Alaska Recap
As we disembarked in Vancouver from the MS Roald Amundsen after 12 days in Alaska, I was already feeling a little nostalgic and sad. Not that I wanted this trip to go on and on forever, I couldn’t anyway because I have other fish to fry, but I had gotten used to being surrounded by water, the (mostly) gentle sway while sleeping, and the stiff wind on deck. Sunrises at 4:30am.
Slow travel. There was something mesmerizing about seeing wilderness glide past. Green healthy spruce and hemlock forest coming down steep to the water line with an impossible shallow root system. Waterfalls. Inlets right and left. Snow capped mountains, initially sharp and majestic in the North, then slightly rounder as we headed South. Glaciers, ethereal deep blue, calving sounds deep under water rumbling traveling far. Ice crunching under the Zodiac’s bottom.
Wildlife not abundant at this early time of the season but more treasured because of that. Knowing though that it exists every minute of every day and night, even when unobserved by us humans. The excitement of a sighting, a gracious bald eagle, a whale, a curious seal. On the last evening a pod of dolphins right under our noses at the bow zipping around looking naturally happy.
The young science nerds in cargo pants on deck and in front of microscopes, hunched over laptops, entering data from collected water samples or cetacean sightings. Working on noble causes while following their obsessions and leading nomadic lives. Optimists who still believe that facts and science matter, that we will learn from this and what came before us.
There were many more mundane hours on the ship, time spent on photo editing, scrolling, googling, jacuzzi soaking, reading, laboring over food menu choices and which lecture programs to attend. Time did its usual bizarre thing: it marched on regardless, stretched and contracted. And here we are, closing the chapter titled Alaska 2026.
If you have not yet seen this uniquely wild part of the world, I’d say, make it happen. If you have a preconceived notion of all cruises being horribly cheesy, big, floating cities, you will be positively surprised at the number of alternative options out there. If you want more wildlife and warmer weather, go later in the season, but you will also have bigger crowds, plenty of mosquitos, and higher costs.
Me? I liked the ice and glacier piece the most, so if I’d go back, I’d even go further north.
However. Remember: beauty is everywhere.
Gliding through a fjord at sunset
Zodiac beach landing at William Henry Bay
Close to a glacier on Zodiac