Wednesday, August 31, 2016  -  We have had a remarkable two days.  Yesterday we were chosen to take an "unexpected adventure" which was a Zodiac cruise through the ice in the early morning (we left at 7:45 a.m.).  We saw some amazing pack ice, two bearded seals and our first polar bear of the trip!  It was hard to get good pictures from the Zodiac as we couldn't go too close, but some of the expedition team members were able to get some amazing pictures, some of which I will post later. Here is a picture of the ship with ice in the foreground.

Later in the day we saw some more polar bears - a sow with 2 cubs on the ice and 2 single bears, one on a seal kill.  They have an amazing Cineflex camera mounted on the ship and are able to beam on to the ship video from shore.  Some of these pics are from that stream.

 

Tuesday, August 30, 2016
We have had a busy week since I last posted - with the exception of what I posted this morning.  The 24th was a sea day with lectures, yoga, and watching for birds.  On the 25th we sailed the Beaufort Sea.  It was a nice calm blue sky day.  While sitting on our balcony reading, Judy noticed whales blowing off the starboard side of the ship.  We ended up seeing about 15 Bowhead whales and a flock of about 50 Snow Geese.  We also passed the Smoking Hills, which contain strata of lignite which have been burning continuously for centuries. The earth is literally on fire.  They were named by John Franklin on one of his 1826 expeditions looking for the Northwest Passage.

On August 26th, we arrived in Ulukhaktok, Nunavut Territory, Canada.  We met our escort ship the RRS Ernest Shackleton, which was waiting for us in the Beaufort Sea.  After we dropped anchor they put on quite a show for us, deploying the 7 Zodiacs, 1 Fast Boat and 2 helicopters which will be used for our excursions while in the Arctic.  Tonight Crystal brought aboard some Inuit drummers and dancers from Uluhaktok to perform for us.

 Launching the Zodiacs

 The Fast Boat

August 27 - We had an excursion on the Fast Boat first thing in the morning. We bundled up in our arctic parkas and boots, hats and gloves.  We toured the shoreline with our guide who was a Botanist.  We learned about the plant life and the animals relation with it and we saw an Arctic Hare.  Later in the day we took the Zodiac into shore in Ulukhaktok where we walked around town and went to the school auditorium where they were selling art prints that they are known for. 

August 28 - we were at sea in the Dolphin and Union Straights on our way to our next port, Cambridge Bay.  We attended a lecture during the day about Arctic birds.

August 29 - We arrived in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada.  We took the Zodiacs into shore, then we were shuttled into town using pick-ups, vans, school busses, or anything with wheels.  There are no excursion busses.  We spent a few hours walking around Cambridge Bay, visited an arts and crafts show put on by the NACA - "Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association".  Inuit art is very different from what we are used to seeing.  There were a lot of beautiful seal-skin garments, as well as a display of quiviet - the wool from musk-ox which is used to spin into yarn for very expensive hats, scarves, gloves, etc.  We also sampled some muktuk made from Narwhal.  Muktuk is whale blubber, and it was actually not too bad!  We visited the grocery store and found some interesting products.  Milk was $9.00 a gallon and cabbages were $8.00 to $9.00 each.  They were quite large, but also quite spendy!

 Quiviet fom Musk-ox

 Seal Skin jacket

 

Tuesday, August 30, 2016 - at sea
We were chosen to do an "Unexpected Adventure" this morning.  We launched in a Zodiac at 7:45 this morning and motored out into the ice.  Yes, we have found the ice again!  I am just going to post a couple of pictures.  I will be posting more later today and catching up the last week.

Monday, August 22 and Tuesday August 23, 2016
Sea days.  Sunday night we stayed up quite late and because of the hour time change we ended up sleeping quite late on Monday. Around 8:00 a.m. we passed by Little Diomede Island and Big Diomede Island, where it is today on Little Diomede and tomorrow on Big Diomede 2 miles away!  Judy went to yoga and Duane watched for and photographed birds.  We attended a lecture of "The Quest for the Northwest Passage: Early European Expeditions" and later got to see some artifacts that have been recovered from the Franklin expedition along with some replicas of his charts.  After dinner in the Crystal dining room we attended the show which was a comedy ventriloquist who was quite entertaining.  We then spent a couple of hours in the Avenue Saloon listening to Perry Grant, who is a comedy pianist.  He is really a hoot and so fun to watch.  He involves the audience and everyone has a great time.

