Leaving Seattle on a Cruise to Alaska

We often (especially on weekends) find the Seattle airport full of cruise passengers heading for one of the Alaska cruises that depart from the port of Seattle.  We finally decide to join them and sign on for a one week cruise to Alaska on the Discover Princess, a ship that carries 3,660 passengers and 1,346 crew on a 1,083 foot (330 meter) long vessel (19 decks, 1,830 staterooms).  We discover how many people are joining us as we stand in line with several thousand others for about an hour to go through the boarding process.

Line to get on

Once on board, the ship is large enough that we rarely feel crowded, except perhaps in the buffet at lunch with (once again) several thousand of our [new] closest friends all looking for food at the same time.

Central lobby

Before departure, we get great views of the Seattle skyline.

Seattle

Fishing ships in the port

Private craft in the harbor next door

We are one of three ships leaving today for Alaska and we periodically run across the other two as we wander through Alaska.  That's about 10,000 people heading toward Alaska from Seattle today (and comparable amounts heading up from Vancouver).

Other ships heading out to Alaska

We book a cabin on Deck 17 at the front of the ship (two decks above the bridge and looking straight ahead).  That offers us incredible views and great exercise up and down the stairs to the common areas and restaurants on Decks 6 and 7.  We depart Seattle and head up Puget Sound, with the Olympic Mountains (where we just hiked in our last few blogs) visible on the port side (left).

Viewing the Olympics

View forward from our cabin

We can't resist a few Alaska-appreciation moments with the local wildlife.

And, some recreation on the top deck.

Relaxing

We're looking forward to a new adventure and have a theme of glaciers to explore over the days of the cruise.

Along the Hood Canal (Dosewallips State Park and Hama Hama Oyster Company)

We follow the Hood Canal home from the Olympic National Park and National Forest.  The Hood Canal is a long, narrow fjord in Washington State that is one of the five main basins of Puget Sound.  With an average width of 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and a length of 220 miles (343 km), it separates the Kitsap Peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula.  The Hood Canal (and the rest of Puget Sound) was created about 13,000 years ago by the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet.  The canal has a large population of salmon and pods of killer whales.  We follow its shoreline for most of the north to south length, stopping twice along the way.

Our first stop is at Dosewallips State Park, a year-round camping park with five miles (8 km) of shoreline on the Hood Canal and the Dosewallips River.  Freshwater activities are found on the banks of the river and saltwater activities on the Hood Canal.  The park encourages visitors to bring fishing poles and shovels to collect freshwater or saltwater fish, clams, oysters, and crabs.

Discussion of the park ecosystem

Hood canal shoreline

Shellfish

Seasons

Looking back at the Olympic Mountains

Our next stop, a short ways down the road along the canal is the Hama Hama Oyster Company, a sixth-generation family-run shellfish farm.  Their beds are located at the mouth of one of the shortest, coldest, and least developed rivers in Washington State, giving a clean, crisp flavor to beach-grown Hama Hama Oysters and tumble-farmed Blue Pools.  They also source oysters from other locations in Washington State, including Sea Cows and Hove Coves from South Puget Sound.  We stop at the store to source some oysters for our dinner.

Oyster shells at Hama Hama

Oysters in Puget Sound

Dining area for eat in

We continue home with our newly acquired oysters and cook them on the grill for a fabulous dinner.

Oysters ready for grilling

On the grill

Served

Another great day of more exploration and a fabulous dinner with ingredients from our travels.

Staircase Rapids at Lake Cushman

Staircase Rapids is a beautiful 2.1 mile loop trail following the North Fork of the Skokomish River in Washington.  We get there by following the shore of Lake Cushman, a 4,015 acre (1625 hectare) reservoir providing power to the city of Tacoma from its dam.  The Staircase  is named from a cedar staircase built by Lt. O'Neil and his group of soldiers and scientists who in 1890 surveyed the watersheds of nine rivers by cutting a 5-foot wide trail across 93 miles of wilderness, including building the Staircase across a rock bluff that was a major obstacle.  The Staircase itself is long gone, but the name for the path remains.

The Staircase

Along the River

To the trail

Following the trail

First view of the rapids

Continuing along the trail

More rapids

Eventually, we reach a bridge over the rapids and get a few pictures of the flowing water.

Bridge

Rapids both ways

We follow the trail back and then wind along the shore of Lake Cushman back to civilization.

Along the trail back

Lake Cushman

People are starting to gather on the shore of the lake for evening/sunset swims, paddles, and parties.  We leave them to it and continue on our way home.