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Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam
  • Lorna Spaas
  • Paul Spaas
  • Lorna Spaas
  • Paul Spaas

Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

Sailing with the Volendam from Iceland to Greenland, Newfoundland, and down to Boston. Then, sailing with the Westerdam from Seattle to Alaska & back to Seattle. Meer informatie
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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Anchorage, day 1

    25 juni, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Paul and I took a shuttle bus into the city's convention centre and ended up taking a walk, partly along the waterfront, alongside a lake and a path up a Creek.

    As we were not too far from a large outdoor shop and shopping mall, we took a walk there. Paul had a look at sunhats because he forgot his at home in France. They were ridiculously expensive for what they were, so we will look elsewhere for a sunhat that doesn't require a bank loan. There wasn't much happening in the mall - a lot of shops had closed down. It seems to be a dying mall.

    We took a walk back to the city centre almost the same way as we had walked, with a deviation via Walmart to pick up more crisps. Imagine what a rucksack full of goodies looks like going through the ship's x-ray machine!

    By the time we got to the shuttle bus, we were aching, and our feet were sizzling. We had managed to walk 15km in total. It was good to get back to the ship and relax.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam
    Not quite enough head space under the lifeboat.In a better position now, and the gangway will be lowered and made fast.

    Anchorage, day 2.

    26 juni, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Paul and I took a shuttle bus into the city centre and hired a tandem bicycle. It was a retro style bicycle but did the job. I was stuck behind Paul's back, admiring the close-up view of it. Otherwise, it had to look on either side of him to have an idea of where we were and where we were going.

    We cycled along a costal path and got as far as the airport's airfield before turning around. Just before we headed back, an aeroplane flew low as it came in for a landing on the nearby runway. It was very noisy but quite a sight.

    We headed back along the coastal path and then anticlockwise lake, which we had walked past yesterday. The first half of the lake was residential, so we had to cycle along roads until we crossed a bridge over the lake and down the other side that we had been on yesterday.

    We dropped the bicycle off at the rental place and walked around the city and bit. Near the convention centre is a shopping mall which, unfortunately, is in decline with many shops boaded up. We also took a walk past an indoor market it was closed. There were a few shops outside but nothing of real interest. I guess it is another building that has passed its glory days.

    We took the shuttle bus back to the ship and had to wait to board. The ship's gangway was in the process of being moved due to the lowering tide. Unfortunately, the first time it was moved, it was in an awkward position as it was being situated underneath a lifeboat. So it had to be moved a bit further along, to a space between the elevators and the lifeboat.

    We had a late lunch/early dinner. The aft hot tubs by the outdoor pool looked tempting, so we put on our swimming togs and soaked for a while, watching our surroundings as the ship left the dock and headed out to sea. As we sailed parallel to the coastline, we were in time for an aeroplane's decent to the airport runway. The aeroplane passed right above us as it came in to land. What a fitting end to our time in Anchorage.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Sea day, heading towards Glacier Bay

    27 juni, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Paul got a call during the night. I thought it was to do fog duty, but (as I learned this morning) it turned out he had to see to the Anchorage pilot leaving the ship. He stayed on the Bridge for a while after that because there was fog on the horizon. It didn't come, so Paul was able to come back to bed.

    It has been a quiet day for us, reading. We also went to a lecture about "Gold Fever," the great Klondike gold rush. It was very interesting. The gold rush shaped the history of Skagway, Dawson Creek, and the building of the railway up Whitehorse Pass from Skagway.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam
    Marjorie GlacierLamplugh Glacier

    Glacier Bay, Marjorie & Lamplugh Glacier

    28 juni, Verenigde Staten ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    The Westerdam sailed up Glacier Bay to Marjorie and Lamplugh Glaciers. The ship had to slow down due to an enforced speed restriction because whales had been spotted in Glacier Bay.

    Guests and Park Rangers saw otters, 2 bears, mountain goats, and a moose. I wasn't lucky enough to see them.

    It was raining and overcast throughout the day. We almost didn't expect to make it to Marjorie Glacier because the staff on the Noordam said that yesterday, when they had been up Glacier Bay, there had been too much ice so their scheduled scenic cruising had to be cut short. We were fortunate!    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Yakutat Bay & Hubbard Glacier

    29 juni, Verenigde Staten ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    We have been up to Yakutat Bay to Hubbard Glacier. Unfortunately, the weather was not good, so visibility was limited. At some stage during the morning, tour boats met up with the ship to take some guests (who had paid to do a tour) closer to the glacier. They dropped the guests ship-side a bit later on while the Westerdam held her position against strong currents.

    Paul was called to the Bridge to help out soon after we entered Yakutat Bay and eventually came off duty soon after lunch.

    The rain stopped now, and there is blue sky. Pity we hadn't had better weather earlier on! But it's nature.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Haines - walk to Battery Point

    30 juni, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We had a lovely walk this morning. Unfortunately, it was a fair walk to the start of the walking trail, but once on the path, it was worth the walk.

    At some stage, we lost the path. It disappeared at a pebble beach. Earlier, I had shown Paul an arrow to the path, but he felt we were OK because it was a well-worn path we were following, and maybe it ran parallel to the marked path. Um... in the end, we had to find a way through the bush to get to the marked path. It was a very steep uphill climb, but we did it. Another couple from the ship ended up following us because they didn't have a map with them to help guide them. Paul used organic maps on his mobile phone to keep track of where we were.

