Kicking off the sea mail from BEAR.

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day in San Francisco. The Navigator arrived yesterday morning in fog and rain, but the skies cleared shortly after our plane landed at 7:30 in the morning. Brad and I took a cab to our friends' home for some caffeine to wake us up and then took a nice walk from their house, through a bit of Golden Gate Park, to the de Young Museum to see the Birth of Impressionism exhibit on loan from Paris' Musee d'Orsay.

We boarded the ship with our friends in tow as visitors around 2:00 and headed up to La Verandah where Arlene, her mom, Gemma (from ROAR2), Ngaire, Ken, Pat & Ray were having lunch. Our friends and Gemma wished they were coming along, but had to disembark before the life boat drill.

The whole B&K group convened later in the Galileo Lounge for sailaway cocktails as we left San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge behind around 7 PM last night, later than scheduled but great timing for photos.

Sea day today as we cruise up the California and Oregon coast. Pooch games officially began this morning with a 2nd round going on as I type.

A few sailaway shots:


San Francisco skyline


Alcatraz


Golden Gate Bridge


Ngaire, Arlene and Pat


photo snapping passengers on deck

Thanks for starting the BEAR mail, Leslie. Love your pix. Keep them coming.

Hi Leslie! I am glad everyone is onboard and sailing! Thanks for posting the pictures, I loved them.

Bravo Leslie ! We can always count on you and Brad for great photos. So happy you're off to a perfect cruise...love your SF shots!

Beautiful sailaway! Thanks Leslie.

Hi Leslie!
Wish I was there!

Happy Sailing.

Great pixs have a wonderful trip :hello1: :hello1: :hello1: :hello1:

Every single day, each of you needs to have double the fun to make up for the Lurie's and the Webster's not getting to make that cruise!

Love the pix, Leslie, and wishing you a wonderful cruise! Been to SF many times but never sailed under the GG bridge!

Wish we were with you! Have fun.

Looks like a great start to a fun cruise to me! Keep having fun and please keep the BEAR Mail coming.

Beautiful pics!!! :app: Have a fabulous time, BEAR'ers!

It is wonderful to be back on board the Navigator. The refurbishments are very noticeable and have improved the ship immensely. The new outside grill area is significantly larger with new tables and chairs. There are some oval tables that work really well. This will be a huge hit on warm weather cruises. The entrance to Stars is very dramatic with the black granite. The new décor inside the bar is dramatic and with the exception of the black and white floral chairs I thought the look was sensational. I am now becoming used to the black and white chairs and will probably love them by the time I debark. The new fabrics and chairs in Compass Rose and Gallieos are an improvement. The Compass Rose chairs do not appear to be as heavy as those on the Mariner or Voyager, or perhaps I have just become used to them now. Prime 7 looks the same as it does on the other ships and is larger than I thought it would be.

Not seen the “duck tail” clearly yet, I do think it has improved the vibration but there is still a noticeable vibration in the aft. Again something you just get adjusted to when sailing.

So wonderful to see everyone. We all miss the Pam, Mark and Carol and Ralph who were going to be with us and toasted them on the first night. I have had dinner with Dennis, Jackie, Marty, Bobbi, Brad, Leslie and Scott and Niki so far, and this is probably the part of the cruises I enjoy the most. Having the chance to have a great meal and visit is always the highlight of a cruise for me and Ken. The food has been really good so far, last night in particular with perfectly cooked tenderloin and a generous helping of Lobster this after a wonderful leg of lamb lunch I was indeed a well fed and happy camper.

Yesterday we had our first pooch games and Pat scored a 136 point game. WOW. I am going to keep that as the high score on my pooch score sheets and we will see how long that record lasts. With the pooch master and pooch mistress on board I am sure they will be trying to knock Pat off her pooch throne but with a score like that it will not be easy. Yesterday was a chocolate tea and the room was packed. Ken and Sheila, Brad, Arlene, Pat and I formed a team and got 13 out of 15 correct and won Trivia yesterday. We have bragging rights until the next trivia session. Great start on the cruise with a win in trivia and a high game score in pooch.

The senior staff is a “dream team” for me with most of the people ones I have known for many years. It makes it so pleasant when you have people that you have such a wonderful relationship with, like coming home to family. We were talking to Franco and he was the Head of the Dining Room on our first ever Radisson cruise on the PG and this was before we went into the travel business, this was about 12 years ago. That is a long history. Captain John O’Neil, Franck (GM) and Florian (F&B), , Doug (Executive Concierge) Franco (Dining Room Manager) Lyn (Cruise Consultant) Carmen (Head of Reception) Steve (Security Officer) Paul (Cruise Director) a fantastic staff.

Rough sailing the first night due to swells but calmed down significantly last night. Ken and I are fine with ship movement in fact I sleep really well when the ship moves. We just worry about everyone else.

Today we are in Astoria. Rainy dismal day and most of the group are on a 7 hour excursion to Mt. St. Helens, Ken and I are taking a very short tour to a mansion with a high tea with scones. I am currently on a search for scones that are the “melt in your mouth New Zealand variety”. Been a long time since I have had truly great scones - may have to wait until November for the New Zealand cruise but still going to continue the effort to find that “perfect scone” in the meantime.

