We had a pleasant evening leaving out of Bellingham, proceeding through the Canadian Gulf Islands past Vancouver BC.  This was capped off by a gorgeous sunset.

Cynthia and I have an interior cabin with no window, but at least it has its own toilet and shower.  I slept 10 hours, aided by the lulling vibrations of the ship and nearly complete darkness of the cabin, so say nothing of finally relaxing from all the work leading up to our departure.

The morning of August 7, started out quite misty/foggy.  But there were occasional sightings of orcas and humpback whales.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough photograph them.  Later it cleared up and we enjoyed the pleasant close up views of the islands and villages along these fjord-like channels.

We had to stop for about an hour just off Bela-Bela, British Columbia as it was necessary to offload to shore a passenger with a medical problem who was subsequently airlifted to Prince Rupert.  There was a pretty new moon just above the mountains to the west as we continued north.

Cynthia and I are about to set out on our major “adventure” of the year, a trailer camping trip through Alaska and return home through British Columbia. We’ll start by driving our Ford Flex, pulling our Jayco Skylark Trailer to Bellingham, Washington on August 6. There we will get on board the Alaska Ferry Kennicott for a 6:00 PM Departure for Alaska. We’ll stop on the way at Ketchikan (Aug. 8), Juneau  (Aug. 9) and Yakutat (Aug. 9), before finally disembarking at Whittier, Alaska at 6:00 AM on Aug. 11.

This is not a cruise, where you get to take shore excursions and see the glaciers up close, but we should get some great views of the Inside Passage on the way up, which we hope to share with you. However, we may not have internet connectivity until arriving at Whittier.

Looking forward, our trip plan is to spend Aug. 11-13 on the Kenai Peninsula, 14-16 around Anchorage and the Eagle River Nature Area, 17-20 in Denali National Park, and 21-23 in Fairbanks. After that, we will start our return trip home, heading down the Alaska Highway with a side trip to Haines and Skagway, Alaska. Instead of following the Alaska Highway to its southern end at Dawson Creek, BC, we will be heading though central British Columbia on the Cassiar Highway and plan to be home by September 2.