| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 14 February 2005 |
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(Toyota lost two cars to the bottom of Glacier Bay trying to film a commercial on an iceberg.)
De Phillipo then talked about some of the animals. For example, between 1917 and 1952 there was actually a bounty on bald eagles because they were thought to be eating the salmon, but eventually someone figured out that they're really scavengers, and now they are very strongly protected. It's illegal to possess even a bald eagle feather.
As far as mammals go, there are forty-nine species in Alaska. Many are fur-bearing and De Phillipo noted that there is a different attitude toward wearing fur here than there is in the Lower Forty-Eight.
The moose is not prized for its fur, but can occasionally be seen along the roads in meadows which have been cleared for plowing snow into. There are also elk and Sitka black-tailed deer to be seen.
More 'exotic' are the whales (about which he would have a separate lecture) and the bears. The latter may be polar, black, or brown (of which the grizzly is one). The brown bear can be ten feet high and weigh 1500 pounds. The names 'black bear' and 'brown bear' are not accurate; either can be any color. The black bears are smaller, lack shoulder humps, and have curved claws for climbing trees. The brown bears are larger, do have shoulder humps, and have straight claws. They do not climb trees. So if you're being chased by a bear, climb a tree. If it follows you, it's a black bear.
Afterwards, we ran into David L, who was getting the position of the ship from his GPS (Global Positioning System). About noon we were at 50.62 degrees north, 127.14 degrees west.
We had lunch in the Horizon Court-it hardly seems worthwhile to spend the time to have a sit-down lunch in the regular dining room.
After lunch was more 'deck time': reading, writing, and watching the scenery.
At 2:30 PM was 'The Mysterious World of Whales,' with Dean De Phillipo. He started by saying there were seventy-nine different species of cetaceans. The word comes from 'cetus,' meaning large sea animal, and 'katos, ' meaning large sea monster. Sometimes this is accurate, sometimes it is not. The smallest porpoises are about thirty-nine inches long; the blue whale gets up to 110 feet, and can weigh 190 tons. But they all traded their fur for blubber (albeit as a species rather than as an individual). Their front legs became pectoral fins, and their nostrils migrated from the front of their heads to the back.
When watching for whales, look for blows first, then look for their backs. The best times are the hour or so before arriving in a port or bay, and the hour after leaving. Stay forward so you can see them earlier and go to whichever side of the ship they go to, and look shoreward since whales prefer the shallower areas.
There are two kinds of whales, the baleen whales (mystocetes) and the toothed whales (odontocetes). The former include gray whales, fin whales, right whales, and humpback whales. Right whales are almost extinct in the Northern Hemisphere, though not in the Southern Hemisphere. And humpbacks can be identified by the fact that they show a lot more tail when they surface than other species. Besides the difference in mouths (baleens have baleen plates, while toothed whales have teeth, obviously), baleen whales also have two blowholes to the odontocetes' one. Part of the mouth difference is also that mystocetes have a large lower jaw and a somewhat flat upper jaw, while odontocetes have a large upper jaw.
The odontocetes include sperm whales, beluga whales, and killer whales (orcas). The killer whale has a large dorsal fin and a smaller blow than other whales. While they are quite popular in SeaWorlds, aquaria, and such, their life expectancy in captivity is five and a half years, as opposed to sixty to ninety years in the wild. They live in matriarchal pods.
De Phillipo told us about a beluga whale that would follow their small boat and dart up to it when it stopped, then back off. When they went into the water to see what was happening, they saw that the whale was watching the propeller. When it stopped, she would dart up and nudge it to start it spinning again.
During this talk we could definitely feel the motion of the ship, and we could see the screen swinging back and forth. Mark thinks it was because the captain was trying to make up the time lost waiting for the fireworks.
We went to the 'Classical Concert,' which had a Baroque piece ( Baroque string quartets are mostly re-arrangements of pieces for larger groups) and a Classical piece (when things were actually be written for string quartet). The latter was by Franz Joseph Hayden, the 'Father of the String Quartet.' They then played the last presto from 'Divertimento #1' by Mozart, and the first movement from Dvorak's 'American String Quartet,' Opus 96. One of the musicians noted that although Dvorak was Czech, his two best-known pieces were both inspired by his time in the United States: the 'New World Symphony' and the 'American String Quartet.' When they switched to the less-than-classical 'It Had to Be You,' we left.
This was our first formal night (preceded by the Captain's cocktail party, which we skipped). Mark wore a dark blue jacket and tie; I wore a tuxedo. David G also wore a tuxedo, but Dad and David L did not. Nor did most of the other men; I would guess that maybe ten percent of the men had tuxedos.
