Arriving and Leaving Kodiak, AK

Today was the key day of our cruise – the reason we took this cruise.  To see Kodiak, where Jeff was born and spent a good chunk of his childhood.  This photo was actually taken by Jeff, as we rolled into Kodiak very early (before sunrise).  I have to admit, I was still snoozing!

To make it official, proof that we really were in Kodiak!! Yea !!

Now, not only am I up, but the rest of the town is waking up, too!Here’s another view of a very picturesque fishing town in Alaska, taken from our ship.

I love this shot.We had to walk about a mile along what’s called cannery row to get from our ship to the center of town.Along the way, I looked up, and saw these misty trees along what seems to be a ridge line.I don’t think it really was a ridge line – it’s just that the rest of the hill/mountain and trees disappeared into the foggy mist!

Here’s another misty photo. Again, looking up (the mountain begins to climb right at the pier!), I caught this fireweed bloom.And, in the background, you can barely make out other grass fronds and trees.What a lovely backdrop they made for this bloom!

Every time we were coming into port, we had to have a pilot“help” the captain of the ship safely dock and then undock when we were leaving.Generally, they meet us at the beginning of the bay or harbor close to the town and the pilot transfers from the pilot boat to our ship, and then when we are leaving, at about the same spot in the bay/harbor, the pilot transfers back to the pilot boat.Here’s a shot of the transfer happening.If you look closely, you can see the pilot hopping off the temporary walkway.The interesting thing about this is that the ship doesn’t stop to accomplish this.We slow down; the pilot boat matches its speed to ours, and then sides right up to our ship.It could be very dangerous if they don’t do it right, but clearly everyone doing this is very experienced.Not sure this would be a good “on the job”learning experience, tho!

I just had to include this shot.Can you see the little white “X” at the bottom of the photo?That marks the beginning of one of the runways at the Coast Guard station.Yes, it’s right up on the shoreline.However, the other interesting thing is where the runway ends – yes, it really does go all the way to the base of that mountain!Well, actually, there is a public road between the end of the runway and the mountain.There is even a road sign there warning drivers about “jet blasts” – no kidding! Can you imagine being late for an appointment because you had to stop while jets took off, so you didn’t get blown off the road?LOL!!Also, Jeff said that there are very strict procedures that pilots have to follow to abort any landings on this runway.And, if they don’t follow the procedures correctly?Well, let’s just say there are a number of planes that have been recovered or are still somewhere on that mountainside.

Enjoy (not having to use this runway on a regular basis)!

Sights Along the Homer Spit, AK

As we approached Homer, the sun was rising and cast a rosy glow onto one of the mountains we passed entering the harbor.  It was wonderful to see the effect of the sun and also the layers of low clouds and fog hovering just over the water.

I thought this image was particularly peaceful. It was a very hushed environment. Yes, we were on board the ship, but it wasn’t moving very fast, and was fairly quiet, which created an even greater sense of peace. I love the streaks of color created by the sun, too.

In Homer, there’s a spit of land that we actually docked at.  And, there’s a pier there, too, with shops, etc., on this fairly decent size sort of peninsula.  I don’t know the reason, but it’s referred to as a spit of land.  Anyway, here’s another image of what has the feel of a New England fishing town up in the semi-north of Alaska!

I really liked this image, because of the people (it’s actually a couple standing very close together) in the lower left corner. They create a feel to this image of being left behind – sort of a loneliness.

And, saw this on a Jeep at the dock and it makes me laugh –it pretty well sums up a fair amount of people’s attitudes up here, but not in a nasty way.They just really don’t care how it’s done elsewhere – they just do it the way they do it up here because it works for them!Love it!

Enjoy!

Whale off the Starboard Side!

After we got back to the ship, and were relaxing in the Ocean Bar, we looked up and saw a humpback whale making his way toward the ship, just feeding on salmon and krill along the way.  I raced back up to our room, and thankfully, our balcony overlooked just where he was slowly making his way.  I got these great shots of him feeding.  The above photo is just as he’s beginning to rise up to eat.  Whales tend to be cooperative feeders, and most likely, there were more than this one that kept surfacing.  The others will tend to swirl the water, getting the food they want to bunch up and swim in a circle.  On the surface of the water, this looks like a ring of bubbles, and since I was lucky enough to see that, I had an idea where he’d be surfacing.  I knew he wouldn’t do one of those dramatic breaches or tail flips, because he was right off shore and in relatively shallow water, but it was cool to see him do this type of feeding!

Here’s a shot a second after the first (I was shooting multiple frames at a time). The water has finished running off him, so you can see him better.

And, this third shot is a bit of a closer view.I did purposefully keep the people on shore in the image, just to give you a sense of perspective about how close he was to shore and how big he is!

Enjoy!

Misty Morn at Icy Straits Point, AK

As is typical for Alaska (or so it seems to me!), it was another moody, foggy morning.  Today, we were at Ice Straits Point, moored just off the little Tlinget community of Hoonah.  And, some great moody shots just begged to be photographed!  This first shot was one that I captured of what I believe is a local fisherman just leaving for his day’s labor.  It’s so foggy, it’s hard to see where the water ends and the sky begins.

As I said, we were moored off Hoonah. I thought this was a great image to relay how close and yet how far away we were from shore! Who knew there could be such beauty in such a melancholy scene?

To get us to and from shore, we were “tendered”.The crew took a number of the lifeboats and transported us to and from the town.I particularly like this one with the tree branches framing it.I think of it as “coming home”.

And, as the day wore on, the clouds did break up.This image is capturing that break up – still grey, but with the promise of a nice sunny day (which did happen)!

Enjoy!

Early Morning to Tracy Arm, AK

The morning started off with what I’m learning is the traditional morning fog or low clouds.  The beauty of this image is in the inherent layering of the clouds above the dark outline of the land, and the fog floating in front of it, just above the water.

No, that blue iceberg in the foreground isn’t fake or a PhotoShop effect! This was one of the first lonely little ice bergs that we saw today, and it was a natural pop of color for the monochromatic landscape.

A ship was coming out just as we were approaching Tracy Arm.I really like this image because it creates a natural sense of scale and perspective.We are all so small in the overall scheme of things, no matter how important we may think we are.

I just love this image! It’s so calming, and yet seems to offer a promise of things to come.The shape of the entrance to the straight just seems to draw you in, doesn’t it?

Enjoy!