Alaska Cruise 2009

Alaska Cruise 2009

In 2009, I booked a cruise from Seattle to Alaska.
It was a good deal for a one week cruise with stops in Juneau, Ketchikan and Victoria.
Had always wanted to go on this cruise but never had the chance until then!

The ship was from the Celebrity cruise line.
I got a nice balcony room at the rear of the ship.

It was cruise season and there were a few ships all leaving at around the same time.

Beautiful misty morning out in the inland sea, off the west coast of Canada.

The first stop was Ketchikan, Alaska, after a whole night of sailing.
It is very small town with a town center and surrounding areas of outdoor activities.

 Locals said this stream is used by salmon swimming upriver to spawn during July.
I was too early to view it, unfortunately.

The next day, the ship sailed towards Hubbard Glacier.
It was really cold, even in June.
Ice and snow was still around and it was raining, a cold rain.
I stood at the bow for over an hour, together with lots of others, as the ship got closer and closer to the glacier.
We actually got really close to it.
The Captain had a boat lowered and retrieved a piece of floating ice.

 Near the glacier, there are occasion sounds of thunderclaps or ice falling into the water.
In the above photo, you could see some ice falling into the water.

 Hardy souls braving the freezing weather to view Hubbard Glacier!

Our next stop was Juneau, Alaska.
Similar to Ketchikan but due to its location, there are no direct roads to Juneau from the mainland.
Cars have to travel to Juneau by ferryboat first.
Outside of cruise ship tourist season, Juneau is very quiet and the population dips way below.

I signed up for a forest zipline tour which was fun!
The tour group takes u on zipline runs through the forest.
Here are some pics.

After Juneau, it was time to turn back and we stopped at Victoria before setting back to Seattle.
Victoria has a very British feel to it, being an old British colonial town.
 Some people went to Butchart Gardens which I highly recommend.

I had been there before so I just wandered around downtown and heard the unfortunate news of the demise of Michael Jackson that day.

Thanks for reading and hope you like it!

Maui in 2007

Maui in 2007

I first went to Maui back in 2001 and have been back twice since then.
It is truely a magical island.
On a single island, there is a high mountain-like volcano, tropical forests, beaches, all do-able in the same day.
This is a collection of some photos that I took in 2007.

Took a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Seattle to Maui.
In the distance is Mt Baker, a popular place for summer hiking and winter skiing.

 The Olympic mountains in the background.

 Arrival at Maui after a 5 hour flight

I rented a private apartment just off the beach with a great front yard!

Below is Makena Beach, one of my fav beaches in Maui.
Most of the beaches in Maui, being a small volcanic island, is that the dropoff from the beach is quite steep. Some beaches such as those in Australia or the continental USA have a long drop off, meaning you can walk far out before the water gets deep.
Not so in Maui, the water gets deep very close to the beach.
Little Makena, a nudist beach, is just off behind me where the photo was taken.

A cafe in Maui with walls adorned with money bills from all over the world!
Very cool! 

Took a trip up to Mt Haleakala, a dormant volcano at 10,000 ft, to view the sunrise.
The trip started at 2am and I got there at about 4am, with a crowd of people already there.
It was so cold and windy up there in the early morning, huge contrast with the tropics down below
Some people were not prepared as they came up dressed in only tshirt and shorts...

People were all huddled up around the Lookout point, being the only available building there.
At 5am or so, the sun slowly started rising, it is truely magnificent and definitely worth the sleepless night!

What did the sunlight reveal?
Mt. Haleakala's landscape is very barren, it looks like the moon.
Astronauts actually trained here before their first moon landing.
There are also some trails leading down into the craters.
I dont actually recommend hiking down, there isnt much to see and the climb back up is really hard.
It is two steps up and one step down, due to the sand. lol

Science observatories for astronomy.

 Moonscape like environment

 This is a distant view of the lookout point where everyone was huddled up viewing the sunrise.

After the sun rose, it was no longer cold and felt like being back in the tropics.

 The Silversword plant, which grows only on top of Haleakala.

Back down again to the beaches!
The drive down was long and windy, though easier in the day.
There are cycling tour groups headed down but they are very dangerous as they share the same narrow mountain road as the drivers.
It is very easy for a tired driver to accidentally knock down a cyclist.

 Green turtles are very common in the waters around Maui.
In fact, off the Prince hotel, there is a spot known as Turtle town.
Many turtles congregate there.
It is possible to swim to turtle town off the beach there, hugging close to the rocky shoreline.

 Some sunset views from the rented condo.

Goodbye Maui!
Till the next time!

Some bonus pics from my Honolulu Waikiki Beach trip