Today (Tuesday) we attended a mandatory Arctic briefing.  Topics included polar bear safety ashore, environmental regulations, procedures for Zodiac landings and more.  After lunch we attended a lecture on "The Arctic in an Age of Climate Change".  During the lecture the Captain announced that we were moving into some ice!  Guess we'll have to get those Arctic parkas out soon!  We will be arriving in our first port in Canada - Uluhaktok - on Friday.  Until then we will be cruising the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea.

Sunday, August 21, 2016 - Nome, Alaska

Nome, the name itself excites us for it is the gateway to the Bering Sea, the Bering Straights and ultimately the Northwest Passage.  There is no port in Nome so our ship anchored off shore and we rode the tenders in.  Today in Nome we had one of the teachers for our guide who moved to Nome from Chicago 4 years ago.  We also had a young Inupiat Native woman who was quite musical and sang for us.  We visited a dog musher named Nils Hahn who has raced in the Iditarod 4 times.  We visited a museum of Native art and artifacts and watched a slide show put on by one of the rangers, showing the area surrounding Nome.  We saw a small herd of 11 musk-ox outside of town which was quite a thrill for us. We also did a little gold panning, and a group of women wearing beautiful fur-ruffed kuspuks  (eskimo dresses) posed for pictures. Having been to Nome before we opted not to stay in town after the tour. 

Saturday, August 20, 2016
A day at sea - We are in the Bering Sea between Dutch Harbor and Nome, Alaska.  Rough seas most of the day, calming later in the day.  Mostly cloudy with sprinkles of rain.  Judy felt quite queasy the first half of the day but felt better as the seas calmed.  Judy attended a chair yoga class, a good introduction to yoga for someone that has never tried it before!  One of the naturalists on board is from Homer, Alaska.  He was in the Palm Court helping to spot birds and sea life.  Duane only saw a few birds, but we are sure there is more to come.  Judy took a computer class in the afternoon hoping to learn how to better understand Windows 10.  After dinner we enjoyed listening to Perry Grant in the Avenue Saloon, a pianist and comedian.  Tomorrow we will arrive in Nome around 9:00 a.m.

Friday, August 19, 2016
Unalaska, Alaska, located on the island of Amaknak, more commonly known to Alaskans as Dutch Harbor, or "Dutch".  The town's name is actually Unalaska, located in a harbor called Dutch Harbor.  Dutch Harbor is one of the busiest fishing ports in the world and the home of the TV Show The Deadliest Catch.  It was a cool rainy day early giving way to a nice sunny afternoon.  There are no tour buses in Dutch so Crystal employed the school buses to ferry us around town to the Museum of the Aleutians and the Aleutian World War II Visitor's Center.  Both were quite interesting.  There are no natural trees on the island but because of the wet weather the hills were quite green and lush, sprinkled with a few of the last wildflowers of the season, mostly fireweed.  The fireweed has bloomed to the top of the stems which signals to we Alaskans that winter is just around the corner.  We saw a few bald eagles, some harbor seals and a few humpback whales blowing in the distance as we departed for our next stop - Nome, Alaska.

                                                        The Grand Aleutian Hotel

                                                                    Crab Pots

                   World War II Visitor Center

Thursday, August 18, 2016
Today was our first sea day.  After a leisurely breakfast we attended a lecture by the expedition leader, Tim Soper.  He introduced a few of the other lecturers who are going to be speaking during the cruise and he outlined many of the things we can expect to see and experience during the days to come.  The lecture was standing room only and we got there a little late so we went to our room and watched it on the TV.  All of the lectures are videotaped and played throughout the day on the room TV's, which is really nice if you can't make it to the actual lecture, or if there is no room to sit! 

