June 29, 2006
Orchids, Macaws and Monkeys
Taken from yesterday's journal of the Pacific Explorer. The ship is currently on Day 6 of their Coast to Canal cruise, which travels from Panama to Costa Rica.
 Yesterday, we visited visit Golfo Dulce, which translates literally as “sweet gulf.” The eastern shores are protected by islands and peninsulas which form a perfect harbor within the gulf.
We spent time at Casa Orquídeas Botanical Gardens. This is a private botanical garden cultivated by long-time local residents Ron and Trudy McAllister.
The McAllisters have lovingly landscaped this homestead for over 20 years. They first planted fruit trees simply to survive. As self taught botanists, they have amassed a wonderful collection of tropical fruit trees, bromeliads, cycads, palms, heliconias, ornamental plants, and more than 100 varieties of orchids, where their garden gets it’s name.
Our naturalists led walks around this beautiful garden area. The walks involve general nature observation and appreciation of the exotic and native plants here in this wonderful place. All of the walks cover the same terrain and are rated as easy. There are benches around the garden for breaks. Some of our guests chose to explore Casa Orquideas on their own. While others relaxed onboard or took time to swim from the boat.
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Posted by Pacific Explorer on June 29, 2006
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June 26, 2006
13 Fascinating Wine Facts
 Who counted the number of bubbles in a bottle of Champagne?
1. In the Middle Ages, wine was used as currency.
2. There was a time when wine was frequently prescribed in the treatment of bronchitis and influenza.
3. It takes over 40 years before a Cork Oak produces cork suitable to use for wine stoppers.
4. There are approximately 50 million bubbles in a bottle of Champagne.
5. The pressure in a Champagne bottle is about 90 pounds per square inch about three times that in a car tire.
6. The longest recorded Champagne cork flight was 177 feet and 9 inches.
7. It takes about 600 to 800 grapes to produce a bottle of wine.
8. A healthy grapevine can produce about five bottles of wine per harvest.
9. Tannins come from contact with grape skins during fermentation, and also from oak aging.
10. Whereas time improves many red wines, it ruins most white wines.
11. Red wines usually become lighter in color as they age.
12. A purple tint at the edge of a red wine may indicate youth, while orange to brown indicates maturity.
13. "Good legs" (the teardrops that form when you swish a glass), may indicate a thicker body and a higher alcohol content and/or sweetness.
Mark Belanger, culinary trivia buff (check out his Nanaimo Bar post) is also the Technology Program Manager for Cruise West - which means that anytime you see Cruise West represented out on the web or through email, Mark was in some way involved. From time to time, he'll be unraveling the mysteries of the internet (and other assorted trivial facts about our cruises).
Of course, the best way to learn about the art of wine making is aboard one of our California Wine Country cruises!
Posted by Mark Belanger on June 26, 2006
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June 21, 2006
My Bering Sea- Part III
 After sailing from Diomede our next stop was Provideniya and Novoye Chaplino on Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula. Built during the height of the Cold War era, Provideniya was everything I ever imagined a communist city would look like. We sailed in under foggy conditions to what appeared to be a ghost town of cold concrete buildings lacking any frivolity in design or color. The city seemed so neglected with buildings in total disrepair and long forgotten by the far off government. They have a great little regional museum though. Our tour culminated at the Performing Arts Center, to be entertained by the children of Provideniya. To me it was as if all the color had been sucked out of the town and had been concentrated in the regional costumes the children were wearing, with brilliant plumage, rosy red cheeks and shy smiles they sang and danced for us.
We departed Provideniya in our transport vehicles to travel across the very bumpy tundra towards the Yupik village of Novoye Chaplino just a few miles away. I don’t believe these vehicles had shocks and sitting in the back seat I swear that my kidneys ended up somewhere near my ears! As we traveled north the weather began to improve and sun came out for a beautiful afternoon. A photo stop provided the opportunity to walk up a hillside for a shot of the sweeping mountains and tundra that greeted the chilly arctic waters. Looking down at the ground there was beauty in the starkness dotted by tiny flowers of heather and dwarf azaleas. The villagers greeted us and showed us around town. Drifting on the wind was a slightly putrid smell and I saw many a nose wiggle. We soon saw the source lying on the beach, the remains of a whale carcass that had been killed by the villagers in April. Whew!
As we were making our way back to the school gym we heard a rumbling sound getting louder and louder. I turned to see a Russian tank making its way into the center of town. I think we were all a little shell-shocked at first, thinking uh oh, what did we do? What will we do? We are in Russia, how do we get out of this situation? You could have heard a pin drop we were all so quiet and then a sigh of relief when it was explained to us that the two not so friendly looking occupants just wanted to get a look at us. We were as much a curiosity to them as they were to us! One of the guests, eleven-year-old Kevin was a huge military buff and his dad asked our guide if they could look at the tank close up. After translating a few of us were invited to climb aboard to look around. The next thing we knew we felt the gears shift and we were tearing across the tundra on the top of a Russian tank! The rush of adrenalin had our hearts beating fast as we crossed creeks and permafrost on our ride it was exhilarating if not a little bit terrifying. I was sitting next to Cruise West President and CEO Jeff Krida and we kept looking at each other and asking can you believe this? When we came to a stop we all slid off the tank wearing perma-grins and still reeling.
