Day 22 Afternoon Tea at The Empress

Another of Jacquey’s little treats: we went in a water taxi. They flit around the harbour like wind-up bath toys - Tuffy the Tugboat perhaps.

 

The Empress is a grand old lady where traditional afternoon tea is served. The tea had to infuse for exactly 4 minutes measured by an egg timer and then the 3-tier plates arrived - scones on the bottom then sandwiches then desserts. We shared a table with Wayne and Joy and all loved everything. Favourite was probably turkey and cheese sandwich on cranberry bread.

Day 22 Butchart Gardens 5

I have to do a post on hanging baskets. Canadians do superb ones: there are 12000 in Vancouver and don’t know how many magnificent ones at Butchart Gardens. Mostly they have their own drippers but the mild climate must contribute to their success.

The gift shop is terrific, far and away the best I have seen all through the trip.

I wasn’t the only one to succumb to temptation.

Day 22 Butchart Gardens 4

The Japanese Garden is my favourite - so calm and green.

Day 22 Butchart Gardens 3

The rose garden is next with a riot of colour - rather too riotous for me: I’d like to see the colours shading into each other more, so I didn’t photograph orange and red together. Love the rose arch and Coretta Scott King, a rose from 2014.

Day 22 Butchart Gardens 2

First stop The Sunken Garden, where it all began. Note: hardly anyone around. By 11 am the place was teeming, everyone with a camera, some with selfie sticks in spite of notices prohibiting them

  

Day 22 Butchart Gardens, Vancouver island

Jacquey arranged for us to have breakfast at Butchart Gardens - for 2 tour groups only - and it gained us early admission to the gardens. For an hour there was only us, staff and the rain. But they lend you umbrellas and off you go, keen to enjoy the place without interruption. The rain added freshness and intense colours, so not a problem.

Begonias so perfect, hostas without a snail bite, sweet peas fragrant and tidy.

 

Day 21 Victoria, Vancouver Island

The view from our hotel room in Victoria.

Alaska. Cruise finished

One more day of sailing, another cooking class, a talk about the Iditarod Dog Shed Race,

billed as The Last Great Race on Earth, 1000 miles Anchorage to Nome

not my photo - don’t they look happy

for David a talk on bush pilots and finishing off our books from the ship’s library. I read 4 and David 3. I also spent a fruitless half hour looking for a milkshake. “Milk...shake.” say the Filipino staff in terms of wonderment. The bar sent me to the poolside bar who sent me to the coffee shop who sent me to the bar so I gave up. I also gave up on tea: they all serve it as a cup of hot water with a tea bag in the saucer. We did a wine tasting which was interesting, the Australian entry was McPherson, never heard of it and not very good. France won by miles in our opinion with a Pouilly-Fuisse chardonnay but an American lady near us preferred the German ‘rysling’ because it was sweet.

Jacquey treated us to a last night cocktail party in the Crow’s Nest, right at the top of the ship. Jacquey is a wonderful leader, always cheerful, superbly organised, full of energy and keen to give us little treats. I do worry about her carrying her huge bag full of everything we might need.

Disembarking was painless - Jacquey calls it organised chaos - and we quickly found our bus which conveyed us to the ferry terminal and drove us onto the ferry,  luggage safely underneath, to Victoria on Vancouver Island. 

Alaska Cruise and Helen’s Crab Feast

My pre-booked trip was a Wilderness Adventure and Crab Feast. “Come hungry” they said. Off we went in a rickety old bus, no seat belts, hurtling around somewhere north of Ketchikan past a mother bear and two cubs fishing, but no chance of photos, to a Lodge accessed by 500 steps to board a boat on Tarr Inlet where we saw seals, bald eagles and crabs. 

The bald eagles were fantastic, swooping down towards our boat with wide outstretched wings to where our guide was holding out fish. “Do not feed the wildlife” “Keep our wildlife wild” say signs everywhere but perhaps that only applies to tourists. Our guide hauled up a trap full of crabs

Note the avid photographers, so avid you’re lucky to get any photos. 

Back on land we were given half a crab each with butter and instructions on how to crack and eat it. Then they came with another half and another half. It truly was “all you can eat”. Lovely fresh sweet meat. Then we hurtled back down the mountain again and none of those who went on that trip ate dinner. 

