Day 1

We were led on board the Wilderness Explorer ship (WEX) around 1600 hrs.  The WEX holds 31 paying passengers as well as about 13 crew.  However, as the second cruise of the season, there were only 19 paying passengers, which all of us were pleased about – great group size, and not too crowded.  After introductions to the beaming (young) crew, we were introduced to our palatial digs where our bags had already been deposited.  Amazing how much you can cram into a 2 meter x 2 meter square.  You’ve heard the expression that a place is too small to swing a cat? Well, this was too small to swing a mouse!

Our ‘window’ turned out to be a small rectangle within our escape hatch.  You can see it just above the blue hull paint on the photo below. Well, we did want to go as cheaply as possible. 

Once the ship started up her engines, we stared at each other in amazement and wonder. Our room was at the back of the ship and even though the crew quarters were between us and the engine we were destined to spend the next six nights (sleeping?) next to a 747 engine.  Our trusty ear plugs didn’t even make a dent.  The crew assured us we would get used to it!

We cruised out of Juneau harbour  into the Gastineau Channel. At Point  Tantall  the ship turned west and headed  up the Saginaw Channel past Stephens Passage.  Everyone was on the top deck listening  to our safety/kayaking lecture by Andrew, but he kept being interrupted by the surfacing of Humpback Whales all around us.  He finally abandoned his efforts so we could concentrate on the animal show.  One Humpback was right at the side of the ship when it surfaced.  We were fortunate enough to see several of them showing their flukes when they dived.  Bald Eagles flew overhead and the sky gradually cleared to a pale blue.  What a great way to start the trip. The photos below (courtesy of a fellow passenger H. Zhang who is a real photographer) give a sample of what we saw.

 

 

 

Dinner was called at 19:30, and we experienced our first gourmet meal of the trip.  Just as a warning to anyone contemplating taking this cruise, you will have three full meals a day plus two snack times.  So prepare to get fat! 

The ship sailed through the night and we found ourselves anchored in Dundas Bay  the next morning.  And yes, we slept most of the night – amazingly enough.

On to the next day ...

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