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| Capturing the “MS Eurodam” cruise ship for Holland America Line in Sitka, Alaska |
September 2, Seattle, Wash
Pier 91 boarding the 935-foot Eurodam destination through Puget Sound then a day at sea headed for Stephens Pass. The Eurodam does resemble a harbor cruise around Newport Harbor aboard a Duffy with food and drink at the next stop. The view leaving Puget Sound was breathtaking, similar to traveling past Lido Isle, Bay Island, and Harbor Island, but here we saw sea otters, orca, seaplanes, and the surrounding forest on the shoreline.
Once on board, we hit the first shift by meeting a couple from Newport Beach who had booked the double-corner cabana on the starboard side of the upper deck for the week. This was the gift from Neptune enlightening the perfect lane to our first mark, allowing us to book the port side double cabana with a 250-degree view for the remainder of the cruise. We completed the afternoon with a Jimmy Buffet playlist and an endless supply of painkillers and cheeseburgers in paradise. We met six different couples who stopped by for painkillers and cheeseburgers while toasting Buffet. Countless passengers came by just to listen to a Buffet song. Passengers wondered why a high-speed boat was circling the ship. From the starboard side just above the water line, a person jumped from the ship onto the pilot boat wearing a life belt, along with a type of hockey helmet, making a perfect two-point landing and then headed immediately below deck. These pilots have some series grapes!
September 3 - Sea Day
Heading into 20 knots of breeze at 20 knots of boat speed makes for some exciting wind across the deck. Pickleball on the aft deck was canceled and the cabana was a bit breezy. Yet, if you own it you better use it. We gave up on the cabana after a couple of hours and lunch; we put up the tri-sail and storm jib, retiring to the bow’s observatory lounge – the Crow’s Nest – for a two-hour reading session along with a couple of rounds of Yahtzee. I thought to myself this was much easier than the first two days of any of the Transpacs I have raced in, while climbing back in my bunk for a solid two-hour afternoon nap. The thought was that while aboard this vessel are we headed to a land we have no business being in…are we disturbing the land by traveling to a place on the Earth that was created for the few and nature? This thought had never crossed my mind while sailing or enjoying a sunset cruise on our harbor. But I was apprehensive about entering this new harbor.
September 4
We awoke in Stephens Passage with good visibility and drizzling rain; another day of no pickleball and questioning the cabana. Although cold, I still felt the cabana was paying dividends. At 1 p.m., we arrived in Juneau. I shifted to another layer of clothing and headed into the heated Crow’s Nest viewing lounge. On our arrival in Juneau, we headed directly to the Red Dog Saloon through its swinging doors and entered the year 1880. It was very similar to walking into the American Legion on our harbor, with overworked cocktail waitresses and bartenders nearing the end of the summer cruising season. The abrasiveness of the bar staff was entertaining. When I engaged the waitress, I brought up that I thought the description of liquor was funny described as Cheap Sh*t, Regular Sh*t, Expensive Sh*t, and Really Expensive Sh*t. I assumed Makers Mark is the Expensive Sh*t.” Her reply was, “You can read, most people can’t.” So, I said I would like a really expensive pour. She left with a “whatever” attitude which intrigued me even more. Then we were off to the excursion bus and the Mendenhall Glacier. While boarding the bus, we were entertained by our driver Bobcat. While blending in historic features, wildlife, and the lifestyle of the local people, he made a half-hour run to and from the glacier memorable.
After arriving back at port, I waited for everyone to leave the bus and asked him a few questions. How do locals feel about the cruise ships? “Here in Juneau, many of the year-round residents would prefer not to have them in port. But during COVID-19, many of these people realized just how important the port is to this city, and many of these people have changed their minds,” Bobcat said. Are they concerned about the environmental impact of the ships? “Some of the ships will discharge more black smoke than they should and I might overhear locals make mention of it from time to time,” Bobcat said. And I asked if there were issues with water quality from the ship due to waste, etc. He said there was not much concern about water quality with the amount of water flow from the huge tide they have.
I found some news articles online regarding the impacts of Alaska cruise ships. One thing that caught my eye was that the majority of Juneau residents would like to limit the number of ships. Although not on the same scale, I found similarities with the large charter boats in our harbor.
Part two will cover our visit to Glacier Bay and an interesting interview with a marine biologist/naturalist as well as information booth residents of Sitka, along with whoever I meet in Ketchikan.
Sea ya.
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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News
Newport
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