Alaskan Cruise, Day 6 - Chains, Crabs and Chocolate

Today was mostly an at sea day. Good thing because I wanted Orion to be nice and rested for the excursion Ron and I have both been looking forward to since before the cruise started. The menfolk in our clan were both pretty happy to be cabin lumps for most of the day. I decided to go check out the magician doing an underwater escape.

Of course it was a long process picking several burly men from the audience and having them inspect the chains and bind him up. They did a pretty good job, because he had to be lifted onto the edge of the pool. (The woman in the foreground is taking pictures from a jacuzzi haha.)
Here he is getting really focused before he jumps in.
It seemed like a long time to me! And who can even begin to imagine what doing this is really like? But at this point, he had gotten one hand free. The person at the bottom right had their hand up because the announcer suggested that everybody take a deep breath and put their hand up the minute the magician hit the water. You were supposed to put it down when you ran out of breath. There were only a couple hands up at this point....
And a good minute later... he is fine!!! I don't remember the exact time, but it was well over 3 minutes.
Looking good.


And here it is... Prince Rupert! Funny thing about this port - I was picturing it to be something like Victoria, since it is in BC, and the other Norwegian itinerary was almost identical except for going to Prince Rupert instead of Victoria. I couldn't have been farther from the truth! This area is known as Gateway to the Wilderness. There is actually an excursion from this port that takes you into a grizzly bear refuge, although it wasn't operating at this time of year. The town was fairly large, but completely surrounded by forest in every direction. This is now high on my list of places to revisit!
This excursion was far and away the highlight of the trip. It was called a Wildlife Discovery Cruise. The boat was really cool - the bottom level was all comfy and fancy, but there was a big touch tank in the center. And a bar - very important haha. You can see some art set up on a table in the background. The artist was petty amazing. She was from Russian, and her work was so intricate! I knew I wanted to buy one of the smaller pieces, and Orion helped me choose a wolf who looked alot like Kona!

And this is Erica, our "touch tank hostess". Hahaha, I really have no idea if she had a "title", but that is what she did. And her teenage daughter was working along with her, which was pretty awesome. Right when we were first getting on the boat, the daughter brought in a bucket that she had just pulled up from the bay, and it had some unusual stuff in it. Erica was really happy to see her catch, and it was neat to watch them select places in the touch tank for what she had found. Here she is talking to Orion about abalone shells, and why they look so different on the front and back. This woman was such a natural with kids. I loved her!
Still totally entrancing her audience...

There are a couple really interesting things in this picture. The most obvious is the six legged starfish. I had not seen these before this trip. And then the star below is munching on a crab. Unlucky fellow. But a few of his larger cousins are soon to be even unluckier....
"I'm not so sure I'm going to touch that one...".
This jelly is one of the creatures Erica's daughter brought in right when we got on the boat. This species doesn't sting, so we got to hold them. I have never intentionally touched a jelly! They are much firmer than I would have expected!
Me holding a decorator crab. Total Cancer heartmelt! Of course I like crabs, but these guys are my favorites.
Ope! Who is in this shell?! Funny that all the crabs seek out empty shells, not just the hermit crabs.
Erica showing the different markings on the bellies of the crabs.

OK, one last gush about Erica. She knew about the book The Highly Sensitive Person! I said something about how I think Orion gets sensory issues sometimes, and she told me that she totally gets it and considers herself highly sensitive. I asked if she knew about the book, and that was where she had gotten the term and the understanding of the concept. She went on to say she could get overstimulated sometimes, but how it is totally worth it. I just felt like she got Orion. It is so awesome when chance brings people into your life like that.

Ah, the crab cousins. Here they are fresh out of the cooker and getting water poured over them.

