Sailing with Satch 2.0

We pulled in to Victoria, British Columbia this morning around 8am to a pleasant 60 degrees. Had an early excursion, leaving at 9:45. We were smart enough to grab some bread from the buffet the night before but we would learn later that we should’ve got a bit more. Disembarking the ship was the quickest of all the ports we’ve visited. Also the smallest ramp at that. Our bus was also the nicest we’ve been on. Leather seats but kinda weak AC. But then again this is Canada, not Texas.  Downtown Victoria is extremely picturesque. From the Empress, a very grand Victorian (no pun intended) hotel to the parliament building. There was a bronze statue of Queen Victoria just outside but it was halfway covered by a sequoia tree that was evidently a gift from California. Who ever planted it apparently didn’t know how big it would get.  Our first stop the Enrico winery. The winery was an old sheep farm until they bought it in 1998. Beautiful vineyard, very friendly and informative staff. W...

Hubbard Glacier- July 1st Not a whole lot happened today as we sailed up close to the Hubbard glacier. We couldn’t get super close like we did in the Tracy Arm 20 years ago but we sailed the rough some of the ice flow. The ship even opened up the bow section so we couldn’t get a better view. Sadly no one stood up and yelled “I’m king of the world!!!” Had dinner in Savory, Cajun shrimp over mashed potatoes. Shrimp were good but would’ve gone better over some jalapeno grits. The mango coconut cake for dessert was surprisingly good, almost refreshing even.  Found a promenade on our deck that goes around…about 75% of the ship that seemingly no one really knows about. Which is great since the teenagers on board tend to hang out and goof around up on the pool deck and walking track. Icy Strait Point(Hoonah)- July 2nd Last time we came here 19 years ago there wasn’t much here except the historical cannery for a company called Corsair salmon, and we had to be tendered to the shore...

 Didn’t realize I hadn’t posted about Skagway. Sorry about that.  I only THOUGHT I knew what mountains looked like until we got into Skagway this morning. These big boys tower over what we saw in Juneau. Makes me wonder if they get any bigger heading north… We docked maybe a quarter mile outside of the town but they won’t let anyone go to town on foot. Apparently 2 or 3 years ago they had a huge landslide by the dock and apparently it’s still active so they had these huge chain link fences at increasing altitudes up the side of the mountain. So you have to take a very quick and seemingly pointless shuttle ride just past the landslide and you walk the rest of the way into town, which wasn’t much more than 200 yards.  Like a lot of these small towns in Alaska, they have huge ties to the gold rush. Walking the streets almost feels like a step back in time, at least until you see shuttle buses drive by and tour helicopters buzz by. Also a lot of old timey trains cutting throu...