Our day was winding to end, but not before the community came together to dance for us, and show off the strength challenges they compete in at the annual Eskimo Olympics. We were welcomed with tea, cookies and traditional subsistence foods to sample. I was brave enough to taste the boiled walrus meat and native plants, but I just couldn’t stomach the raw sea urchin! I have been forever changed for having traveled to these communities and interacting with the people who live there and I am thankful for the chance to make a childhood dream a reality.
Karen Kuest is one of our Product Managers for the US Fleet. She manages several our of West Coast itineraries, so if you've traveled with us to Alaska, British Columbia, Columbia & Snake Rivers, Karen ultimately planned your trip. Karen got her start in the travel business behind the wheel of a motorcoach in Alaska. A woman of many talents, Karen can change a tire, route a ship or narrate on the migratory patterns of the tufted puffin with the best of them!
Posted by Karen Kuest on June 21, 2006
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June 19, 2006
Our Bear Cares on the Columbia River
 Friday I visited the Union Gospel Mission in Pasco. I had prearranged to meet my contact for the past year, Mark Heritage. The building, which is the old telephone company building, is clean and swept-up, but tightly secured so we had to ring a bell to be let in. We received a tour of the women's/children's shelter and the store rooms of donated clothes and supplies. We met the children you see in the first picture who, in this case, have been staying at the shelter. All the migrant workers staying there had their children out in the fields with them that day. The second picture shows the playroom for the children and the third picture shows some of the donations the workers can  take from. There are three woman from a local church who have come every week to sort donations for the past 10 years. If donations come in dirty they take them home and launder them.
We learned that the majority of the migrant families are either Hispanic or Russian, with the Russian families having many children - up to 18! They come to the mission to get clothes, personal hygiene supplies and to take a shower. During the school year, they drop their kids off there to eat and shower and a bus picks them up and transports them to school.
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Posted by Gail Manahan on June 19, 2006
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June 16, 2006
Nenana Fire Jumpers
A little background, Chris Tomsen is a retired Army Major and still uses a lot of military lingo. There was a forest fire between Fairbanks and Denali National Park that shut down the highway. We were able to work with one of our vendors, Alaska Timberline Aviation, and it's Owner/Pilot, Roger Fischer, to air-vac our 8 guests around the fire and into Denali. This is a GREAT testament to what we, at Cruise West can do to make the guest experience a great one in less than ideal circumstances. Chris & Ed did a FANTASTIC job! C hris had one guest who was very nervous about flying in such a small plane so he gave her his Audubon Society Ptarmigan with accurate bird call when squeezed, hence TEAM PTARMIGAN!
 My eight guests (Team Ptarmigan) told me that Cruise West should use them for positive testimonials for their great adventure experience with the "Nenana Fire Jump" with Roger at Timberline Aviation (maybe we should make some Nenana Fire Jumper shirts?). They were totally impressed with the speed Cruise West organized a plan to bypass the Nenana fire blockade (less than an hour).
When you conveyed the message that we could "go airborne" we rolled the bus back up to the roadblock and quickly passed through. Since the fire line was about six miles down the road (a state trooper had blocked us previously at mile 298) and we only needed to go a mile to the municipal airfield, I was able to persuade the NCO manning the roadblock to let us slip through (Ed thought my 'Ranger Assn-Life' card might help). We left three fully loaded Princess tour busses sitting behind the barricade watching us drive on! At the airfield, it only took 6 minutes for the team of 8 guests to reconfigure, select critical items. Roger was right on time with his High Wing JetProp - like Sky King to the rescue, coming down skirting the column of smoke from the 12 mile long fire. In less than 10 minutes the guests (Team Ptarmigan) were airborne, jumping the fire and flying into the Alaska Range to Denali (Healy airstrip). It was only an 18 minute flight for us, but an impenetrable wall for 99% of tourists in campers, busses waiting on the fire.
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Posted by Andy Compton on June 16, 2006
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June 14, 2006
My Bering Sea-Part II
 In June of 2003, I was back in the Bering Sea this time sailing from Nome to Anchorage. Again, I was going to be visiting places that just boggled my mind. I grew up towards the end of the Cold War era and I remember the abject terror that was struck into every Americans mind of the thought of a nuclear war. Growing up on the west coast of Washington State I was aware of the fact that geographically there are only a few miles separating the United States from Russia and that there were listening devices and missiles pointed at us just waiting for the signal. Mine was part of the collective sigh of relief when Gorbachev came to power and we saw the melting of the Cold War fear. Now I was going to be there.
