ace Hardware and call it a day. He also said this was a decision made by the women.

Tlingit master carver Nathan Jackson. Apprentice carvers can earn up to $1,000 per foot for their work. Experienced carvers earn up to $5,000 per foot. Master Carvers "can basically charge whatever they want and people will pay," as we were told.

Inside the totem pole workshop in Saxman Village.

With limited time in town, my primary goal was Creek Street. Said to be the most photographed street in Alaska, Creek Street enjoyed its heyday as Ketchikan’s Red Light District in the late-1800s and into the 20th Century. More than 30 brothels crammed into an area that took Heather and I less than 15 minutes to walk completely start to finish. Ketchikan is self-described as The Salmon Capital of the World. It’s often said that pioneers actually came to Ketchikan for the wealth of salmon, not gold; but as a sign on the infamous Dolly’s House quips: “Where both men and salmon come upstream to spawn.” Ignoring the men and speaking of the salmon, the charm of Creek Street is that its colorful wooden shops and homes are built entirely on stilts over Ketchikan Creek. I can only imagine the chaos of thousands of salmon fighting the current below those rickety wooden planks. Today Creek Street is mostly touristy souvenir shops, a couple restaurants, and Dolly’s House is a museum with a $10 entrance fee.

The infamous Creek Street, built on stilts over Ketchikan Creek, where salmon make their annual run. 

Extending not too far past the boundaries of this photo, Creek Street was once home to 30 houses of ill repute.

Ketchikan Creek, site of the famous salmon run.

The Star Princess sailed away from Ketchikan through the Tongass Narrows, bound for Juneau. Those of you familiar with the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State will feel at home among these rolling island hills that dot deep blue water with spikes of spruce and hemlock. The difference that lets me know I’m in Alaska, and not half way to Friday Harbor, is the sharp snow-capped Alpine peaks jetting into view every so often. In Snow Pass we watched from our balcony as humpback whales breached and splashed and played in one of their favorite feeding grounds. I would use the word majestic, but even that feels trite and insufficient in this setting. Tomorrow we wake up in Juneau and I board a seaplane, flying over glacial ice fields. Heather heads out on a whale watching trip after she hikes the infamous Mendenhall Glacier. Adventure abounds!

Heading into the Tongass Narrows north of Ketchikan.

I hope you’re enjoying your virtual vacation. You can follow along on each day of the adventure through my Live Voyage Report landing page. If you're interested in following other Live Voyage Reports, visit The Avid Cruiser website to see where the team is exploring now!

Bon voyage…and love,
me


This article was originally published on the Avid Cruiser Live Voyage Report website.