We attended another lecture in the afternoon about the Japanese invasion of parts of the Aluetian Islands and the bombing of Dutch Harbor in 1942.  We will be visiting Dutch Harbor tomorrow.

We had an excellent dinner in one of the alternative dining venues on board called Tastes, then attended the evening show by Michel Bell, a Tony Award-Nominated Broadway Vocalist.  He was quite good.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016 and Wednesday, August 17, 2016

We embarked the Crystal Serenity around noon on Tuesday and had our first lunch on board the ship.  The lunch was delicious and we enjoyed a few glasses of champagne as a welcome aboard.  The ship is beautiful.  Our room is small but adequate and very comfortable.  We were about 2 hours late leaving Seward as there were many pallets of supplies to load as well as lots of garbage to unload from the previous voyage.  Because it was low tide they could only have one door open and it took longer than anticipated.  We made up time during the night and arrived in Kodiak by 9:00 the following morning to pouring rain.  By afternoon the weather had cleared and we took the shuttle into town where we visited the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center and the Russian Othodox Church. Then back to the ship for another great dinner.  We each had filet mignon and lots of wine, desert, and then the evening show which was a female singer who was quite good.

 

We left home on Monday at 9:00 a.m.  Our friends Steve and Joanne drove us to Seward.  After having some lunch we checked into our hotel and then the four of us went for a nice walk along the waterfront.  Seward was founded in 1903 as the ocean terminus of the proposed railroad to interior Alaska.  It is also the original start of the Iditarod Trail Sled dog race which now starts in Wasilla and runs to Nome.

Hotel Seward where we stayed in Seward

In the evening we met our friend Estelle from New Mexico along with two of her brothers and one of their wives who were visiting Alaska and were in Seward to go fishing!  It was so nice to see them all and we had a great time visiting over dinner.

Well, the time has finally come for us to leave on the first leg of our long-awaited trip!  We have been waiting and planning for two years!  If we aren't ready now I guess we never will be!

We leave in the morning with a ride to Seward.  Our friends who watch our house while we are gone will be taking us to Seward.  We will be spending the night in Seward then getting on the cruise ship on Tuesday around noon.  We sail at 9:00 p.m. Tuesday evening.

We are all packed and ready to go!

Below is the route we will be taking.  Our first port is Kodiak, Alaska on Wednesday, August 17.  We arrive at 9:00 a.m.

We are counting down the days until our departure on our next great adventure - The Northwest Passage Cruise on the Crystal Serenity.  This cruise will take us from Seward, Alaska, through the Northwest Passage ending up in NYC.  This is a maiden voyage for the cruise ship industry, so we will be making history!

Our stops will be as follows:  Kodiak, AK; Dutch Harbor, AK; Nome, AK; Ulukhaktok, NW Territories, Canada; Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada; Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Canada; Ilulissat, Greenland; Sisimiut, Greenland; Nuuk, Greenland; Bar Harbor, Maine; Boston, Massachusetts, Newport, Rhode Island; and New York City, NY.  In between we will have many sea days during which we will be attending lectures and enrichment classes given by the many naturalists and experts on board.

We will be driving to Seward Alaska on Monday, August 15 and boarding the cruise ship the next day.  We depart at 9 p.m. on August 16th.  We have been planning this trip for 2 years.  We were waitlisted for 1 year, then were able to book in June, 2015.  We have been gathering gear and reading books in preparation for this trip for the last year! 

We are mostly packed already and we have 3 large suitcases, along with a couple of carry-ons.  We will take one extra large duffel bag to bring home any extras we will accumulate on the trip, along with our complimentary arctic parkas that we will be receiving once we are onboard.  The recommended cold weather gear list is long, but having lived in Alaska for 30 years we already had most of what we need.

We will be doing a lot of "wet water" landings, going ashore in zodiacs as most of the places we will be visiting have no docks for us to pull alongside.   Thus, we have to take insulated knee high rubber boots, rainproof pants and jackets, and waterproof gloves.

We are hoping to see an extensive list of wildlife on this cruise including polar bears, walrus, narwhals, muskox and many bird species that we haven't seen before. Hopefully we will be posting pictures of all of these!!