Alaska Photojournal – Coral Princess + DIY Land Tour May 28 – June 9, 2014

[AryMay]

Some close ups of Lamplugh Glacier. According to the Captain's log, we arrived at the Lamplugh Glacier at 9:05 a.m.

 

 

 

Do you see the eagle?

 

 

The dirty layers made this glacier particularly interesting, I thought.

 

 

It was fun to use our imaginations to try and figure out what we thought the icebergs looked like.

 

 

Looking back from where we came.

 

Edited June 25, 2014 by AryMay

[AryMay]

A waterfall as we sailed further into Glacier Bay.

 

 

Although we were getting close to the inlet for Johns Hopkins Glacier, we could not see it at first.

 

 

The Topeka Glacier...a terrestrial glacier (one that does not come down into the water)l...was visible on the side of the mountain.

 

 

Finally we could look up the inlet and see the Johns Hopkins glacier. (Note: I think this was the photo I used in the first post of this thread that has gotten deleted.)

 

 

Some closer views...

 

 

[1153rsmith]

AryMay, how quickly does your Canon recover to allow you to take another picture? I am currently using a Nikon DSLR and I can take pictures much quicker than I could using a Fuji point and shoot I had.

 

I love the zoom capabilities on your camera. If I have done the conversion correctly, I would need a 1200 mm lense to duplicate what you can do with the 50x zoom.

 

Your pictures are great.

[AryMay]

The debris that is evident in the dark bands of the glacier was also apparent in the icebergs that were floating by.

 

 

Eagle!

 

 

As the Coral Princess was headed into Glacier Bay, the Norwegian Pearl was headed out...and that would be it for the day. Only two cruise ships per day are allowed into Glacier Bay.

 

In case you are interested...here is a link to a website that lists the 2014 Alaska cruise ship schedules by port. Alaska Cruise Ship Calendar.

 

Since there has been some discussion on this review about cameras, I thought I would post three photos that I took of the Pearl...all were done at the same time. This will give you an idea of what a camera with a good zoom can do. I have been getting some very nice comments on how "good" my photos are when I think the big difference is really just that mine are close up. Some of the wildlife that I have photographed were barely visible with the naked eye, but with a long zoom the pictures can be somewhat impressive!

 

 

 

[AryMay]

AryMay, how quickly does your Canon recover to allow you to take another picture? I am currently using a Nikon DSLR and I can take pictures much quicker than I could using a Fuji point and shoot I had.

 

I love the zoom capabilities on your camera. If I have done the conversion correctly, I would need a 1200 mm lense to duplicate what you can do with the 50x zoom.

 

Your pictures are great.

 

Thanks for the compliment...but if you want a technical answer...maybe you can find out online. ;) In my opinion it seems to take awhile to recover. Using the sport setting where the camera would do rapid shots in succession was where I got the most frustrated...and especially taking whale photos.

 

I would start shooting too soon, and then just about the time the whale would flip his tale, my camera would stop to write to the card and then take FOREVER before it was ready to go again. I missed some really good shots that way. It didn't seem to be such a big factor if I was just taking one shot at a time.

 

It is actually a little humorous to me to be giving ANY type of camera or photography advice. I am illiterate when it comes to photography and 99% of my shots were taken using the AUTO setting. The camera does the focusing and all I do is aim and push the button. I just took thousands of photos...kept the good ones and deleted the bad.

 

I probably should take a class or something, but I don't want to concentrate so much on getting a photo that I miss enjoying the moment. My photos are my souvenirs...heavens knows there wasn't room to bring back much else in my overloaded luggage! :eek:

[1153rsmith]

99% of my shots were taken using the AUTO setting. The camera does the focusing and all I do is aim and push the button. I just took thousands of photos...kept the good ones and deleted the bad.

 

I probably should take a class or something, but I don't want to concentrate so much on getting a photo that I miss enjoying the moment. My photos are my souvenirs...heavens knows there wasn't room to bring back much else in my overloaded luggage! :eek:

 

It sounds like your approach to picture taking is much the same as mine. I go for quantity and pray I get quality on enough of them.

 

That being said, you do have a good eye and a gift for composing great shots. I have actually swiped a couple and have them set as backgrounds on my computers for inspiration to get ready for our trip.

[1153rsmith]

It does sound like you experience some of the shutter lag that I experienced with my Fuji and what caused me to make the jump to a DSLR. I may just have to reach as far as my lens will let me and do the rest with the computer. As long as a photo is not out of focus, it is amazing what you can do with a computer. Just about the only thing I can't fix with my software is out of focus.

[AryMay]

Goodbye, Pearl!

 

 

The Coral getting close to the "big one"...Margerie Glacier.

