We had been staying at a relatively expensive hotel right next to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. We needed to get up early the next morning to catch a flight and we therefore needed to get to bed early (we had to get up at 04h30), we decided to move to a cheaper hotel right next to the airport. Anyway, we had a real nice Chinese dinner for $6 (including drinks) before retiring to bed. The evening turned out to be rather "interesting", to cut a long story short it ended up with us leaving just as the police were raiding the place. Needless to say Mom insisted that we no longer stay at cheap hotels or if we do make sure that we are in the "right" neighbourhood.

When we got to the airport we again encountered really long queues to go through security (today was going to be a day of queues). The security is a big thing here - to the point that you have to take off your shoes and put them through the X ray machines ! We were again quite lucky in that the plane wasn't too full and so Dad and I had a row to ourselves, as did Mom and Jade. When we arrived at Vancouver we again stood in long queues at immigration. Fortunately one of the officers took a liking to Jade and pushed us right to the front of the queue.

We got our bags which we then sent onto the ship whilst we caught a taxi to do some shopping. When we got to the registration for the cruise there were again long queues. The first queue was for security, the second queue was for the actual registration, the third queue was to find out which queue to join, and the fourth queue was for immigration (from Canada into the USA).

Finally we got on board the Radiance of the Sea. The delays were more than made up by the buffet lunch that was served, there was lots of different types of food, and plenty of it. Given that we hadn't eaten all day (other than a chocolate) we tucked into the food before going down to our cabin.

We have a really nice cabin, right near the top, and we have our own balcony. I sleep in a bunk bed above Mom and Dad (Dad said I had better not fall out of bed). The sun only set at 21h10, and the sunset was one of the most spectacular that we have ever seen (see the photos).

The coast line looks stunning, and we can see snow on top of some of the peaks in the distance.

We had been up since 04h30 this morning so we went to bed relatively early (22h00). Oh yes and we met some other South Africans in the lift going to our cabin.

18 July 2004

When we awoke (06h30) we had a glorious view out across the sea. The boat is remarkably stable, and very luxurious. All the crew are very friendly and helpful (Dad says we may never get pampered like this again in our lives). I registered for the children's activities program which is really great fun (and it gives Mom and Dad a break - or more importantly me a break from them). It is like my Adventure Club at home but is called Adventure Ocean and I am called an Aquanaut.

We are definitely going to put of weight this trip, there is lots of really nice food, and it is available 24hrs a day. They will even bring it to your cabin if you want.

Mom ad Dad spent the day find out more about the activities on the boat, and the day excursions, tomorrow, for example, we are going off whale watching.

Everybody on board loves Jade, wherever we go people stop us to talk to Jade, or to play with her. Even when we had breakfast Jade went to a nice lady for a while. The most common saying so far on our trip is "oh she's a Cutie" !

19 July 2004

We docked at the capital of Alaska, Juneau, it is a very pretty little town (population 30 000) and survives mainly because of the tourist trade. It is located in a picturesque setting with really high mountains (there was snow on top of the mountains), and obviously next to the sea.

We had booked to go whale watching so we caught a bus to the next little harbour where we caught a small ferry which took us out. We  were hoping to see whales (obviously) but what we saw was almost the pinnacle of whale watching, we saw hump back whales bubble net feeding, basically one of the whales dives down and then blows bubbles in a massive circle around a school of herring entrapping them. The whales then come up from below and come up and catch the fish at the surface. They all come out together with their mouths wide open. Apparently people come from all around the world to study this behaviour.

We then went off to Orca Lodge for a Salmon Bake lunch. Dad saw quite a few salmon jumping, and they were quite big (pity he didn't have a fishing rod).

We went back to Juneau where we went to the Jade shop (Jade is Alaska's national stone). The town is full of souvenirs, and there was a Harley shop so Dad bought a t-shirt.

We set sail at 20h30 for Skagway, our next port of call.

20 July 2004

We arrived at Skagway at 06h00, so by the time we woke up we were already docked. Mom and Dad decided to spend the day walking around the little town so I went off to the Aquanauts club. Skagway is a fascinating little town, it is all done up to look like the town did many years ago. Again there was lots of touristy things. Believe it or not but there was another Harley shop here (the American's really love their Harleys, and they often collect t-shirts from all the different locations).

In the evening we all went to see a lady singing and a magic show in the theatre at the front of the ship, the show was quite good . Even Jade enjoyed it, she sat in her own chair for quite a long time - luckily she had a seat at the end of the row so was able to look down the aisle to watch.

21 July 2004

We got up late and went off for breakfast. We arrived at Hubbard Glacier at about midday, it is a spectacular glacier that runs straight into the sea. Getting to the glacier was via an ice field, basically there were lots of small icebergs floating around which the ship had to manoeuvre around. Glacier ice looks blue, and it was all shades of blue from pale blue to quite dark blue. There were massive chunks of ice that kept breaking off the glacier wall and falling into the sea. You could hear the ice creaking and groaning , and when the ice breaks it sounds like thunder.

We also managed to see lots of small seals which were often on top of the small icebergs, sometimes they would jump off the icebergs when they saw us coming.

I managed to get lost. A really nice man and lady rescued me and took me back to Mom and Dad, believe it or not they were from South Africa, and the man is a client of Dads.

22 July 2004

Last night was rough at sea, that said, it is remarkable just how stable to boat is. Anyway, today we spend sailing to our last port in Alaska, a little port called Ketchikan. Once again the main tourist places are right next to the dock. Mom and Dad went for a walk around town whilst I played with all my friends in Adventure Ocean. And guess what - there was another Harley shop in the town. Apparently there are over 200 Harleys in the town, and they only have 50kms of tar road in the whole area. They must get quite bored travelling the same road over and over again, but I suppose they don't get to many opportunities to ride given the weather.

Just as everyone was starting to board a fire broke out on the dock right underneath some of the shops. The fire brigade arrived quite quickly but they took quite a long time to get the fire out because they had to cut out the floor to get to the fire (the shops are effectively on a massive wooden deck which forms part of the pier). Anyway, it was lots of action which was quite fun to watch. The ship was ready to move if the fire had gotten any bigger, but fortunately that was not necessary.

When we left Ketchikan we travelled down a really narrow channel, a large competitor ship was just ahead and it looked quite spectacular with this massive boat in front, high mountains all covered in forest on the side, and snow capped mountains in  the distance.

You can see that Alaska is sparsely populated, you travel for long distances without seeing anyone.

23 July 2004

Today was spent at sea getting back to Vancouver. Once again I went off to Adventure Ocean whilst Mom and Dad did some of the packing. The scenery was stunning once again, but obviously it was a little sad because we knew that this was our last day on the ship. We have met some really nice people and made some really wonderful friends.

Oh well, I suppose all good things have to come to an end.

24 July 2004

By the time we woke up we were already docked in Vancouver. We had breakfast and then got off the boat after saying good bye to everyone. Our flight to London only left at 20h50 so we spent the day walking around Vancouver looking at all the sights. We saw a steam clock in Gastown, it was rather like a grand father clock, and it even gave off a steam whistle on the hour. We also walked through Chinatown which was quite pretty.

We got to the airport early (we had to catch a taxi there) and so Mom, Jade and I all tried to catch up on our sleep a little (we had gotten up early to get off the ship).