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Vancouver to Tokyo

September - October 2024
A 35-day adventure by Ali and Jeff Read more
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  • 28footprints
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  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 1

    Vancouver

    September 11, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    We arrived in Vancouver late this evening.
    Jeff learned last night that his Dad’s health was declining so he flew to Iowa when we left for Vancouver to spend a couple of days with him before joining us in Juneau, Alaska.
    Uneventful flight and what felt like about 20 checks of our passports.    Read more

  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 2

    Vancouver, Boarding the Silver Nova

    September 12, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    Nancy, Jim and I, after all waking up at 4:30am, decided to explore Vancouver a bit before boarding the Silver Nova,
    Jeff and I were in Vancouver in the mid-nineties after an Alaskan cruise and found the city to be quite gritty. It s seems like that has changed and the city has experienced quite a lot of waterfront
    upscaling. Having awakened so early, it seemed like we had had a full day by noon!
    We boarded the ship and headed straight to lunch and drinks as we had worked up a powerful thirst by then.
    We have always loved the Silversea ships, but the Silver Nova goes above and beyond. It is an environmentally friendly ship which has abandoned all use of plastics and many other similar items.
    It took the balance of the day to become familiar with the ship which holds about 700 passengers.
    An excellent dinner (salmon for me, we are in Alaska) and an early bedtime for 3 weary travelers.    Read more

  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 3

    Cruising the Inside Passage of Alaska

    September 13, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    We are having a lovely sea day to try to catch up with what the heck time it is!! Unfortunately, we
    put the clocks back another hour tonight so even though we managed to “sleep in” until 5:30am this morning, sounds like we’re back to 4:30am again tomorrow. The only thing fueling us right now is the amount of chocolates they put in the room-that might have to stop.
    We went to a very sobering lecture this morning on “how not to gain weight on a cruise”. All very obvious and reasonable and, if nothing else, it resulted in no one ordering dessert at lunch.
    Now I feel like I should go up to the jogging track and at least burn a few calories.
    A nice dinner concluded the day and we’ll be ready for Ketchikan tomorrow!    Read more

  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 4

    Ketchikan, Alaska

    September 14, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    Arrival in Ketchikan this morning! Pretty dreary and foggy, but we are at the tail end of the Alaska cruising season so not too surprising.
    There are mountainsides full of evergreens and misty clouds. It looks quite mystical.
    Ketchikan is also the salmon capital of the world and they said that at the height of the season,
    you can almost cross streams by walking on the backs of salmon swimming to spawn.
    Information about totem poles was the task for the day, but the real highlight was the all-you-can-eat crab feast. I wasn’t that interested until I tasted the crab and it was truly delicious,
    It was a typical day in Alaska in September-cold, warm, sunny, cloudy, rainy and windy.    Read more

  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 5

    Juneau, Alaska

    September 15, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 50 °F

    The excitement today was that Jeff joined us today, making 3 plane flights and an over night in Juneau to be sure he didn’t miss the ship.
    It poured rain all day so we decided to turn in our tickets for our outdoor adventure and enjoy being on the ship. This included multiple happy hours and some catching up.Read more

  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 6

    Skagway, Alaska

    September 16, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

    After the rain yesterday in Juneau, we arrived in Skagway on a beautiful morning with a rainbow like we’ve never seen before that not only had the typical colors, but the addition of violet and green!
    We took a three hour train ride on the White Pass and Yukon Railway which is a spectacular riders that goes up and up toward British Columbia.
    As we gazed out the window of our cozy train, heated by a wood stove, we saw a road across the gorge with traveling buses right next to this incredible drop off. We were extremely glad to be on the train instead which felt relatively safe in comparison.
    In any case, the views were magnificent and it made for an unforgettable morning here in Alaska.    Read more