 

 

 

This is Laurel's map...looks like Kent was jotting down some of the "facts" he was hearing from the park rangers on the TV. (Math teachers do that sort of thing...we like all kinds of numbers.)

 

 

Looking straight on at Margerie

 

 

Although we didn't get to see any huge calving...we did see several smaller events. The sounds of the glacier were intriguing...sometimes we could hear what sounded like rumbling thunder...other times it was like gunshots. I do wish people would have been a little quieter...both on their balconies near ours and also when we were up on deck. Their talking prevented themselves and others around them from hearing the glacier "talk".

 

[AryMay]

Margerie...up close.

 

 

 

 

The birds went crazy when the captain started turning the ship around. The thrusters must stir up yummy things in the water for them to eat.

 

 

 

When the ship turned so that the starboard side could view the glacier, we walked around to some of the outer decks to watch. This reflection picture is my attempt at a creative photo...

 

Edited June 25, 2014 by AryMay

[tlcoke]

I would be curious to know what caused this distinct change in color in the water.

 

 

 

Not sure this is the cause, but on other threads I have seen pictures similar to this and they said it was from Silty glacier fed water meeting with the sea water

 

Great Review and pictures. I have purchased the FZ200 for my trip in August. I have watched the Graham Houghton videos and downloaded his new book an plan to tweak my setting for the trip. I hope I get photos as great as yours and your friends images.

 

I am also glad you ignored the heckler - I much prefer the more detailed with lots of photographs style trip reports over the shorter less detailed ones.

Edited June 25, 2014 by tlcoke

[AryMay]

From the back of deck 11 (Baja deck where our cabin was located) we watched Margerie Glacier fade into the distance as the Coral turned around and headed out of Glacier Bay at 11:35 a.m. (I forgot to mention earlier that we arrived at Margerie at 10:40 a.m.)

 

 

 

As we left, the park ranger announced that the captain had spotted a grizzly bear on the shore. Even zooming all the way on the tiny speck, it was impossible to tell what it was with my camera. Laurel's camera had a sharper image and with a lot of cropping on the computer...it is still little...but it does look like a bear!

 

 

 

The Horizon Court on the Coral Princess wraps all the way around the front of the ship and judging from the crowds when we went to lunch, must be a pretty popular place to view Glacier Bay. There was no place to sit so we watched until we saw a group preparing to leave and then we pounced on their table. Sitting at the window gave us a good view, but it was so HOT with the sun coming in. After nourishing our bodies, we went back to the solitude of our balcony.

 

 

[AryMay]

Besides the tiny bear...here are some more of our wildlife sightings during the day in Glacier Bay:

 

An eagle...with a small fish (Laurel's photo).

 

 

Numerous sea otters.

 

 

And harbour seals...I think. I believe we might have also seen whales, but I have no photos so can't prove it.

 

 

At 2:55 pm a boat pulled up to the Coral and the National Park Rangers disembarked and headed back to their station at Bartlett Cove.

 

 

 

[AryMay]

Before I finish out the day in Glacier Bay, I wanted to mention the book that I bought. During the morning, the rangers had an information desk set up by the Lotus Pool (the indoor pool) and were there to answer questions. They also had numerous books available for purchase.

 

Laurel bought the Glacier Bay National Park book (she always buys the National Park books from each park they visit), but we also each bought a kid's book called "Once Upon Alaska".

 

 

The book was autographed by the photographer, Mark Kelley, and included amazing photographs from Alaska with cute verses written by Nick Jans.

 

 

It cost $15, but I also see that it is available on Amazon for $11.93. It is a darling book. I am looking forward to reading it to my grandkids and showing them what Grandma saw in Alaska!

 

That evening was formal night. We were each celebrating wedding anniversaries on this cruise...ours was the 37th and I think Kent & Laurel's was the 35th. Princess had decorated our doors with a sign and given us a card to present to the waiters in the dining room to get a special dessert. I'm sure Alaskan cruises are often booked to celebrate special milestones in life.

 

 

 

 

The evening entertainment was not a big production show as I usually associate with formal nights. Instead there were two different performers...both "reruns" of entertainment offered earlier in the week.

 

At 8:15 we watched a ventriloquist, Dan Horn, perform with his dummies in the Universe Lounge at the back of the ship. He was actually pretty funny! From there we went to the Princess Lounge for the 9:45 performance of Duncan Tuck. I would describe his show as musical humor. His music talent seemed to be a bit stronger than his humor however.

 

I want to throw in a side note here so I don't forget later on...

 

At the end of the cruise we took a private shuttle from Whittier to Anchorage and Duncan Tuck's wife was one of the nine people on our shuttle. She was very friendly and I enjoyed chatting with her on the drive. Both she and Duncan were flying home to Arizona, but not on the same flight. She said she joins him about half the time he is entertaining on cruise ships.

