“Living the Dream” – Day 5 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 148, Thursday, September 22, 2022. It is amazing how close we are to Russia and that the United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for 7.2 million dollars. What a great buy. Heading up towards the Gulf of Alaska from Ketchikan to Icy Straight Point we see many float planes. They are like cars up here. I do want to ride in a float plane one day. The views are fantastic. We pass a Norwegian cruise ship tucked away docked in an inlet. The water is so smooth and the views so serene. Then so cool there is a house on it’s own little island. Alaska has the largest population of Bald Eagles in the United States with about 30,000 birds. Last night we went to the Diamond Lounge at 4:30pm. There was no one in there. It used to be at 4:30pm the diamond lounge was packed. This is so weird. I guess it is because Diamonds can now get five drinks around the ship any time of the day. I guess meeting people in the Diamond Lounge for cocktails is a thing of the past. We had dinner in the Solarium bistro last night. Excellent food and service. There are a few perks to be diamond and one is you can get into any restaurant even when they are fully booked for the whole week. The waiter servers on this ship are outstanding. Slowly cruising north you can see a light coating
of ice on parts of the water. Today we are at Icy Straight point located on Chichagof Island. This island is located about 35 miles west of Juneau in the Alexander Archipelago of the Alaska Panhandle It is 75 miles long and 50 miles wide. We are a little farther away from home than yesterday at 3,464 Miles. After we docked we went and viewed the water from deck 5. There we saw a few sea lions surface in the water from the deck of the ship. We had bought the excursion for the Mountaintop Forest Excusion & Skyglider. I was not doing the zip lines down, but riding the Gondola both ways. We rode 2 gondolas to get to the top of the mountain. The green one goes level and takes you to the other gondola the red one. The green one is free. The red gondolas go up 1,300 feet. The Empire state building is 1,250 feet.
At the top we took a tram ride around. It was really good.
We saw many bald eagles soaring in the sky. We learned a little more about bald eagles today. The female is larger than the male and they mate for life. The area was an early warning military facility for 25 years. They closed down and this company called and purchased it. The zip lines have been here since 2007. The Gondolas are new as of May 2022. On the top of the mountain there were security guards with guns on the trails due to lots of bear sightings today. Coastal brown bears are the bears found here. This area like yesterday in Ketchikan is part of a temperate rain forest. It is fall on the mountain as you can tell by the vegetation. The gray currents are abundant right now and they are the last berries of the season. There are two types of poisonous berries here. They grow close to the ground and are white or red. They have two black dots on them like doll’s eyes. Eating five or six of these baneberries will take an adult down.
12 feet of snow last year. It is currently deer hunting season. The last day of hunting season for the black tailed Sitka deer is December 31st. Each person with a license is allowed 6 of these deer. This cruise stop is one of the most natural cruise stops I have ever been to. It was created in 2001 specifically for the cruise industry. It is less than a mile from the village of Hoonah, Alaska’s largest native Tlingit village. The village of Hoonah has 930 residents. It is owned and operated by the Huna Totem Corporation and therefore owned by the Huna Tlingit people. Then it was back to the Gondola ride down.
Cruising to our next port we passed a float plane taking off.
What beautiful scenery.
For more about Quantum of the seas click here: Quantum of the Seas – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count
To view this year’s complete daily diary, click here: https://deestimes.com/living-the-dream-year-2-may-1-2022-april-30-2023/
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
