Whales – RDZ Photography

Virtual Travel – Alaska

Our virtual travels take us north to Alaska. Being so large, and so remote there are few roads. As a result the Alaska road maps feature far more facts about the outdoors than the other states.

My collection of Alaska maps is small, but our memories of the state are huge. The oldest in the collection is from 1973. This map pre-dates the famed Alaska Pipeline by a couple of years, and features a Native American Totem Pole Owl.

One unusual note on most of the Alaska maps is they were published by Rand McNally, and not the state government.

In 1973 Alaska is still a remote frontier, reached by land only via the Alaska Highway through the Yukon in Canada. This closeup of the map shows Yukon on the right in yellow, and Alaska in white on the left. Note that the Alaska Highway in the Yukon was still gravel (indicated by the alternate white and red line).

The 1500 mile long Alaska Highway was build during World War II to connect the contiguous U.S. to Alaska. It was legendary for years as being a rough, challenging multi-day drive. The drive itself goes from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Fairbanks.

The back of most Alaska maps have features of the vast array of wildlife found in the state.

The follow year’s map features a boat! While this might not make much sense for a road map, it does in Alaska. In addition to the Alaska Highway the other surface route to reach the state is via the Alaska Marine Highway – an 1850 mile route of waterways from Seattle to Alaska. You can rent a cabin on the boat, or as many do – pitch a tent on the deck.

For 1977 a dogsled huskie make an appearance on the cover, along with the state flag.

As we jump ahead to 2002 the theme continues with wildlife and natural scenery being the focus.

The final two maps in the collection have the same theme, campers in the wilderness, along a lonely highway. These maps dare from 2006 and 2007.

As with most Alaska maps there is also the view from the Marine Highway Ferry.

The inside of the map shows the development over the past 40 years, but still nothing like the lower 48 states. The entire route of the Alaska Highway has been paved, but is still a real adventure to drive the distance.

Also note the road going due north from Fairbanks – the Dalton Highway. Built in the 1970s as a supply road for the pipeline, the 414 mile road is still an adventure, punctuated by the couple hundred trucks blasting along. There are only two tiny towns the entire route.

Our one and only visit so far to Alaska was a very memorable one. We flew from Seattle to Juneau to start a 1 week ‘small boat’ cruise (30 cabins and 50 people).

The landing alone was amazing, coming through the clouds to see the water, trees and the Mendenhall Glacier!

As soon as we got our rental car we headed out to the glacier.

The waterfall next to it was equally impressive.

The next day we set off on our 7 day sail, seeing an amazing collection of natural scenery and wildlife.

Upon our return to Juneau we had a chance to explore the mountains above town waiting for our night flights back to Seattle, Chicago and Columbus.

We look forward to returning to Alaska some day and exploring the interior of the state.

Hawaii – November 2018 – Day 13 Hanging Out with Dolphins and Whales

History, Nature, Sciences

Day 13 was a relaxing day with some morning kayaking and an afternoon of playing in the ocean.

First up – the dolphins

While it is a bit early in the season for whales to be in Hawaii we did spot one who gave us a glimpse of his/her tail.

As we made our way along the Lahania Roads area between Maui, Lanai and Molokai, we passed an island/rock known as Kaho’olawe. The small round cave like openings are really pock marks where the US military used i to practice bombing.

Fortunately this practice ended years ago.

The rocky surface provides great contrast with the green landscape of Maui.

The afternoon was spent playing in the ocean,

including the crew providing wake board rides with the skiff.

Notice the giant cruise ship in the distance. No wake boards rides off the back of it.

As with the trip to Alaska, the crew and fellow guests are the best part of the ”Uncruise’ Experience. While the guests come from various backgrounds and are various ages (mostly 50+, but not all), they seem to have a sense of adventure and respect of nature in common, which makes the trip more fun.

Both trips we have had have featured great crews who know a lot about nature, and their jobs, and strive to do their jobs with a great approach, and always a focus on safety (but not so much you don’t have fun).

Here’s to my fellow travelers and the Safari Explorer crew!

Tomorrow is our final day already.

Hawaii – November 2018 – Day 9 Off the Kona Coast

Architecture, Nature

Day 9 was somewhat uneventful, with a cruise up and down the Kona coast.

The trip took us past a number of interesting looking hotels and other buildings

A local parasail company had a steady business.

There has been significant growth along the Kona coast over the last 20 years.

All of the coast is built up with hotels, condos, and multi million dollar houses.

On our return we came across a group of small whales.

We were close enough to hear their exhales.

They tracked south along the coast for a few miles before we lost sight of them.

As we returned a group of dolphins came along side the boat, but all I had was the zoom lens, so close ups it is.

Southeast Alaska Panhandle – September 2017 – “Uncruise” Part 1

Nature

(please note there are 20+ photos on the next few postings, they might take a bit of time to load)

One place we had always wanted to see was Alaska, but much of it is very difficult to get to. We decided the best way to see it was on a cruise.

I had been on a large ship cruise once for 3 days and kissed the ground when I got off, the tacky shows and lines for everything got old fast. For this trip we chose to go on a small ship cruise from a company aptly named ‘Uncruise’. And no this is not an advertisement for them, but an honest assessment on how great this turned out to be.

We set sail on a rainy Saturday evening from Juneau. The next day we arrived at a fjord called Endicott Arm. The walls soar 1000′ above the water for dramatic effect.

At the end of the fjord is Dawes Glacier, a tidewater glacier.

The main ship was close enough to get some dramatics up on the glacier with a zoom lens.

The difference between the large ships that most people cruise on and the small ships like Uncruise is you get off the boat and do things other than shop at trinket stores in ports. For this portion groups of 8-10 people took ‘skiffs’ the last 6 miles up the fjord to within 1/4 mile of the 200′ high face of the glacier.

As we neared the glacier a guide plucked what she thought was going to be a small piece of ice out of the water. It turned out to be much larger. This piece of ice was brought back on board the ship for a contest when it would finish melting. It took 3 days.

We spent about an hour at the base of the glacier in the skiffs. Every once in a while you would hear loud cracking sounds and nothing happened. For us though, we were fortunate enough to see a major ‘calving’ event, when a large chunk of the glacier fell off into the sea.

As noted this face is 200′ high, so the splash it made is likely + 75′. Amazingly it does not create a tidal wave, just some small ones like someone went by with a small boat and created a wake.

We returned through the icebergs on our way back to the ship.

The Wilderness Adventurer is about 190′ long with 30 passenger cabins. Our trip had 55 passengers and a crew of 20 (or so – I didn’t do an exact count !). As shown below the ship has a number of 2 person kayaks, some paddle boards and the skiffs (which are missing on this photo since they are out at the glacier.

After everyone had returned to the ship we continued on our way we came upon a number of whales who were diving for food. They came upon a couple of sea lions, one of which took refuge on the back of the ship, which got the crew all excited as they said they had only heard of this only ever happening once before.

Since we were stationary at the time he sat there for a while. Once the crew was confident these particular whales had moved on they shoo-ed him/her off the back.