My Alaskan Cruise

I feel lucky that I have such a variety of opportunities presented to me through my profession as a sign language interpreter.  That is a fancy way of saying I have an awesome job that allows me to get paid to go cool places like on an Alaskan cruise. This fabulous job also comes with a lot of confidentiality rules, so lets just say that sometime in the recent past I sailed with Connie, my friend from Sorenson and team interpreter, up the coastline to Alaska.

I was amazed by the "people herding" skills of the cruise lines at the Vancouver port.  People streamed flawlessly through numerous lines and checkpoints for a variety of cruise companies.  Connie and I arrived at the front of the first line only to be surprised with the news that our cabin had been upgraded! We were in a balcony suite on nearly the top floor!  This is unheard of for interpreters.  They are generally resigned to the deep dark bowels of the ship (which I wouldn't complain about on a cruise where I am working), but given the opportunity I would take the balcony any day!

For any of you who have been to Alaska you know that it is a rainforest and therefore a very RAINY place. In the days prior to the cruise I kept an eye on the weather for the ports where we would be stopping.  The days varied between 70-100 percent chance of rain.  Oh well.  I figured it would still be great.  The weather turned out to be absolutely beautiful for the entire time (aside from rain on the morning of our Juneau port.  As the ship docked the sun peeked out and gave us sunshine and beauty in one of the prettiest places I have ever seen (more about that later).

I checked off everything on my wildlife list (except for a bear, but I have seen one of those before).  I saw the northern lights in the distance, humpback whales, a large pod of orca whales, a few dolphin pods, seals, and an expanse of ocean covered completely by jumping salmon.

The client went on a five hour whale watching excursion, and of course we were able to go with him. We were lucky to catch a group of seven our eight humpback whales hunting together.  I learned that there has to be a female present for a group to be able to hunt.  She swims in a circle and creates a bubble ring that traps a school of fish inside, then she makes a sound as loud as a jet engine that confuses the fish.  The other whales are then able to swim up through the tunnel and eat the confounded fish.  Every 3-4 minutes we would notice birds circling a particular area, next a bubble ring would appear, then the whales would surface together in the circular area.  We watched this process seven or eight times at varying distances from our boat.  Such a wonder of nature!  On the boat we had a tour guide who was enamored by the wildlife and you could tell he loved every minute of his job!  Here are a few quick facts that I learned that may come in helpful for trivia one day:

• The tide in Juneau comes in and out every 6 1/2 hours.  When we went on our bus ride to the dock there was an area that was about 300 yards wide that was full of mud and had a steam of water through the center.  On our way back to the ship the water reached the edge of the road.  
• Alaska generally gets over 100 inches of snow, but last year they ony had 24 for the entire winter!
• A whale tail is the strongest muscle in the animal kingdom.
• starfish can regenerate even after they have died.
• starfish are full of sea water and that is why they have their rounded shape.
• Bald eagles can be 3-4 feet tall with a wingspan of 6-7 feet.
• a mouthful of food for a humpback whale contains 1/2 million calories.  Humpback whales eat almost 24/7 during their summer stay in Alaska.

While on the ship we received our interpreting schedule in the morning that included the events and activities that the client wanted to participate in.  The time not spent interpreting was our time to spend however we pleased.  I enjoyed many evening entertainment shows, time in the hot tub, walking around at ports, a little bit of reading, enjoying the delightful buffet, and I even kept up on my cycling training schedule in the gym.  

On the last day of the cruise I discovered the Constellation lunge.  This room spanned the entire front of the ship and offered floor to ceiling window views.  On the first day I noticed a table selling binoculars to the passing cruise guests.  My reaction was that it was an expensive tourist trap that would never be used.  As I sat in the constellation lounge watching the changing scenery I would occasionally glance around and covet the binoculars of the other passengers...

I must also mention that every night we ate dinner with the same wonderful group of people.  I feel very fortunate to have had such a great time.

I think the best way to tell the rest of the story is through pictures.

Connie was a great team and she was a fun friend to have around!  I miss my buddy!

Spoiled rotten with our balcony... This is an early morning picture that just can't quite capture the feeling of serenity and loveliness.

Our first port was Icy Strait Point.

This was the only time we needed warm weather gear.  We were on our way to see the Hubbard Glacier.

My artistic photo of the glacier.  The sun was shining off of the face and apparently it is very abnormal to even see the sun when you are near the glacier.  Often the mountain in the background is completely covered by low lying clouds.

These were my two favorite pictures from whale watching.

Juneau was an amazing town perched on the side of a mountain.  If you look closely you can see a few waterfalls behind me.  I could seriously live here.. If it wasn't Alaska.

We traveled through the inside passage for most of the trip.  Roughly translated this means surrounded on both sides with beautiful hills and astonishing mountains.  If you look closely you can find waterfalls, seals, sea lions, and bears near the shores as you sail through.