    The couple walked the rest of the way with us and back to the ship.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Juneau

    1 juli, Verenigde Staten ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Despite the rain, we decided to go for a walk today. Paul's feet were still feeling uncomfortable, but he managed.

    I admit that I don't like walking in the rain, even when wearing waterproof trousers and jacket. So I wasn't too much of a happy chappie for the first half of the walk. Later, the rain stopped, but by then, my walking shoes were soaked through and squelching as I walked. They were not as waterproof as they claimed to be! The walking shoes, being waterlogged, were heavy, but fortunately, most of the hike back was downhill.

    The town was heaving with people by the time we got there. There were 3 very large ships docked. We stopped by a shop selling ice cream and got some, and walked back to the ship eating it.

    Once back on the ship, we headed to the aft lido and sat in one of the Jacuzzis for about half an hour before getting showered and changed to go to the Canaletto restaurant for dinner.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier

    2 juli, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Paul got a call around 7am, requesting his assistance on the Bridge. It was raining and not a nice start for scenic cruising.

    Originally we had been scheduled to sail up Tracy Arm to North and South Sawyer Glaciers but the Captain had been advised by our Alaskan pilots that it was iced up and not passable so there was a change of plan overnight to head to Endicott Arm.

    I managed to find a seat in the Cow's Nest and was able to view the passing scenery and keep dry at the same time. The rain eased the further up Endicott Arm we went. We passed a very large ship, the Discovery Princess, making her way back down Endicott Arm. The ship had been at Dawes Glacier very early!

    Sometime after lunch, Paul came and joined me in the Crow's Nest. The scenery was beautiful but again it was raining at times.

    We are now heading to tomorrow's port of call, Wrangell. Originally, the Westerdam was going to dock there, but the town is preparing for a boat race. That means we will have to use tenders to get from ship to shore. Oh well... that's life.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Wrangell

    3 juli, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    We took a tender to the local harbour and walked into town.

    There was a shuttle bus, but we decided to walk as it wasn't too far. We avoided the town centre and followed other roads until we came to Mt Dewey trail head.

    Mt Dewey is a small conical hill that we walked up mainly via a boardwalk track to the top. On our descent, halfway down, we took a different path, which was gravel and came out at the airport road.

    We followed the road back towards town and diverted to walk around Volunteer Park Nature Trail. It was a pleasant walk with small information boards talking about the peat bogs and their environment al importance, and different plants. One of the plants is skunk cabbage, the leaves of which are huge and look like they are on steroids. It is one of the first plants to appear after winter, and bears eat it after coming out of hibernation.

    We discovered we weren't the only people walking around Volunteer Park - we kept bumping into another couple from the ship who had also walked up Mt Dewey.

    We eventually rejoined the main road into town and walked along the main street. Town was busy with locals preparing for festivities for tomorrow.

    We had thought about having fish and chips for a late lunch, but the price for a portion was sky-high: 30 USD. We didn't want to buy a fishing boat, just some fish! A little stall was selling burgers with a starting price of 15 USD.

    As much as we felt that we should support the local economy, our European bank balance would take a major hit if we had a meal in town so we decided against it and headed back to the harbour and ship.

    The hot tubs at the aft lido looked inviting, so we sat in one for about an hour and a half until the ship left Wrangell.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Price Rupert

    4 juli, Canada ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Today, we walked along the coastline to the Rushbrook Trail, which took us along a coastal path towards a seaplane port. We walked around Seal Cove Salt Marsh, which is a small restored salt mash lake. We then headed back towards the ship and town.

    We picked up a very nice ice cream at the local bakery, and as we ate it, we visited the Sunken Gardens, which was a small park like area with lots of plants.

    We headed out of town in the opposite direction to that which we had walked, and walked the Moresby Trail, a nice short walk around a small lake.

    Our route back was via an unpaved road next to the coastline and a railway line, back to the ship. There were a few arts and craft stalls near the ship in modified containers, so we had a brief look before heading back on board the Westerdam.

    This is our final port of call. Tomorrow is a sea day, and then we arrive back in Seattle. It has been a lovely few weeks so far.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam
    This lovely bust is near the Spa reception

    Sea day, heading towards Seattle

    5 juli, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    We have had a quiet day so far. Paul had to sort out his leaving paperwork for tomorrow, with the Crew Office) and print off our tickets, etc.

    It has become sunny outside, and the seas are calm. Whales are breaching near the ship, and guests are watching.

    Packing needs to be done, but we will do it after dinner this evening. I'm not looking forward to it!    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Waiting on the ship

    6 juli, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Paul went with the crew through immigration earlier this morning, and I've just been off, too. Port security allowed me back on the ship, and I left my luggage with them - Paul's was there too.

    We are now waiting until our transport arrives at around 11:45/12:00.

    This is a view of the terminal building from the ship's library while we wait.    Meer informatie

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  • Sailing: Volendam & Westerdam

    Our journey has ended.

    7 juli, Nederland ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    We arrived back in the Netherlands after an uneventful flight, which was delayed by about half an hour.

    At Schiphol International Airport, we took 3 trains to get Zoetermeer, where we are staying with Paul's mum.

    Admittedly, we are a bit jetlagged, so I think we might have to have an early night!    Meer informatie

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    7 juli 2025
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