College Fjord (Alaska)

15th June

Scenic crusing of College Fjord this morning.
Harvard Glacier on the left and Yale on the right.

Yale glacier.
The glaciers have been named after elite colleges.

Looking back down College Fjord to the entrance.

Harvard Glacier.

Colleen photographing the glacier.

Calving.
The glaciers are noisy, there are cracks like thunder occasionally.

Harvard glacier terminus as we sail away.

Three of the five glaciers in College Fjord.

All five glaciers.
Harvard in the middle. Vassar, Bryn Mawr and Smith on the left. And Yale on the right.

Seward (Alaska)

16th June

We took the shuttle to the end of its run at the Alaska SeaLife Centre and walked back to the ship.
These photos were taken in downtown Seward.

A derelict dock on the seafront.
We could not see far because of the mist.

Our ship is out there somewhere.

When we arrived at the port this mountain floated into view.

By "All Aboard" at 14:30 the weather had cleared.

Dutch Harbor (Aleutian Islands)

18th June

Dutch Harbor is not a touristy place. So we decided to take a short walk up this path we could see from our balconey.

Looking back to the ship from the path.

Walking back to the ship from the Aleutian WWII National monument.
Many people chose to walk as the shuttle was quite expensive. This part of the road passes round the end of the airport runway.
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese aircraft struck at U.S. Army and Navy installations at Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island.

On our way back we saw this eagle on its nest.

Sea Day (Bering Strait)

20th June

We are travelling very slowly as we have encountered ice and fog.
Yesterday the captain informed us that we had been asked not to do a scenic cruise of Little Diomede Island due to the disturbance it may cause to local wildlife.

After these photos were taken the captain announced that due to the weather and ice conditions being worse than forcast, we would not be going to the Arctic Circle. And instead head to our next port, Nome.

The weather on our course to Nome was much better.

And here we are at 9pm anchored off Nome. Tender operation start early tomorrow morning.

Nome (Alaska)

21st June

Seven O'clock in the morning and already the tenders are being readied for the days operation.

Anvil City Square is a large open green space in the heart of Nome.

Further away from the main street the roads are unpaved.

One of the houses on a back road.

And one on Front street.

University of Alaska Fairbanks Northwest Campus.

This is Front street in Nome looking west.

A couple of buildings on the street.

Nome organised their Berry Festval to coincide with our visit. Cruise ships of our size have not visited before.
The Lion's Club put on their Chicken Barbecue fund raiser. Here are some passengers enjoying lunch.

A 1976 monument to Roal Amundsen to mark the first transpolar flight 50 years before.
And a sign where the Iditarod race ends.
The Iditarod is a Sled Dog race nearly 1000 miles long held in March and runs from Anchorage to Nome.

Sea Day (Unimak Passage)

23rd June

Unimak Island from the pool deck. It is the largest island in the Aleutian Island chain.
The sky cleared this afternoon as we passed through the Unimak Passage.

While we were dressing for dinner the captain came on and said the volcano on Unimak was smoking and there was ash on the top. I took these photos but could only see the ash. The smoke is lost in the haze.

Kodiak (Alaska)

25th June

Kodiak harbour with mist hanging around.

While we were waiting for our bus ride to Fort Abercrombie State Park I saw this wee boat for Short Haul Harbour Tours.

Fort Abercrombie State Park.
This is another port that does not have many ship's tourists so the school buses had to be used to transport us.

All the trees had moss on them.

The remains of one of the two gun emplacements at Miller Point.
They were there to protect Kodiak from a Japanese attack.

And the view from the point.
We had a lovely walk anyway.

Another photo of Miller Point showing the condition of the weather.

The steep road down from Miller Point.

Anchorage (Alaska)

26th June

The Log Cabin visitor information centre in Anchorage.

This is the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. In 1980 it was decided that it was unsafe for dogs and cars to use the bridges across the knik River. So the race is restarted in Willow.

This is the end of Delaney Park.
In the early days of Anchorage it was a firebreak and later the airstrip.

The War Memorial in the park.

The setting sun on the Chugach mountains from the ship.