 

Hmmmm...wonder if there is anyway I could get Bob to find a job on a cruise ship...;)

 

Coming up next...College Fjord and our last day on the ship.

 

Edited June 25, 2014 by AryMay

[mapleleaves]

Seeing the last photos with Bartlett Cove reminded me of a weekend trip we took to Glacier Bay Lodge several years ago. We took the day cruise from the Lodge; it was incredible to be on a small boat in front of the glacier, bobbing in the waves after a calving. We saw bear, deer, whales, bald eagles, seals. On the afternoon we arrived at the Lodge we took a walk along Bartlett Cove and a whale was feeding just feet off shore. The flight into Gustavus from Juneau was also wonderful. A great 3 day visit all around. I highly recommend it.

[Parrottdizes]

Love your review of your cruise! Seeing all of your photos makes me want to leave right away for our cruise.........can hardly wait.

Am enjoying all of the photos, you did a good job. Just how many photos did you take? I have 2 8G cards.......starting to worry that, that won't be enough. :eek:

Thanks for sharing your cruise with all of us.

[goblue]

AryMay,

 

Really enjoy your post and the wonderful pictures.

 

I have a question for you:

 

I noticed that you and your hubby were always 'bundled up' on the balcony and sometimes with gloves/caps. We'll be on Island in early September and I'm wondering what clothes I need to bring ?? I read it has to be layers.

Do I need my ear muff or scarf ? 50's is COLD in Florida standard..

Also, should I prepare a wind breaker or rain coat for DH ? We donated our old winter stuff to Salvation Army before we moved down many years ago.

 

Also did your hubby bring a suit/jacket for the formal nights ? I'm trying to 'minimize' the # of suitcases we will bring (I can hear ka-ching ka-ching when I pay the luggage fee :().

 

Thank you.

[grammyprf]

Thanks for sharing your amazing journey thru Alaska. Our 1st Alaska cruise isn't until August 2015...can't wait!

[JimAOk1945]

I enjoyed your review and pictures. We have been on two Alaska cruises and plan to go back again. It's one place we will never tire of!

 

Thanks!

[AryMay]

Seeing the last photos with Bartlett Cove reminded me of a weekend trip we took to Glacier Bay Lodge several years ago. We took the day cruise from the Lodge; it was incredible to be on a small boat in front of the glacier, bobbing in the waves after a calving. We saw bear, deer, whales, bald eagles, seals. On the afternoon we arrived at the Lodge we took a walk along Bartlett Cove and a whale was feeding just feet off shore. The flight into Gustavus from Juneau was also wonderful. A great 3 day visit all around. I highly recommend it.

 

That sounds like an amazing weekend! I can just imagine how impressive the glacier must be when you are LOOKING UP at it! You also really hit the jackpot with the wildlife you saw!

[AryMay]

Love your review of your cruise! Seeing all of your photos makes me want to leave right away for our cruise.........can hardly wait.

Am enjoying all of the photos, you did a good job. Just how many photos did you take? I have 2 8G cards.......starting to worry that, that won't be enough. :eek:

Thanks for sharing your cruise with all of us.

 

Would you believe I took about 3500 photos plus a few videos?!

 

I had two 16 GB cards for my bigger camera, another 16 GB card for my waterproof camera and a 4 GB card for the small camera I carry around the ship. I also used my iPhone to take a few photos and videos. I liked the "panorama" feature that the phone has.

 

I didn't fill any of the cards, but did change to the second card mid-trip on my big camera. I always worry that if something goes wrong or I lose my camera then ALL of my photos would be gone if they were all on one card.

 

I bought several of the memory cards last year during Walmart's Black Friday sale. I am old enough to remember how much I spent on film and developing so memory cards seem quite cheap to me.

 

Just this week I picked up another 8 GB memory card and two 8 GB flash drives that were on sale. We have a new blu-ray player so I have been putting my photos onto a flash drive and then watching them on our TV. All of my "keeper" photos will fit (just barely) onto one of the 8 GB flash drives. The photos look really amazing on the TV and the blu-ray player will even start a music CD automatically to go with the slides!

 

My only frustration (and I mentioned this before) is trying to get the photos in chronological order...but I am working on it!

[Alaska0799]

Thanks for the compliment...but if you want a technical answer...maybe you can find out online. ;) In my opinion it seems to take awhile to recover. Using the sport setting where the camera would do rapid shots in succession was where I got the most frustrated...and especially taking whale photos.

 

I would start shooting too soon, and then just about the time the whale would flip his tale, my camera would stop to write to the card and then take FOREVER before it was ready to go again. I missed some really good shots that way. It didn't seem to be such a big factor if I was just taking one shot at a time.