Be back later, we are truly loving being back on the Navigator

Good to hear from you, Ngaire. Have a wonderful cruise. I'm not sure about the upholstery in Stars either. As I was standing in line in Key West during our last cruise, waiting to show my passport, a fellow passenger said, Oh my gosh, you look just like the chairs! (So much for my new Tommy Bahama sundress! I'll never look at it the same way again.) Enjoy Alaska!

Kathy

I heard that the heavy chairs in CR on the Voyager (and I think they are the same on the Mariner)are being replaced. I haven't a clue about the time frame but I think everyone - passengers and staff - will be happy.

That is great news if it is true that the cumbersome chairs are to be replaced. They look beautiful and are comfortable to sit in. But they are murder on the crew because they are so difficult the maneuver around. They render a cheese cart mission impossible. Pat

Thanks for the sea mail, Ngaire -- you're on our favorite ship--at least it's our favorite when we're not on the Mariner. Tell Florian hello for us and we miss him. If you ever need something onboard--he's the man!

Another vote for Florian here, though I doubt he'd remember us! We sure remember him from being on Navigator one year ago.

Smooth sailing to you all and we look forward to more seamail!

Reporting in on our excursion to Mt. St. Helens, which was very interesting, but we never actually saw the crater due to the socked in conditions at the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

The drive from the pier took over two hours through lovely green Pacific Northwest scenery along the Columbia River and through a number of small towns before entering into the park. As we climbed through the park and the blast zone you could see some of the effects of the eruption - areas of ash, mud flows, tree stumps, a partially buried home, a demolished logging truck. The Weyerhauser Co. has replanted vast acreage of the area; signs appear periodically identifying which year a section was reseeded. In the restricted zone nature has been left to its own devices and it was very interesting to see how much that has come back over 30 years. The May National Geographic magazine has a good article on this.

Our guide was quite good; we learned all about geology, volcanoes and ecological recovery. He showed a documentary on the bus ride, "The Fire Below Us", which told the story leading up to the eruption and the days of the eruption along with retelling the experiences of some of the survivors (and victims) of the eruption. We made two stops - one at the park visitor center and finally one at the observatory before driving back to the ship. On the way back we learned a bit about the Lewis & Clark Expedition and were treated to another documentary about that.

This is what you WOULD see from inside the Johnston Ridge Observatory if you visited on a sunny day, rather than in the pouring rain:



Image courtesy of USDA Forest Service, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. by J. Quiring, USDA Forest Service, 1997

Astoria looked like a cute little town, probably charming on a nice day rather than a soggy one. They are very proud of being the setting for some films, particularly Steven Spielberg's "The Goonies." Our guide pointed out the Goonies' house along with some locations used for that memorable Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Kindergarten Cop.

Astoria is currently gearing up for the bicentennial of the town, after celebrating the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark expedition a few years ago. Our guide told us that politically they are currently debating the economic pros and cons of focusing on tourism vs. trying to bring log yards and other industry back to the town.

Besides the Mt. St. Helen's tour Regent offered a wide variety of shore excursions for such a small port, some more intriguing sounding than others. You could see Fort Stevens on foot, on a bicycle tour or on a haunted ghost walk or take tours of other historical sites. There was the opportunity to cross over to Washington to tour the the World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame and a Cranberry Museum. Also one could eat Tillamook Cheese, sip beer on on a tour of the Ale Trail or eat tea and scones at a Victorian home. And of course there was a tour of local film locations, including a shopping stop to buy "Goonies" gear.

Back on board the LCT trivia team narrowly missed a second consecutive win yesterday, coming in second. Trivia has been packed and I think today we will need to form a second team. The deck 6 Block Party was well attended.

Today is a sea day - we enter the Inside Passage and the weather is much brighter. On tap are a Spotlight on Food & Wine cooking demonstration followed by a presentation on "green" winemaking trends, a slot tournament and blackjack tournament in the casino, a tex-mex barbecue for lunch, a lecture about the Inside Passage, and most importantly the B&K cocktail party.

Tomorrow we arrive at Ketchikan so we are hoping the rain doesn't resume as forecast.

What a fabulous photo, Leslie!!

What an interesting report on this port stop, Leslie. I had no idea Astoria had that much to offer. Thanks so much for the update. Pat

Astoria is a really cute little town. Worth walking around if you are into victorian homes and artsy tourist shops. There is are a couple little local places to have a bite to eat that offer homemade things from scratch. We were there two weeks ago. There is a trolley from the dock that is $1.00 and you can walk along the river next to the tracks into the town.

BEAR Cruisers,

My best friend from high school is spending this summer in Juneau leading hiking tours. If anyone goes on a hiking excursion and has a 50-ish year old guide named Susan, it's likely she is my friend. Tell her, "Beth from NC says HI!!"

Hello from a BEAUTIFUL day in sunny Ketchikan. The day was a little overcast at first then the blue sky started to appear and the late morning it was clear and sunny. Quite warm. A fantastic day for this town.

