drewstwos
Well-Known Member
Our Alaskan adventure.
Ok, so it was a cruise more than an adventure, but boaty it was; so here’s the tale, and I hope you enjoy it. As there is so much of it, I hope I can leave you waiting impatiently for the next part.
There will be calls at
Fairbanks, Seward, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Ketchekan, Vancouver.
Part 1.
Those international flights are a bore, as we all know to our cost unless you travel first class, so it’s best to gloss over the trials and tribulations of those.
We tend to think of Alaska as a cold place. Wrong, in the summer at least . Touching down at Fairbanks we walked into 92 degrees. This was usual there. It being inland, but we were told that the coast is much cooler; it was, eventually.
As we had a day or two before joining the ship we were treated to a couple of tours. This being the boaty one. Here it is.
A real stern wheeler.
and her little sister
a newish one and I thought a bit cheaty as it was fitted with bow and stern thrusters. We were taken for a trip up the river,
This does the buisness
and saw how the locals get around. By air. The place is full of float planes. House by the river, no problem. Just build your aerodock.
The boat is a third generation family business, each of the children have grown up into it, the boat was helmed by the latest daughter, she started at 5 standing on a box to see through the wheelhouse windows. Now 15, gets her skippers ticket next year.
For the pilots amongst us, both current and retired, they did a demonstration of a landing and a very short take off of a Piper Cub fitted with very fat soft tyres instead of floats for landing on a sand bank. 6 second take off run in 150 yards. Neat.
They had a rather neat way fo having fish catch themselves. The three baskets werev rotated by the river, and the fish were jsut scooped up.
I’d like to know if you would like some more of the other parts of the tours, like how the brothels and gold mines were run, in addition to the boaty stuff, Then on to Seward to join the ship, the Radiance of the Seas. A few stats for those interested
Built 2002, LOA 293 m, Beam 32m, Draft 28 ft, Gas Turbine power. 2 x 18ft props on pods. (IPC) Cruise at 25 kts, Passengers 2501, Crew 859. 13 passenger decks. 90.000 Tonnes. Usual bow and stern thrusters. Captain said they could do a crash stop in three boat lengths from cruise. Not recommended as anything moveable still goes forward. People, china, deck chairs, water in the swim pools….
More pics to follow, as we are not on the boat yet!
Oh by the way. |I hope you all read of my exploits in the MBY mag. A day in the life of ……
Ok, so it was a cruise more than an adventure, but boaty it was; so here’s the tale, and I hope you enjoy it. As there is so much of it, I hope I can leave you waiting impatiently for the next part.
There will be calls at
Fairbanks, Seward, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Ketchekan, Vancouver.
Part 1.
Those international flights are a bore, as we all know to our cost unless you travel first class, so it’s best to gloss over the trials and tribulations of those.
We tend to think of Alaska as a cold place. Wrong, in the summer at least . Touching down at Fairbanks we walked into 92 degrees. This was usual there. It being inland, but we were told that the coast is much cooler; it was, eventually.
As we had a day or two before joining the ship we were treated to a couple of tours. This being the boaty one. Here it is.
A real stern wheeler.
and her little sister
a newish one and I thought a bit cheaty as it was fitted with bow and stern thrusters. We were taken for a trip up the river,
This does the buisness
and saw how the locals get around. By air. The place is full of float planes. House by the river, no problem. Just build your aerodock.
The boat is a third generation family business, each of the children have grown up into it, the boat was helmed by the latest daughter, she started at 5 standing on a box to see through the wheelhouse windows. Now 15, gets her skippers ticket next year.
For the pilots amongst us, both current and retired, they did a demonstration of a landing and a very short take off of a Piper Cub fitted with very fat soft tyres instead of floats for landing on a sand bank. 6 second take off run in 150 yards. Neat.
They had a rather neat way fo having fish catch themselves. The three baskets werev rotated by the river, and the fish were jsut scooped up.
I’d like to know if you would like some more of the other parts of the tours, like how the brothels and gold mines were run, in addition to the boaty stuff, Then on to Seward to join the ship, the Radiance of the Seas. A few stats for those interested
Built 2002, LOA 293 m, Beam 32m, Draft 28 ft, Gas Turbine power. 2 x 18ft props on pods. (IPC) Cruise at 25 kts, Passengers 2501, Crew 859. 13 passenger decks. 90.000 Tonnes. Usual bow and stern thrusters. Captain said they could do a crash stop in three boat lengths from cruise. Not recommended as anything moveable still goes forward. People, china, deck chairs, water in the swim pools….
More pics to follow, as we are not on the boat yet!
Oh by the way. |I hope you all read of my exploits in the MBY mag. A day in the life of ……