 

It is actually a little humorous to me to be giving ANY type of camera or photography advice. I am illiterate when it comes to photography and 99% of my shots were taken using the AUTO setting. The camera does the focusing and all I do is aim and push the button. I just took thousands of photos...kept the good ones and deleted the bad.

 

I probably should take a class or something, but I don't want to concentrate so much on getting a photo that I miss enjoying the moment. My photos are my souvenirs...heavens knows there wasn't room to bring back much else in my overloaded luggage! :eek:

 

First, I want to tell you how much we are enjoying your photo-journal, AryMay. (We've cruised on the Coral, on the southbound itinerary, and would love to repeat that trip!) Absolutely the best review we've ever enjoyed. You completely captured the FEEL of the experience. SO grateful for the time you've spent preparing the entries and the generosity of spirit that motivated you to share it all with us!

 

Wanted you to know your approach to photographing the wildlife and scenery precisely mirrors that of a professional, freelance wildlife photographer we know. His explanation for the awesome photographs he is able to shoot (and have published) is that he takes hundreds if not thousands of shots of his subjects. And he makes a living doing that! So, there you go!

[AryMay]

AryMay,

 

Really enjoy your post and the wonderful pictures.

 

I have a question for you:

 

I noticed that you and your hubby were always 'bundled up' on the balcony and sometimes with gloves/caps. We'll be on Island in early September and I'm wondering what clothes I need to bring ?? I read it has to be layers.

Do I need my ear muff or scarf ? 50's is COLD in Florida standard..

Also, should I prepare a wind breaker or rain coat for DH ? We donated our old winter stuff to Salvation Army before we moved down many years ago.

 

Also did your hubby bring a suit/jacket for the formal nights ? I'm trying to 'minimize' the # of suitcases we will bring (I can hear ka-ching ka-ching when I pay the luggage fee :().

 

Thank you.

 

Since this was our first trip to Alaska, I really don't know what the weather will be like in September. However...I would plan on it being chilly...especially when you are on an open deck or balcony. There's always that "wind chill" factor to worry about!

 

I can tell by looking at my photo on Glacier Bay day what I was wearing...two different long underwear tops (one was fleece); a down puffer jacket, and a waterproof/windproof jacket. I also had on rain/wind pants on over my jeans. For my head I had a stocking cap and my jacket hood. Sound like a lot, but I was very comfortable.

 

Most of the time I just wore a long or 3/4 sleeve top, a fleece jacket and then my waterproof jacket on top.

 

I would definitely recommend taking a stocking cap and gloves (the hat is good for warmth and to keep your hair from blowing all over). I took a scarf, but never had it on.

 

Having our waterproof jackets, waterproof pants, and waterproof hiking shoes (with extra waterproof spray) made our day in Juneau much nicer . We were outside in the rain all day long and stayed perfectly dry. I also wore a ball cap under my hood and the brim helped keep the rain off my face.

 

Bob did not wear any kind of jacket or suit coat for formal nights...just a dress shirt & tie and he really didn't look out of place in the dining room. I wore a pair of black dress pants and sparkly tops.

 

We each checked one large piece of luggage and each carried on a small roller bag plus a backpack. Bob had room to spare, but not me. When we weighed my large bag in Anchorage before flying home it was 55.7 pounds! I had to shuffle some of my stuff over into Bob's bag to avoid paying the extra fee.

 

My packing mistake was in taking too many short sleeved shirts, shorts, & capris. Once we left Vancouver, I never wore any of those.

 

Hopefully this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions!!

[AryMay]

Wanted you to know your approach to photographing the wildlife and scenery precisely mirrors that of a professional, freelance wildlife photographer we know. His explanation for the awesome photographs he is able to shoot (and have published) is that he takes hundreds if not thousands of shots of his subjects. And he makes a living doing that! So, there you go!

 

Great idea...maybe wildlife photography could be a second career for me! ;) A postcard costs about 25 cents so if everyone sends me that much per photo...wait...just give me a minute while I get that totaled up, OK?

 

Please make checks out to: AryMay's Next Cruise Foundation :)

 

Just kidding...so glad you are enjoying the review. Writing it gives me a good excuse to look at my photos...and avoid housework.

[Alaska0799]

Great idea...maybe wildlife photography could be a second career for me! ;) A postcard costs about 25 cents so if everyone sends me that much per photo...wait...just give me a minute while I get that totaled up, OK?

 

Please make checks out to: AryMay's Next Cruise Foundation :)

 

Just kidding...so glad you are enjoying the review. Writing it gives me a good excuse to look at my photos...and avoid housework.

 

Postcards would sell. How about calendars? Even better!

[fishin' musician]

Postcards would sell. How about calendars? Even better!

 

Pack your bags, it's time to head back up for the July shoot!