We did a wonderful tour – a great boat ride on a calm as glass river, with mountains all round, saw waterfalls, bald eagles, and sunshine on the forests. Pulled up crab pots and then back to the lodge for an all you can eat “crab feast”. It was truly delicious, steaming hot crab right out of the pot and so sweet and tasty. Ken, Sheila, Kathy and Peter were with us and we had a fantastic time. 13” of crab shells piled up in the middle of our table. Right outside the window from our dining table was a humming bird feeder and three tiny hummingbirds kept coming to feed. They were so cute.

Ken needs to post some pictures soon, just always seem to be so busy.

Ken has run back into town we need some new pooch cards, mine have been played with so much they are wearing out. Time for some new packs!!! We had a great game day yesterday, with the last game being such a hoot I don’t know why we bothered to play. I scored 12 points, it is hard to play that bad if you trying to get a low score, obviously I was totally focused.

Last night we had our cocktail party and hosted dinners. All went well with such great hosts as Captain John O’Neil, Franck Galzy, Florian Kibgilka and Doug Pinkerton how could it not be great. A dream team on this ship. The six names drawn for the free cruise were Ken and Sheila, Dave and Judy, Rosemary and Ed, Scott and Nikki, Ray and Pat, Rod and Cynthia. Great new private area in Stars for cocktail parties now.

Tonight dinner with Leslie, Brad, Ken and Sheila, got to digest all this crab so I can be ready for another meal

a few shots from our Misty Fjords seaplane flight. We departed at 9:00 AM as the skies were just starting to clear.

Hi Leslie,
Wasn't it gorgeous? Did you do the ship's excursion or private? We did Island Wings with Michelle in '05 and voted it the best of all! Did you land?

Know you'll continue to have a great cruise!

Beautiful pics!

A FEW PHOTOS FROM BEAR:


Leaving San Francisco.


The Flavel House in Astoria, Oregon.


The Brown & Keene Cocktail Party. Rod, Ngaire, Nickie, Scott, Pat, Leslie.


Franck Picks the First Preliminary Winner for this Years Free Cruise.


Pat Picks Another Preliminary Winner.


A Bald Eagle Outside of Ketchikan, Alaska.


Our Guide Showing us the Difference Between a Male and Female Dunginess Crab.

A Humming Bird.


Ngaire, Kathy, & Sheila.




A Sunny Day in Ketchikan.


Check-out the 2nd Floor Window Street Side.


Here is a Closer Look. This was in Ketchikan on Memorial Day as we Walked by.


The Same Window as we Walked Back to the Navigator.

What an early morning treat to see these photo's :app: Loved the last two!

Sounds like everyone is having a great time.

Ngaire, we did that same excursion on MUSH and those crabs were soooooo good. Grew up on dungeness crabs and can't get them back here in VA.

Beautiful pictures Ken and Leslie.

I knew the minute that I read Ngaire's descriptions of the hummingbirds that one would be the subject for a Ken picture, and I wasn't disappointed. How much were the doggies in the window :) ?

Leslie, nice pictures of the flightseeing in Ketchikan. We also had decent weather, but more hazy because of fires at the time. I remember that the mountain lake landing was a highlight.

It must be nice to have a leisurely Alaskan cruise compared to the usual 7-day itinerary.

------------

Eugene

Wow, you guys had spectacular weather in Ketchikan! Love the photos and reports. :app:

LOL Eugene, I had the same thought about the "doggies in the window" Beautiful pics.
------------------
Helen

Wonderful photos and reports! Everyone clearly is having a great time. Leslie, we did that seaplane excursion last year to Misty Fiords. It is a memory to be treasured, as are several of the excursions from that trip. Good to hear that the weather is nice for the most part so that the excursions are going well.

Ken, my photos from Alaska last year have what I think are those same two dogs in the window in Ketchican! Too funny.

Continue to enjoy, everyone! Your posts are making me smile.

In a rush but just wanted to report another great weather day in Juneau. Started off overcast with patches of blue and the sun came out late morning. Very calm and not a raindrop in sight!

Went whale watching and a short walk in the Mendenhall Glacier area. Saw some whales but not as many as we had seen in the past. Back to the ship quick lunch and a walk through town and up the Juneau Tramway.

Have to get ready now for PRIME 7 tonight with Ken and Sheila and Kathy and Peter.

More later....

LOVE the pics and reports! :app: So glad the weather gods are smiling on y'all!

Trying to get a few photos uploaded before we pull out of Juneau.

Yesterday's parking place in Tracy Arm for the curry lunch at the Pool Grill:

Brad and I took the "Guide's Choice Adventure Hike" in the temperate rain forest near the Mendenhall Glacier. We had a group of six who were all up for a real hike. To actually reach the glacier is a 6 mile hike each way; we didn't have time to reach it and actually hike on the glacier, although we did hear plenty of helicopters making the trip. I think all in our little group plan to take the Worthington Glacier hike in Valdez where we will strap on our crampons and hit the ice.

some photos from the day:

Great pictures Leslie and Ken.

See you in Victoria next Tuesday afternoon.

We are on our way to Victoria today. They are forecasting 108 for Midland Texas this week, so we enjoy the cool of Canada.

Susan