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| Diamond Princess - Inside Passage - Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
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| Vancouver Harbor - Vancouver, B.C. Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
WE CHOSE the one-way, cruise only portion. Between the Princess and HAL ships, those cruises generally started or terminated in either Seattle, Washington, or Vancouver, B.C. Our chosen itinerary was northbound out of Vancouver. We flew into Vancouver the night before we were to board the ship and with time changes, had a few hours to "burn" in Vancouver and but lots of daylight. Our hotel was in the downtown area and we walked around a bit and had dinner in a, local restaurant with outside seating (something we rarely saw in our Michigan home. I could see that it was a charming city and was taken with the trams and their overhead electrical connections. The next day we were notified by Princess that our boarding time had been moved back about 4 hours. With nothing else to do, we had a leisurely morning, breakfast, and then made our way down to the cruise terminal where we checked our primary baggage and kept small carry-around stuff so we could walk around the harbor area.
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| Vancouver, British Columbia Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
I MENTIONED that I like photography. I had, of course, brought my full gear (Nikon DSLR at that time, a couple different lenses, and a large tripod. Two cruises later and I would have finally learned my lesson about schepping that heavy, bulky gear around). But I did find Vancouver to be a pretty photogenic city. Lots of flowers. Later research told me that there are many more photographic possibilities - particularly around Vancouver Harbor, including totem poles and a lighthouse. Since that day 24 four years ago I have wanted to return to Vancouver. I hope I will someday.
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| Vancouver, B.C. Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
AS WE departed the Vancouver Harbor, I was, of course, ensconced on our balcony to watch this process. I have alway been fascinated with marine scenes and expecially harbors, marinas, and the vast variety of boats.The always provide a mix of shapes and colors and other interest. This is especially true when the light it right. Our departure was during the late afternoon - early evening hours, so we did get some good light as we cruised out.
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| You see all kinds of characters aboard cruise ships Diamond Princess - Vancouver, B.C. Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
I WAS not the only one who was enjoying the view of Vancouver Harbor as we sailed away. Not sure how this guy paid for his room. I just know I couldn't help snapping his portrait in the fleeting moment he gave me.
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| North Vancouver Skyline - From The Diamond Princess - Vancouver Harbor, B.C. Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
DIRECTLY ACROSS the harbor from the cruise terminal on the shore of North Vancouver, there were huge mountains of some kind of mineral. The bright yellow immediately attracted my attention. At the time I had no idea what it was and couldn't think of any normally mined substance that was that bright yellow color. I briefly thought maybe it was corn, but not only would that be out of place in the plainly industrial setting, but would also be too exposed to the elements. Much later, as I was doing my blog research, I learned that these colorful yellow piles of some kind of mineral were actually sulphur piles. The sulphur is primarily a bi-product of the petro-chemical refining process. Vancouver is one of the largest exporters of sulphur, which is used - among other things - in the manufacture of fertilizer. It is brought and piled here temporarily before being loaded on ships to be stored in silos at another location.
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| Sulphur Piles - Vancouver, B.C. Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
TO THE east of the sulphur piles is the vast Vancouver shipyards. My eye was drawn to the vermillion colored cranes, contrasted against the blue ferry boat crossing the harbor. There is often photographic subjects everywhere I look in a major port and I was not disappointed here. Unfortunately the skies and lighting were not optimal.
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| Shipyards in North Vancouver, B.C. Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
WE HAD booked a starboard room, knowing the best views would be on that side of the ship while in the Inside Passage. With the far northeast orientation of the cruise, we got many more hours of daylight than we were used to and I found myself waking up, at all hours, stepping onto the balcony to make a few shots, then climbing back into bed. As I have worked through my archived Alaska images, I have realized that this resulted in waaaaayy too many shots! Better to have them than to have missed them, I guess. Fortunately for the reader, I picked just a couple of my favorites of the 100's of shots of the passage I made.
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| Sunrise - Inside Passage - Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
WE WOULDN'T really get to the true "Inside Passage" until the next morning, sailing during the night first between continental Canada (north of Vancouver) and Vancouver Island, and then turning north entering the passage some 300 miles south of Ketchikan, Alaska. Not that the land on both sides wasn't beautiful, but it soon got dark and nothing to see until the next day. As we moved northward though, the days got longer, meaning sunrise was early (maybe around 4:00 a.m.) and sunset much later. I made a handheld shot from the front deck of the ship out on th Gulf of Alaska at midnight. It isn't very sharp, but it tells the story of the proximity to the poles.
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| Sunrise - Gastineau Channel - Juneau, Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
THE MAP tells the story though. Once you leave Vancouver harbor, things become very rural very quickly. There are a handful of small "settlements" or villages along the passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland, but they seem very small and few and far between. The few images I was able to make from the ship in the dwindling light confirmed that there was very little out there. But there was something. Once we left the body of water at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, that small human footprint turned into none. Essentially unihabited by humans and clearly the western face of a huge mountain range all the way to Ketchikan from there.
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| Sunrise - Alaska Inside Passage Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
OUR SHIP stayed in the Inside Passage the entire way up to Skagway, as we did not stop in Sitka. Ships that stop in Sitka go back out into the Pacific Ocean (Gulf of Alaska) through the Dixon Strait, and follow the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. Eventually after visiting Skagway (or Juneau if Skagway is not on the itinerary), all ships must go back out into the Gulf of Alaska. Most Princess ships and HAL ships make a day stop at Glacier Bay National Park - but not a port stop. Rather is just cruising to the end of the bay for a close up view of the mammoth Margerie Glacier, before proceeding into the Gulf through Icy Strait. We heard stories of 20 foot waves from the crew on the downward leg just before ours. We had nearly flat seas when we navigated the Gulf of Alaska to Whittier.
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| Early Morning Light on the Inside Passage - Alaska Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved |
OUR ITINERARY included Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Glacier Bay National Park. After Glacier Bay, we headed out into the Gulf of Alaska, and north the Whittier, arriving overnight. The next day - our last day in Alaska, we boarded a Princess Bus to Anchorage, with a couple photo stops along the way, have our last evening to "explore" Anchorage if we wanted.
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| Our Balcony on the Diamond Princess - Alaska Inside Passage Copyright Andy Richards 2010 |
TO KEEP my (already too long) post lengths manageable, I will cover the ports separately. Next up: Ketchikan
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