I cannot believe I didn't get any pictures of the dinner! We had our hands full cracking and pulling. I was really shocked Orion didn't like the crab as he used to really like the imitation stuff, and he loves pretty much all fish and seafood. He can't have the imitation crab now that he is gluten free, so I thought this would be a big treat for him. But nope. So he got bored and wanted to run around the ship, and Ron had a feast for almost 3 people! I did eat some of mine, and it was really good, but seriously, Ron's plate was heaped so high I thought he was going to explode!

Moving on to the neatest part of the trip - pulling up the crab pots! We went into this little harbor right before the meal, and Orion watched while they put the bait in and threw the traps over. We went cruising around for maybe half an hour before coming back. Ron was thinking they would maybe get one or two if lucky. Um, lesson in the bounty of BC....

This guy was from the first trap, the crab that is haha. The guide is holding a pen to show just how strong those pinchers are!
They were totally into having Orion help pull up the traps.
This one came up open and they almost lost them!
I got a better spot to take pictures - here is a whole series of shots from picking up the last trap that gives a much better idea of what it was like.
Reaching for the float with a hook.
Got it!
Pull, pull! Almost there! And that was Orion and Ron on the other end again.
Look at that haul!
And wowser, there is a huge one in there!
Big Grandpa crab. Ron loves this picture of me. A face only a husband could love haha.
But this is Ron's favorite picture of the whole trip, so I had to include it. He just loves the colors. This guy was a rock crab and more vibrant.
The other great missed photo opp. During the meal, we were right next to the land pictured here. And there was a bald eagle diving for fish! It was awesome. I just blew picture taking during that whole time. He is actually in this picture, you just can't really see him. But I had to get a shot of the location on the way home so I would remember it.
On the way back they like to have everybody take pictures with crabs. Like this...
... and this. I had to drag Ron out to do it. Glad I did because it is a cute photo!
We tried with Orion, but he kindof freaked out. Mainly he was overtired again. He sacked out for a bit on the way back to the dock.
Zee sheep.
Nice sunset shot. Good going Ron. Orion was asleep on my lap my this point.
Which meant he was still awake when it was time for the midnight buffet! Well, it really started at 11. I thought we should take turns going down, but Ron didn't really care, so I just went as quickly as I could. Yes, that is a chocolate fountain! They had all kinds of fresh fruit set out you could dip in it.
And of course, the artistry, of chocolate...
... and ice sculptures.



I should have gotten a shot of all the desserts as well! It worked out perfectly because the line went past all the cool carvings and such, so I could get good pictures. Then, when I got up to the actual buffet, I just blasted through and took the plate up to Ron. As usual, the midnight buffet eats were only meh. Seems like it has been that way on every cruise I have been on. And it was really a surprise here because the chocolate desserts on this ship in general have been TO DIE FOR.

Alaskan Cruise, Day 5 - Woowoo!

And what kind of woowoo would that be? Not the amber necklace kind, but the train kind! That is what Skagway is known for - the train that goes up the same route as The Trail of '98. We were going on a different excursion with a salmon bake, but we kept hearing everybody talking about the train, so we updated.

Crappy picture of cute main street in Skagway, but it's the only one I got.Whoa! This is a display of a snow play on the front of a train!
Poor Orion was sooo overtired by this point. We got stuck waiting to go into town because the train coming back was stopped on the tracks, so we sat on a handcart so Orion could have some mama time.
Interesting building on the main street.
We didn't explore the town too much, because we were on a mission to find Ron sweat pants. We managed to find some a bit farther into town and even bought a few other Tshirts and souvenirs. But that we had to hoof it fast back to make the train.

