On Our Third Alaska Shore Excursion
My wife and I recently returned from a cruise to Alaska on the Celebrity Edge. There were amazing views of forests, the mountains, the glaciers, bald eagles, and other wildlife. But it was on our third shore excursion that we had a real adventure, whale watching and a photo safari.
We were in Juneau, Alaska. From our Cruise ship, there were fourteen of us. At the port, we were guided to shuttle bus number six. Emma was our bus driver, who would safely transport us to the Alaskan port to board our ship, the Observer, for a whale-watching excursion.
With us was Zoe, our tour guide. Zoe is a recent college graduate who chose to postpone her career after graduation to see the world, starting with a summer stint in the exotic area of Juneau. She had been there a few months but really knew the town's history well. On our ride to the dock, she was pointing out numerous things to see, do, and take pictures of.
Waiting for us on the dock was Captain Leslie. He was a young man in his late 30s or early 40s who clearly knew his way around the Observer, his boat. It was a newer boat, judging by the fresh paint job and the absence of rust. The three 250-horsepower Yamaha outboard engines gave me a lot of confidence that this boat was fast and dependable.
Forteen passengers set sail that day for a two and a half hour cruise
All fourteen of us whale watchers boarded the craft. Zoe became both our first mate and our tour guide. She untied the boat from the dock moorings and then secured it. Then Captain Leslie headed into the harbor. As we pulled away from the dock, the weather was taking a turn for the worse.
Behind us, some dark, ominous clouds were approaching from the Southeast, an indication of a bad storm rolling in. In Michigan, when I see these kinds of clouds rolling in, I expect high winds, followed by a heavy downpour, with a slim possibility of hail or a tornado. Then, in about 30 to 45 minutes, the storm is over.
Captain Leslie took the boat out, passed through the no-wake zone in the harbor, and then fired up the three 250-horsepower Yamaha outboard engines. In no time, we were quickly leaving the Juneau harbor area, heading out to see. When I looked back, it seemed like the storm was coming our way.
Captain Leslie was on the radio saying, “The storm looks like it's coming from the southeast, so I'm going to the northeast.” That seemed counterintuitive to me because it seemed to me the storm would be chasing us. But all fourteen of us and Zoe put full faith in Captain Leslie's best judgment.
About ten minutes into our tour, as we headed out to see the whales, Zoe looked back and pointed out that we could no longer see the mountains. There was a curtain of heavy rain between us and the mountains. If Zoe was concerned, she did not show it.
The weather started getting rough
I was sitting in the back of the boat, watching the line of heavy rain from the storm itself slowly get closer and closer to us. More importantly, I was watching the clouds. There was a low-hanging cloud that could have very easily turned into a waterspout, but it did not.
We were a few miles out into the bay when the line of rain caught up to us. First, there was a brief hailstorm, and then it turned into a torrential downpour. But we were getting close to where the whales were.
The weather started getting rough. The relatively smooth water became 2-foot to 3-foot swells. And at one point, we had 4-foot to 5-foot swells battering our boat. Captain Leslie would throttle up, throttle down, and move the ship to minimize the impact of the swells hitting the tiny craft,
"Whale Ho!"
We turned left (port), the swells disappeared, and we met about five other whale-watching ships that were already there watching the whales. And then came the call on the radio, “Hey Observer, you were almost breached by a whale." That meant a whale popped up near the ship, in this case, behind us. None of us saw it, but someone else did from one of the other boats.
We saw many whales while at sea, but the whale-watching portion of the tour ended two hours after leaving port. We returned to the port after the storm had passed.
The second half of our tour was about to start, the photo safari in the rainforest. Kylie was our new bus driver who shuttled us off to the forest entrance. I did not go on the photo safari trek that day, as my leg was very sore, and the trail was long. Zoe also informed us there was a steep walk up a hill. But my wife did go, and she took some outstanding pictures.
Meanwhile, back at the Cruise Ship
I stayed on the bus and had a delightful chat with Kylie. She had lived in Juneau, Alaska, for seventeen years and had never seen a storm like that one come through earlier. This Alaskan storm had such high winds that our cruise ship, the Celebrity Edge, broke the mooring lines and drifted into the harbor. Kylie showed me a time-lapse video of the cruise ship as it moved into the harbor, and the smaller Carnival ship anchored in the harbor, moving out of the way of the Edge.
The good news is that there were no injuries. There was no damage to any of the cruise ships in the harbor. After the photo safari, when Kylie dropped us off at the dock, The Edge was once again moored where we left it, like nothing had happened.
Conclusion
Nothing beats experience. As I look back on our Alaska whale-watching portion of our trip, I realize we could have put ourselves in a lot of danger if my wife and I had gone whale watching on out own. I could have gone online and researched whale watching to become an "expert" myself. But, had I piloted a rented boat and we had gone whale watching by ourselves, we may not have returned. We did not have any experience with the Alaskan sea and weather to become an “expert” like Captain Leslie was by experience, let alone know where the whales are.
What this adventure made me think about
Our adventure made me think about what I do as a Retirement Income Planner. Retirement is not a do-it-yourself project. As a retirement income professional, I can help you navigate the challenges of retirement with the knowledge and experience to guide you safely through your golden years.
