CRUISE



Osaka

JAPAN, EASTERN RUSSIA and ALASKA

April 20 -

May 10, 2008

Tokyo

From Vancouver we flew to Osaka, Japan to board the Holland America cruise ship the Statendam. This was a repositioning cruise and our final destination was Vancouver. This was Irene's first cruise and her sister, Lorraine, accompanied us.

We took shore excursions in Tokyo, Hakodate, Japan, Petropavlosk, Russia (Kamchatka Peninsula) and day stops in Kodiak, Alaska, Homer and Sitka with cruise up Glacier Bay National Park.

Petropavlosk, Russia

We started out with very rough seas from Osaka (Kobe) to Tokyo, but the ship was very stable. We had high wind in Petropavlosk where we were forced back to the dock and required 2 tug boats to manoeuvre it out to sea. There was some scrapes along the side of the ship which were repainted in Homer.

This was a trip of contrasts. Japan being very clean, modern and progressive, Russia - poor roads, housing and buildings not maintained. This is a forgotten part of Russia. The harbour is very protected with surreal scenery with volcanoes surrounding it.

We then went on to Kodiak, Homer and Sitka
- all surrounded by wild nature and mountains. Glacier Bay NP was unbelievable!! We had a clear, sunny and windless day where we could see for miles. We could hear and see the glaciers calving and sea birds flying in the long narrow fjord.

We dressed in layers as this was not a Caribbean cruise. Most days we had toques, mitts and hoods up to walk the deck, to stand on the bow and just to watch the world go by.

Sitka