Alaska Cruise and David’s fishing

This is the Main Street of Ketchikan which is the fourth largest city in Alaska - yes about a thousand jewellery shops. I am over gift shops, all the same stuff.  How many t shirts does anyone need? There were 7 cruise ships (Coral Princess moored in the middle of the Bay and passengers brought ashore by tender) so maybe stuff was sold. Interestingly Joan and I tried on a fur-trimmed wrap at Chateau Lake Louise back in Canada and decided it was too expensive at CAN$294. Joan found the same thing in Ketchikan for US$500. Too late. 

David had pre-booked a fishing trip here and joined his boat, really pleased to discover only 4 fishers per boat. It was a new fast boat, powered by a 225 hp motor: they went out 20 miles, anchored in 220 feet of water and in 2 hours he caught a beautiful big halibut. It took 5 minutes to reel it up from the depths. He gave it to Jeb in the check shirt who handed it over to the processors on the wharf: they fillet, freeze and FedEx fish to your address - for US$150. Expensive fish and chips!

 

The lady had her fish caught by her husband but she did reel it in.

No-one was seasick. 

Alaska Cruise and Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay is amazing. We sailed right in (Volendam is one of the few large ships allowed) and sat in front of the Margerie Glacier for about an hour and saw three big lumps break off into the sea - calving. The glacier is advancing at 16 feet per day and the Bay is becoming quite shallow so it will be harder to see it. A strange sight is to see seals and seagulls having a free ride on the resulting ice floes. It was cold out on our balcony.

 

Day 13 Whistler to Vancouver

David’s moment of glory. He went on a glacier ride with Malcolm and Nola, way way back behind Blackcomb Mountain to where they saw skiing and a BEAR - not too keen on sticking its head up.

I stayed at our superb hotel, Nita Lake Lodge, and read my book which was great.
When the intrepid 4-wheel drivers were back we all set off for Vancouver along a very scenic route to board the MS Volendam from Canada Place, right where our previous hotel the Pan-Pacific is located. 

Alaska Cruise continued

Shipboard life is strange: you get into the habit of 3 big meals a day and rushing from one activity to the next. I liked America’s Test Kitchen, based on a PBS tv series, where a lady cooks simple dishes.

David liked the lectures eg how to use binoculars (there was a pair in our cabin) and a talk by the captain on how to steer the ship. Next stop was Skagway, a 100 year old town all on boardwalks and more shops. Best quilting shop I’ve ever seen and if it hadn’t been all Alaskan themed I might have been tempted. Every second shop is a jewellery shop and they really push Tanzanite, a beautiful blue gemstone in elaborate settings. We were told the stores are owned by Indian Indians who close up at the end of summer and start all over again in the Caribbean. 

This time we bought crab picks, hoping someone different would be on the scanner back at the ship, but they didn’t care. My photo above was taken early in the day before the other 3 cruise ships disgorged their passengers. Many of our Gippsland Travel group did day trips on the train from here.

Alaska Cruise

I’ve lost count of the days. The cruise was for 7 days from Vancouver along the Inland Passage, stopping at 3 Alaskan ports, on Holland America’s MS Volendam. The first day was cruising only which was good, as it was a chance to learn the ship but even on the last day it was hard to find breakfast. It’s not a large ship - 1400 passengers - and in that week we ate 20,000 eggs.

Wi-fi was US$29.99 per day so no wi-fi until Juneau where we found it free and fast at the public library, across from the Red Dog Saloon, specialty drink the Duck Fart. Don’t ask.

View from the library

Juneau is only accessible from the air or sea: on the day we were there so were 3 other cruise boats, a total of 4000 people descended on the town, walked the few streets and and SHOPPED. We walked to the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church which had a lovely garden:

  

David and I spotted a sign ‘The Mustard Seed’ and went into the store out of curiosity to find it was an Episcopalian op shop (churches are a feature of Juneau) with its attendant a keen fisherman. He and David had a lovely time topping each other’s fishing tales while I had a lovely time browsing. We spent a total of $14 but had difficulty reentering the ship with our carving fork and filleting knife.  

Day 12 Whistler and Riding the Mountain

 

We glided up Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler in company with two charming Japanese girls and a guy from Florida. He was ‘riding the mountain’ which he does frequently and suggested we go even higher on a skiers’ chairlift to 7th Heaven - so we did - well above the tree-line and very cold. I was glad David made me take my jacket. It was fascinating to be wreathed in cloud for a short time : it was early so few people about. Back at Rendezvous we took the PeaktoPeak gondola to the top of Whistler mountain, more than 8 kms across. Then yet another gondola ride to get down into Whistler Village for lunch.

Whistler Village is for the young - 12 to 30, riding dirt bikes down the mountain as an alternative to skiing, as it is summer.