Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17, 2009 (and later)

We took a bus from the airport in Seattle to meet our ship in Vancouver. We left port on Saturday evening and spent all day Sunday at sea, cruising from Vancouver northward along the coast of British Columbia. Many experienced travelers had warned us that any cruise along Alaska's Inside Passage will encounter cold, foggy, wet weather, so we all packed rain gear and lots of layers of warm clothes. We certainly appreciated our warm hats and gloves early in the mornings; with temperatures in the 40s, and especially when the ship was moving rapidly, it was quite brisk out on deck. However, we were lucky and enjoyed sunny skies every day of the trip!

Hint of things to come: Mt. Rainier visible on our arrival in Seattle	Hedges seem popular in Vancouver; this one hides a two-story house	Sunday at sea, amidships; looking past Mike toward the bow
Looking past Mar toward the stern	On deck on Sunday night	View of the bow from dockside, Ketchikan
Mike dockside below the bow, Skagway	Our group dockside, Skagway	Typically, three or four big ships docked per day in each town (that's ours to the left, in Skagway)