Alaska Cruise - June 2008.

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This article was posted on June 20, 2008.

Leaving Seattle, WA

The Amsterdam left Pier 30 in downtown Seattle at 4 PM Friday along with two other ships. All three vessels more or less sailed in formation all the way to Juneau.

Juneau and Mendenhall Glacier

Juneau was pretty crowded with four big cruise ships docked at the same time. The Mendenhall Glacier was about a 20 minute bus ride from the dock.

Tracy Endicott Arm -- Sawyer Glacier & Terror Wilderness

The Tracy Endicott Arm fjord is about 50 miles south of Juneau. It took about half a day to slowly navigate the narrow fjord and approach the Sawyer Glacier and another half day to make our way out of the fjord.

The cruise ship Spirit of '98 in the photo above is about 200 ft long and was able to navigate about a half mile closer to the glacier than the 780 ft long Amsterdam

The iceberg in the lower right hand side of the photo above is about 300 ft long.

While we cruised the fjord, Holland America provided a salmon steak cook out on the Lido deck.

Sitka, Alaska

The Amsterdam was too large to use the Sitka dock, so we anchored in Sitka Sound and used the tenders to go ashore. Due to our proximity to the Terror Wilderness, the tenders set up a security perimeter around the vessel to deter any jihadist frogmen in the area.

The Sitka skyline is dominated by Mt. Edgecumbe, a 3,200 ft dormant volcano.

Sitka has many totem poles throughout the town.

A 2 or 3 year-old bald eagle on Sitka Sound. Bald eagles don't get their characteristic white plumage until they reach five years of age.

With long winter nights and little to do, alcoholism is rampant in Alaska. Even the eagles apparently need rehab.