ALASKA
Inside Passage
July 2023
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Today, the ship's clocks turned back an additional hour to be on Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT) instead of Pacific Daylight Time. The ship will stay on this time zone for the duration of the cruise.
Alaska is 4 hours behind East Coast time. 7am on the ship is 11am on the East Coast.
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We are spending the entire day at sea traveling through the southern part of the Alaska Inside Passage. Alaska’s Inside Passage is a protected network of waterways that wind through glacier-cut fjords and lush temperate rain forests along the rugged coast of southeast Alaska. The Inside Passage has over 1000 islands and 15,000 miles of shoreline. It is arguably one of the greatest cruising routes in the world and stretches through stunning landscapes with waterfalls dotting the lush forest walls.
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Sailing the Inside Passage offers opportunities to spot some of Alaska’s most iconic wildlife, with humpback whales and orcas plying the water alongside the ships, bald eagles soaring overhead, and brown bears lumbering on the shoreline.
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At the end of the Canadian part of the Inside Passage is Johnstone Strait. It is very narrow and must be transited with the tide. Due to the challenging conditions, a harbor pilot must board the ship to help the bridge crew go through the end. The pilot boards the ship while both are still moving at a fairly good speed. It was cool to watch!
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In addition to viewing the spectacular scenery, I will be spending some time exploring the ship and checking out some educational programs with the ship's staff.
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"It's not what you look at that matters; It's what you see." ~ Henry David Thoreau
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Tomorrow, we will be stopping in Ketchikan, Alaska.