I'm not going to type in every night's menu, but just to give you an idea, here's what the choices were this night:
Appetizers
A Symphony of Caviar
Grapefruit and Kiwi Dressed in a Mint-Raspberry Purée
Crab Quiche with a Jalapeño Chili Sauce
Soups
Capon Broth with Meat Tortellini and Minced Chives
Lobster Bisque with Shrimp Flavored with Cognac
Chilled Yogurt and Tamarind Soup Sprinkled with Grated Lemon Rind
Salad
Arugula, Radicchio, Belgian Endive and Butter Lettuce
Pasta
Fettuccine all'Alfredo
Entrées
Fresh Red King Salmon and Dilled Cucumber Salad
Louisiana Crayfish Tails in a Saffron Tomato Sauce
Rock Cornish Hen Forestière
Tournedos of Beef Tenderloin
Desserts
Frozen Drambuie and Coconut Semifreddo
Hazelnut Chocolate Soufflé with Armagnac Cream
Caramelized Puff Pastry Pear Tart
Orange Sorbet
Vanilla Ice Cream
Strawberry Ice Cream
Assorted International Cheese and Crackers
Gourmandises
I had the caviar (golden, salmon, and Sevruga), the chilled yogurt soup, the crayfish, birthday cake, and coffee. The birthday cake was for David L's fiftieth birthday (which was actually July 1).
Afterwards we went back to the room to work on a puzzle Dad had given everyone, and ended up arriving at the show ('Odyssea') after it had started. It looked like all the seats were full, and it was too dark to try to seek out seats, so we went back to the room, changed, and went out on deck. When the show got over, Mom and Sherry said it was really good and we should see it, so we went back to the room, changed back into our formal wear, and went to the 10:15 PM show with them. The Chinese acrobats were reasonably good, and the dances okay, but the songs were mediocre. Mom said it was much better than the shows on her previous cruise (on Royal Caribbean).
Before going to bed we set our watches and computers back an hour because we were sailing from Pacific Time to Alaska Time.
July 28 (56N, 132W, sunrise 4:45 ADT, sunset 8:58 ADT): We docked at 6:45 AM in Ketchikan, 'The Salmon Capital of the World.' Well, it was at one time, though I don't think it is anymore. The sign proclaiming this remains over the main street, however.
We were on deck to watch the docking, then went back to the cabin to write until 7:30 AM when we met Mom and Dad for breakfast. David G and Sherry had to eat earlier because their kayaking trip left at 8 AM. And it's difficult to sync up with David L and Susan because of the children.
Ketchikan is also the Rain Capital of the World, or close to it. It gets 112 inches of rain a year, and has only 40 days of sunshine. It was sprinkling a bit while we were docking, and raining during breakfast. When we left the ship, it wasn't raining but we went prepared anyway.
We picked up a walking tour map at the visitors information bureau on the dock. This described a three-hour walking tour of Ketchikan, which pretty much covered everything. (Ketchikan is described as 'five miles long, four blocks wide, and two miles up the mountain.') There is a native village that can be visited two and a half miles south of town, and Totem Bight State Park ten miles north, but we were in port for such a short time it didn't seem worthwhile to try to get there.
We started walking past tourist shops, with the occasional real store (e.g., drugstore, grocery) thrown in. There are several totem poles throughout the town, including the Chief Kyan pole (a 1993 replica of a 1885 pole), 'Raven Stealing the Sun,' and 'Thundering Wings' by Nathan Jackson. (The name Ketchikan comes from 'Keech Ka Xa haan' or 'wings spread over.')
We walked along the Thomas Basin. It is now dredged and serves as a harbor for all the small boats, but it was originally tidal flats and served as the town's baseball field. Many is the game that had to be called when the tide came in!
It was about at this point that we realized that the 'cash-free' environment on the ship had taken us over to such an extent that we had forgotten to bring any money! Luckily we realized this early on, and made a quick trip back to the ship to get our money out of the room safe.
By the time we started again, so did the rain. It wasn't heavy, just annoying. We walked up to the Totem Heritage Center, which is a relatively small exhibit of totem poles. There is someone explaining them, though. There are five types: mortuary poles (where the ashes of the deceased are placed in hole in back), memorial poles (these replaced mortuary poles after the missionaries pressured the Indians to stop cremating their dead), heraldic poles, potlatch poles, and heritage poles (showing a chief's lineage).
The woman explaining the poles was saying that she would be going to a potlatch soon, for the moving of her uncle's headstone. In answer to someone's question, she said that Tlingit potlatches have pretty much constant eating (like cruise ships?), but that Haida potlatches have distinct meals.
After this we went to the Deer Mountain Tribal Fish Hatchery (on a joint ticket with the Heritage Center for US$5 each). We learned about how the fish leaving the hatchery are tagged with a 1mm tag containing coded information. The adipose fin is also removed, and if someone catches a fish missing the adipose fin, they must return the head with information about where and when it was caught, so that the hatchery can track its success.
As far as the hatchery itself, salmon are caught coming upstream by means of a barricade across the river that shunts them to the hatchery. The salmon are killed to get the eggs and sperm, but they would die anyway after they spawn, and the salmon are eaten by local people. The steelhead trout have the eggs or sperm squeezed out of then, then are released, since they can breed for several seasons. The eggs and sperm are then mixed by hand, keeping the batches separate to guarantee genetic diversity.
The resulting fertilized eggs are put in holding tanks until they are old enough to release into the creek. They have a ninety percent survival rate of eggs to smolts, versus four to ten percent in wild. After they are released, however, there are still dangers, and only five to seven percent of the salmon return to spawn.
Odd note: The Tribal Fish Hatchery Cafe sells bagels.
We left the hatchery and the rain let up, giving way to glorious sunshine-amazing for Ketchikan. We walked down to Creek Street: 'the only place where both fish and fishermen go upstream to spawn. |
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| Copyright © - "Evelyn C. Leeper" |
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