  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 7

    Sitka, Alaska

    September 17, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    We had an absolutely gorgeous day in Sitka, Alaska today. Temperature of 60°, sunny and very picturesque. We are anchored in a large bay with 2 other smallish cruise ships (compared to 7 in Juneau). Jim, Nancy and Jeff went on an excursion about raptors while I stayed back with a little bit of a sore knee.
    Last night we had some excitement at 12:30am.
    The captain made an announcement that came into our suites-you always know those are the critical
    ones. Out of a deep sleep, my initial thought was that we were abandoning ship! I’m trying to remember where we get the life preservers and where our muster station is.
    False alarm on my part. He was letting us know that the Northern Lights were very prominent in the night sky, so we quickly went on the balcony (who cares how cold is was - well maybe a little),
    and it was spectacular! It’s not something you get to see every day!
    We finally took Jeff on a tour of the ship which is Silversea’s newest and he was blown away. I think
    the Nova is spoiling us for any other ship. It is beautiful. It is environmentally friendly (no single use plastics) and it runs on liquified natural gas.
    When we set sail, you don’t even realize it until you see that you’re moving. No sounds, no vibrations, no constant engine hum. It is pleasant just to be on the ship and enjoy all the amenities.
    Wr are enjoying this serene water today because tomorrow we head out into the open ocean where a gale force storm is predicted. I guess that’s the excitement of cruising. We have one more stop at Kodiak Island in Alaska before 7 days at sea before we arrive in Japan! We all love our sea days and relish the time we are able to spend without obligations such as cooking, laundry and cleaning the house (somebody does that for us-I’ll take it!!).    Read more

  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 8

    The Gulf of Alaska

    September 18, 2024, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌬 57 °F

    Today we are sailing through the Gulf of Alaska on our way to Kodiak Island. The Gulf of Alaska is known to be one of the roughest on earth. That kind of fact doesn’t seem too threatening when you book a year in advance. Then you’re on the ship one night on your way to dinner and you realized that they’ve drained the pool. That’s always an ominous sign. Today, our winds are going to be 40 knots and the seas will hopefully peak at 16’. Remarkably, it’s a bit rough, but not nearly what we have experienced on some of the older ships. I think the stabilizers are much more advanced for a smoother ride, Note: I’ll update later when the swells get bigger😊.
    As I’ve said before, we love our sea days and finding a little nook somewhere to read a book.
    There are great lectures on sea days. Today was a professor emeritus from the University of Hawaii who talked about the Pacific Ocean.
    It was a little concerning to count the number of volcanoes we are encountering through this voyage. We will hope for the best that none of them are irritated by our nearness and want their feelings to be known.
    The photo from Windy.com shows the storm we are heading into. We are still in the blue area (lesser waves) and are quickly going into the pink area where things will undoubtedly ramp up. Stay tuned…..    Read more

  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 9

    Kodiak, Alaska

    September 19, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    Wow! We are way up here in Alaska!!
    Kodiak is a fishing village that welcomes cruise ships in spring and fall when the ships that are either starting or ending their southern Alaska runs are repositioning their ships to Asia.
    We left the ship on a tender at 8:00am when it was just barely light. Temperature 49°.
    6000 people live in Kodiak proper. As I mentioned, fishing is the main source of work and income here. They fish for salmon, cod, halibut and Dungeness crab. Our guide has been fishing here for almost 50 years and had some very interesting stories about his own experiences as well as those of fishermen he knows. It’s an extremely dangerous occupation in these waters as the weather and the seas are quite unforgiving at times. One story he told was that the seas became quite rough on a crabbing boat. The crab traps are large and as the waves kept splashing onto the traps that were sitting on the boat, they froze and the traps became heavy and rolled the boat upside down.
    There is a monument downtown with all the names of the fishermen and fisherwoman from the town that have perished while fishing.
    In any case, it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed strolling through town on our last day on land ahead of 6 days at sea while traveling toward Japan.    Read more

  • Ali and Jeff CarithersVancouver to Tokyo
    Day 10

    At Sea

    September 20, 2024 ⋅ 🌬 50 °F

    Our first of 6 sea days as we head toward Japan.
    We are speeding through time zones, moving the clock back 1 hour every night. It won’t be long until we’re waking at 1:00am ready for breakfast! Sometime early next week we cross the international date line and lose a day (yay, we have 1 alcohol-free day on this trip!) which they promise to give back on the flight home from Tokyo.
    Today our enrichment lectures included the history of The Beach Boys, how the earth’s oceans affect us and AI. Between activities, napping and meals, we are exhausted!    Read more

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