Cruise Day 23
Monday, July 1, 2024
It’s the first day of July and we are in Haines, Alaska. We are the only ship in port today as most ships will dock in nearby Skagway. We were in Haines back in 2014 and liked the town. It is quite small with a population of just under 1800 and not nearly as touristy as Skagway as all the large ships dock in Skagway. There is a high-speed ferry that runs between Haines and Skagway that we took on our last visit to ride the historic and very scenic White Pass Railroad. Today though, we are staying in Haines and taking an afternoon photo tour. The last time we were here after our train ride we also did a photo tour and it wasn’t very good (due mainly to the tour guide and his young helper) so we’re hoping for better luck today.
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| Haines is the red marker just to the right center of the map. |
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| A closer look at the area around Haines. Haines is the red marker in the upper center area of the map. Glacier Bay, where we were yesterday, is the yellow marker to left, and Juneau, where we'll be tomorrow, is the yellow marker in the bottom right part of the map. |
I am currently reading a book called “If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name” by Heather Lende about small-town life in this isolated community. It was written back in 2006 so I’m sure things have changed, but many of the places she talks about are still here.
Val is still feeling under the weather, so she slept in and relaxed this morning, but around eleven she decided she felt well enough to go ashore. Thankfully we are docked so we quickly got off the ship and walked to the shuttle that would take us into town. It is not too far to walk, but the shuttle was much easier and had several drop off points. The weather was cloudy and overcast, but not raining and temperatures were in the low 50’s, so not too bad.
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| A view of Haines from our balcony. |
We got off the shuttle on Main Street and found ourselves across the street from the Hammer Museum. My brother and his family had been to Haines a couple of years ago and visited the Hammer Museum and found it pretty interesting, so we decided to check it out.
It was actually an amazing place; you could never imagine so many hammers existed for so many different purposes. My brother was right, it was quite interesting and worth the visit. It was getting to be lunchtime, and we were hungry, so we walked down the road a ways and found the Lighthouse, a restaurant that had been recommended by several of the locals as having the best fish and chips in town. I don’t know whether it was actually the best fish and chips in town as I haven’t eaten anywhere else in Haines, but they were very good. I ordered the halibut fish and chips, and they were cooked just right and delicious and the chips were good too. Val decided to get a blackened halibut sandwich instead of fish chips and said that was very good.
By the time we finished it was after one, and we had to get back to the dock for our tour. We made the steep uphill walk back to the shuttle drop off point and luckily there was one just pulling away, so Val flagged it down and we were on our way back to the dock.
We got to the dock around 1:30 and still had a little while to wait for our tour check-in so we found a bench to sit down. Val had worn the wrong shoes for our tour, so I told her I would go get them and bring them back (I am a faster walker) so she took them off and I made a quick trip to the ship and came back with a different pair of shoes. I did get a couple of comments about carrying a pair of shoes back on board, but it was just in fun.
By the time I got back, and Val got her shoes on, it was time to check in. Our tour today is a ship tour called “Haines in Focus: Nature & Wildlife Photography Experience”, a small group photo tour of the area. On our last visit we did a similar tour, and we were the only ones on it, but this time there were fifteen, so not so small, but not too big.
After getting checked in, we met Garret, our driver and guide who worked as a professional photographer. We boarded a minibus and were on our way. We visited several scenic spots along the Lutak Inlet and Chilkoot River, and finally at the end of the road at Chilkoot Lake. The scenery was beautiful and although not sunny, there were some interesting clouds, not just dull gray skies. As far as wildlife goes, we saw some eagles, but the highlight of the day was a grizzly bear we saw at one of the stops. He wasn’t too close, but close enough to get some pictures. We also saw a grizzly bear on the way back and stopped for pictures, it may have been the same one.
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| This is the area of our tour today. The red marker at the bottom is Haines and we drove from there up along the Lutak Inlet to the Chilkoot River and finally the Chilkoot Lake, the yellow marker near the top. |
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| This is along the Litak Inlet |
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| The Chilkoot River |
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| This is some sort of fish gate where the salmon are counted each year. |
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| We saw more eagles, but they were a long way off. |
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| Chilkoot Lake |
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| Time to head back to Haines and along the way we spotted another or maybe the same bear. |
We got back to the ship a little after five, but even though the ship didn’t leave until nine, we’d had enough and got on the ship to warm up and relax. After our big lunch, Val and I weren’t very hungry and Val didn’t feel like going to the dining room, so we went up to the Lido Buffet and had a light dinner and then called it a night. No casino again tonight as it wouldn’t open until late and we have an early morning tour tomorrow in Juneau.
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| Back to the ship. |
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| And later in the evening we sail away from Haines. |
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