Fri, Sep 19, 2008 College Fjord, Alaska
We have sailed on several hundred miles, across the top of the Gulf of Alaska in open water, to the semi-sheltered waters of beautiful Prince William Sound. It is hard to
believe that in 1989,
the Exxon Valdez ran around here, and 11 million gallons of oil discharged into the water. The evidence of that disaster was no longer visible to us as tourists, but certainly would be to those more familiar to the area. In mid-afternoon, we entered one of the many inlets off the Sound and headed into College Fjord. Back in 1899, College Fjord was just a small inlet which ended at the so-called Barry Glacier, but a railway magnate, on vacation in a chartered steamship, saw an unmapped opening beyond the snout of the Glacier and ventured into uncharted waters. It was another stunning wilderness area, pristine as far as could be seen, and hiding several more major glaciers coming right down to the water (so-called tidewater glaciers, very rare in the world). Over the next few years, these were explored and named for 7 Ivy League colleges. Because of global warming, all of them have retreated miles today from their locations when they were first observed, but they were glorious shrouded in the mist.
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Sat, Sep 20, 2008 Whittier, Alaska
After sailing on a few hours, we arrived just after midnight, at the end of the line for the Alaska portion of our trip: the tiny town of Whittier. Surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it is the gateway port for the major city of Anchorage, 65 miles away. Although bustling as a staging area in WW2, Whittier now has a population of 290 –- all of whom are implicated in the fishing industry or the seasonal cruise ships. There is one big apartment building and evidently most folks in the town live there. It also houses the Post Office (closed), a tuck shop, and a 2 room faith-based Seaman’s Mission, where – amazingly enough – there was free high speed internet! After 5 days of no internet access on the ship, due to various reported reasons, the place was packed. We brought in and reviewed hundreds of real & junk messages, and finally sent out the 2nd posting of the blog. The Mission volunteers drove from Anchorage (1 hr) and Seward (90 min) to be here today, and one even gave us a free ride back to the ship, a mile+ away.
Overall, Whittier has a ruggedly beautiful setting, but offers no imaginable enticement for us to ever revisit. Meanwhile, during the day, 1300 passengers departed the Diamond Princess, cabin attendants cleaned and readied 650 rooms, and 1300 new guests boarded (and started eating…).
[Tackle, Ammo, Ice, Bait... seeing this, Colleen asked why she was here!]
Sun, Sep 21, 2008 Kodiak, Alaska
Mid-morning, we docked 450 miles away at Kodiak Island, famous for the gigantic Kodiak brown bear – the world’s biggest – and for being one of the top 3 largest commercial fishing ports in the US. Russian merchants had settled the island in the late 1700’s, but with the US purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, the US military established a garrison. By WW2, the troop strength had reached 25,000. Industries related to fishing, hunting and sport boating now dot the harbour area of the main settlement, population 2,500.
Again, this part of the world has towering peaks, dramatic landscapes, wide water vistas, and a lot of tranquility. And, what’s more, the sun began to shine through the clinging mist!
Like pilgrims, we trotted off the ship in search of our Mecca: the internet. A mile long walk from the ship, past some canneries and loading docks, brought us into the town center. Killing time while we waited for the public library to open, we wandered the town, visiting briefly a tiny Russian Orthodox church, and then stumbling upon the wonderful Wildlife Refuge museum built by the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Department. It housed, among other displays, the skeleton of a 40’ gray whale which had washed up on one of Kodiak’s very few roads about 10 years previously. The state conservation official responsible for finding the animal and making the project happen was there, and we chatted with her.
The library naturally had a long line for internet use, but we located free wireless in the coffee shop of at a nearby motel.
Back on board, we dined with former cruise mates from Aug 2006, Peter and Stephanie from Toronto. More details later on dining aboard.
Mon, Sep 22-27 At sea
Last night, we passed down the appropriate sea lanes and back out into the open ocean towards Asia, 5 sailing days away. For a day or two, we followed the trajectory of the Aleutian Islands, which extend a good 800 miles out into the North Pacific, and separate us from the Bering Sea and other points north. The seas were still fairly calm, but it was cold outside. In mid-morning, the Captain announced that we would detour to the southwest and increase speed to minimize impact with a major low pressure area. Gradually, by mid-afternoon Tuesday, the seas grew 
rougher and the overcast heavier. Calm seas turned to 2 meter swells as the day progressed, but we are on a 17 storey floating hotel, 116,000 tons, and while our walking may have zig-zagged a bit, (perhaps too much wine?), life aboard remained enjoyable.
In any event, Diamond Princess is huge – not as large as Emerald Princess we took from Fort Lauderdale to Istanbul and Venice 5 months ago - but still massive. Built in Japan and delivered on Feb 26, 2004, the ship is 950 feet long by 164 feet at her widest (the bridge). In the water, she requires a depth of 28 feet of water, and soars above the waterline 177 feet, in 17 decks. In that volume are housed passengers, crew, supplies of every conceivable type, fuel for the engines 
that can propel this behemoth at up to 22 nautical miles per hour, and even a 15 ton anchor.
Back to eating. What is there to have? Virtually, anything you want. There are many venues and opportunities for grazers and serious diners. Five concurrently operating dining rooms (themed for decoration but with the same vast menu, which changes every evening), and 2 specialty ones (Italian and Steak, where the menu doesn’t alter), a large buffet area, open 24 hours a day, and 
constantly changing offerings. Of course, what self-respecting cruise passenger would pass up the pizza station, the hamburger/hot dog grill, or the milk shake bar? Not to mention 14 more wine and liquor bars and a cappucino/latte bar with pastries… a lot of selection. Part of one meal’s menu is shown.
There are lots of interesting things that happen at sea, other than seeing glaciers and marine life, and eating. For example, on Tues evening around 9:30 pm, we passed westward over the International Date Line (IDL). Suddenly, instead of being 7 times zones behind Ottawa and Toronto, we were now 17 times zones ahead, and had 2 ½ hours left in the Wed that Ottawa/Toronto had barely begun to experience!
The IDL is an imaginary line opposite the Prime Meridian of longitude which passes through Greenwich, England, and is the boundary between +12 time zones and -12 time zones from Greenwich. The IDL offsets the date by one day when travelling east to west or west to east across it.
This disappearance, and reappearance of a day when crossing the IDL was the surprise twist in the Jules Verne classic Around the World in 80 Days, which had first been confronted when the survivors of the Magellan circumnavigation expedition (1519-1522) returned home one day differently than their careful records indicated.
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