Here is one of the first views when the train went around a bend and we could see alot of it.
There is a whole story behind this picture. It is hard to make out, but the letters on the wall say "ON TO ALASKA WITH BUCHANAN". He was a wealthy dude who helped fund trips to Alaska for low income boys. They were so thankful that they painted this sign for him.
Reminds me of several comments I made about Canada, but wow, words reeeally can't do justice. This waterfall literally takes up a whole mountain! There was even more of it up above this section. Really made me wish I had a better zoom! Then again, I was shooting from a moving train, and there was only a small section where the trees broke. So I am probably lucky I got this one!
Ron, sleeping on our $100 train ride. OK, in all fairness, we took window seats on both sides, and he had the "boring side" on the way up. But still!
could it be... a glacier! I suck though because I don't remember the name of this one either.
Tunnel! If you look closely, you can see people standing on the platforms. We were not allowed to go between cars, but each one had a platform on either end of the car. That was the neatest part about the trip. I even went out, thought I was a bit hesitant on those sheer drop offs due to my fear of heights!
This area is called Inspiration Point. Believe it or not, you can see the ship down there in the water.
Orion enjoying the platform.
The old cantilever bridge! The train used to travel across it, but it takes a different route now through another trunnel.
Whoa - that is all.
The narrative about the history was the most interesting part of the trip. This is the actual trail that people used to head into the Yukon. They were required to bring 2000 pounds per person, so they usually had mules. Yet this tiny trail was heavily traversed in both directions. Reminds me of when you are driving on a one lane road and meet another car, then have to decide who is going to back up!
I love this shot because it captures this lone dwarf tree (and again, what luck to get it while moving!) I kept looking at these trees, and the whole landscape, and thinking they looked kindof odd. I was wondering if we were higher up than I realized. Then the tour guide explained this was all previously under a glacier, and that when they recede, they strip most of the soil away. She said that many of these trees were over 100 years old! What a trip.
Another neat glacial landscape shot.
This is the area where the train made a big loop so it could head back down the mountain. Orion was falling asleep at this point, so Ron took the camera. I don't want to hear any comments about how the second half of the pictures are better!

Except for a kept telling him the whole way down what to take based on what I had missed LOL. Like this - there was this whole neat section where you could see two kinds of water. The opaque blue glacier water is in the background, and the "regular" water is in the foreground.
Border area. Not a very exciting picture, but some interesting factoids go with it. Not in the picture is the little tiny shack where the officials lived. These were the dudes who verified you had enough stuff to go up into the Yukon. The guide mentioned that there would sometimes be families with newborns heading up! And still a mom, dad and new baby was required to have 6,000 pounds of stuff. You were turned away if you didn't have enough! Bad prospector - no gold for you.
This is what the end of the cantilever bridge looked like. Neat shot I thought.
This is a view similar to Inspiration Point, but a bit farther down. You can actually make out the outline of the ship in this one. Interesting... (hahaha, that was for you Ron and Dane.)
Skirting the mountain...
Hard to see, but there is a group of people just to the right of the train in the middle of the frame. These were hikers waiting to be picked up by the train behind us. Man! All the best excursions had age limits. I would so love to go back to Alaska with Orion when he is a bit older and do some more adventurous stuff!
Phew! That is a trestle we did cross over!
OK, so Ron really kicked my butt on this shot. So glad he got a much better close up!
And this was on the wrong side for me going up. This is the old pioneer cemetery. So cool! I wish it had been within walking distance of the main town. Ron had a hard time getting a good shot because of the dappled light, but this was the best of the bunch.
And just to include one nighttime shot... this was after a show featuring Chinese acrobats. (They were great when they actually performed haha. The show was 75% singing and dancing and maybe 25% awesome performances of balancing, contortion, etc.) Here the stage is full with crew members. If you know who you are looking for, one of Orion's counselors is on the lefthand side, near the back, in a grayish greenish suite. He is bald, hence is ship name of Egghead.
And then we partied 'til dawn! Just kidding. But it was the first night we signed Orion up for an extra hour because we knew he would be up until at least midnight anyway. It was perfect because his best buddy Olivia was there too. Not Jessica and Dane's Olivia - it just so turned out that there was another Olivia on board just his age, and they bonded like Superglue and a construction hat haha. He even went to be OK, but oy, we are in for a late morning tomorrow!