Life After Work: Aboard The Taku

Well, I'm just getting over the jitters caused by 2 whole, long days with no internet access. My phone was turned off for 2 days. I wrote the blog post in Word so at least I'll remember what I wanted to say! The voyage on the Taku, other than the internet thing (did I mention that?) was excellent. They took the inside passage route that the cruise ships take with a few smaller passages thrown in. I think we were much more in touch with the water than you would be on a big ship. If they could just do something about the bunk beds, it would be perfect.

Here's where I started on Friday at 6:15...

Our last day in Juneau involved a more complicated than necessary search for a Laundromat, a visit to a salmon hatchery, a look at salmon in a creek and a visit to the Red Dog Saloon.

The salmon hatchery was in full swing when we got there as tens of thousands of salmon were attempting to climb the fish ladder from the channel. Little did they know that at the end of the ladder was a plant that would process them by taking their eggs and milt and then turn them into pet food and other products. Salmon that are hatched in the plant will come back to the same location to spawn. It’s a very large operation. Here you can see the salmon in the holding pen and on the fish ladder.

When we saw the salmon in a local creek, they showed the same determination to spawn. It looked like almost solid fish in some places as they tried to get into the small, shallow creek. You can see it on TV but to understand the true scope of what is going on, you need to experience it in real life.

Back at Auke Bay, as we waited to board our ferry, we noticed a lone bald eagle sitting on a light pole and watching the water. Using our vaunted stealth skills once again, we managed to sneak up on him only to realize that he didn’t care how close we got. I expect he hangs out at the ferry terminal and is somewhat used to gawking humans. After taking a few shots, I figured he was just going to sit until we had to leave. But, just as we started to go, he took off and attempted to snag one of the fish that was jumping around in the water. I was shooting 6 frames per second so have the whole sequence but this is an overview.

Here, he's stretching his wing just before take off.

He dives off the light.

He soars towards the target.

Goes right into the water.

And comes up empty! Fish 1, Eagle 0.

And here he is coming up to the railing to dry off. You can see the water falling off but we found out that eagles don't have oil on their feathers like ducks. So, when they take a dive like this guy did, they have to sit around for a while until their feathers dry out.

This is our second ferry, the Taku. It’s smaller than the first one and supposedly a bit newer. We found our room, which was not unlike a college dorm room, to be small but efficient. I can’t even remember the last time I slept in a bunk bed! The beds were comfy, there was a bathroom and we could plug in our cooler and electronics.

Here's the convenient 1.5 litre bottle wine rack that they provide.

This is the bed and electronics set up. I always bring an extension cord on trips now. It was needed this time as the only outlet was in the bathroom. Also, climbing up that ladder in the middle of the night is not fun. I have bruises to prove it! Better than Marilyn falling out of the top bunk, she says!

Now, this is a first. I'm going to try to add a small video that we made to showcase our cabin. I'll be interested to see if this works.

Once the ship gets out into open water, it’s quite cool and windy but the scenery is still worth standing on deck for. So far, we’ve seen humpback whales, orcas, porpoises and seals. One orca even breached but of course we were watching that through the window in our room. I had a glass of wine in my hand instead of my camera! It stayed light until quite late and the sky and sea made for some great photo opportunities.

The ferry has been a great way to travel. Just tried out the shower and it was one of the best we’ve had on the trip! Again, no luxury, just a good shower. We brought our plug in cooler onto the boat. That’s been our best buy this trip for sure. It’s kept drinks, snacks and Marilyn’s yogurt cold since we left home. We are going to try out the ship’s restaurant tonight and possibly the bar as they serve the Alaskan beers that we’ve come to enjoy.

Since I'm compressing a couple of days into one post, I'll put in a few random pictures from the trip to Prince Rupert.

An interesting house on pilings in Petersburg, in a very narrow part of the inside passage.

We were supposed to dock in Ketchican at 5:45 this morning. I woke up around 5 and saw that we had the first really sunny morning of the cruise. We decided to get up to watch the docking and see if we could catch the sun coming up over the mountains.

This cruise ship got ahead of us and delayed our arrival at Ketchican this morning. Apparently, in the ship world, bigger is better. We heard a number of interesting local opinions about the cruise ship companies on our voyage.

An interesting fog bank that we approached and went through on our way to Prince Rupert. It inspired me to make a small video that might see the light of day after some editing. No wine was involved. Marilyn stayed away while I was doing it as well. I could have used her as an extra but she wasn't interested...

Our arrival in Prince Rupert.

The odd and somewhat unsettling cow themed streets of Cow Bay, a section of Prince Rupert. At least there were no real cows running around.

And finally, a couple of food pics because there weren't any others in the post! We ended up eating in Cow Bay because, in our brief exploration, it was the nicest looking part of Prince Rupert. There weren't many places open as it was after 6 on a Sunday, but we found The Breakwater Pub. They had local beer and some good fish based food so we were happy. They even had a patio overlooking the water. I'm all about the patios now, despite what some of my school friends my tell you. There don't seem to be a lot of wasps or bees to bug people on patios in this part of the world!

Marilyn had Baha Fish Tacos that were great even though they were a bit spicier than expected. I know because I helped finish them!