There being Little Diomede, whose inhabitants saw their families divided when the Iron Curtain, or the Ice Curtain as it was referred to in the north, went up along the international border and International Date Line that runs between US owned Little Diomede and Russian owned Big Diomede. Families that had previously been able to cross the two miles of ocean separating the two islands and countries were now irrevocably divided by politics. Eventually the residents of Big Diomede were removed from the island and relocated to the Russian mainland. We arrived on a cloudy day to see this little village perched precariously on the side of a very rocky little island. We were met by grown adults who were to be our tour guides but were soon usurped by some precocious 12 year olds who were anxious to tell us about life on the island. They led us up a rocky incline to show us where they gather Murre eggs and how they have to be on the lookout for arctic fox that get on island during the winter and will steal the eggs that part of the staple diet of the Inupiat. Polar bears that travel on the sea ice that closes in around Diomede in the winter are a also a danger. We saw the evidence of their existence in the drying hides and freshly cleaned skulls lying about.
To be continued next Wednesday...
Karen Kuest is one of our Product Managers for the US Fleet. She manages several our of West Coast itineraries, so if you've traveled with us to Alaska, British Columbia, Columbia & Snake Rivers, Karen ultimately planned your trip. Karen got her start in the travel business behind the wheel of a motorcoach in Alaska. A woman of many talents, Karen can change a tire, route a ship or narrate on the migratory patterns of the tufted puffin with the best of them!
Posted by Karen Kuest on June 14, 2006
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June 13, 2006
A "Misty" Experience
 Yesterday, I received a small email, from the Hotel Manager, Amy Moriarity, on the Spirit of '98 with a note that said "Thought you might enjoy these photos." Well, this email definitely epitomized the cliche about big things in small packages. I opened the email and discovered these touching photos of the wedding ceremony for our guests, Frank & Marion Elkins.
I immediately emailed the Spirit of '98 to get the rest of the story. Frank & Marion were kind to allow us to share their special ceremony with the world. "We are 86 years old. We thought being married on the Spirit of '98 would be unique and memorable. And it was !"
 Captain Yurina, who performed the ceremony in Punchbowl Cove, which is inside Misty Fiords National Monument, reported that it was a perfect day for a wedding. "Weather perfect 70 degrees and clear skies. Nearly all 88 guests attended."
There was a small reception following the wedding, with a lovely cake prepared cake prepared by Chef d'Parte, Julie Miller.
I'm told that our Captains perform 6-8 wedding ceremonies in Alaska each summer (which is the only state where they can legally perform ceremonies) but, often renew vows for couples on all of our itineraries.  Love Boat, we're not...but we do love it when our guests think highly enough of us to celebrate their special events onboard.
As I continued to piece Frank & Marion's story together, I learned that they'd been planning this event through their travel agent, Jean Dunfee and their close friend, Sheila (pictured in the photo). Flowers, cake, champagne and other special arrangements were handled by these ladies.
We are honored that Frank & Marion shared their wedding with us and allowed us to share it with you.
Best wishes to the bride & groom from all of us at Cruise West!
Submitted by Leigh Strinsky, former Captain and now Manager of Online Initiatives
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on June 13, 2006
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June 11, 2006
Two Frog on Nantucket
Submitted by Cruise West Quyana Member, Sonja Keohane (you'll have to visit her site to understand the Two Frog connection)
Good Day,
My husband and I have just returned the day before yesterday from our fourth cruise aboard the Nantucket Clipper. On this latest cruise, we sailed from Alexandria, VA to New York. We have enjoyed all of our cruises aboard the Nantucket Clipper and this one was certainly no exception, this was 10 days of heaven!
We were very happy to see our friend Bill Ewen, the on-board historian, on this cruise, as we always enjoy Bill's expertise and love of the water and ships. Bob Lippson, as on-board naturalist was also a treat, as we had heard about him from Bill but had not had the opportunity to sail with him before.
Both Bill and Bob provide a wealth of information that enhances the cruise experience to the point where a cruise without them would be lacking much that makes the trip enjoyable for us..
We took this same cruise in the fall of 2003 except that the itinerary was in the reverse. I thought you might be interested in my photographic chronicle of the cruise. I will add more photographs taken from this last trip as soon as I have the new ones organized.
You may see my photographs here:
This page has an index of photos from two of our other Nantucket Clipper cruises, one to Troy, NY and the other to the Islands of Long Island Sound.
We look forward to sailing with you again.
We are delighted that Sonja wanted to share her site with us. Not only does she feature her cruises on the Nantucket Clipper, but if you dig a little deeper, you'll find poetry, a great photo album of East Coast Tugs and other artwork. Thanks for sharing, Sonja!
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on June 11, 2006
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June 07, 2006
My Bering Sea- Part I
 The Bering Sea- A Childhood Dream becomes Reality
During my seven years here at Cruise West I have had some incredible opportunities to travel to places that people rarely think about. Those far off places you hear about as a child growing up but never in you wildest dreams imagine that you will ever get there. For me it was the Bering Sea.
I was fortunate enough to be involved in our very first foray into the area when we purchased the Spirit of Oceanus in Singapore and brought her over to the US. I had to contact US Customs and Immigrations and the US Coast Guard to facilitate the clearance of the vessel in Adak, our very first US port of call far out in the Aleutian Islands. Adak, a place I had read about when studying World War II history and could only picture in my imagination. I have a degree in history and I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to do more research on this area and to work with a vendor to build a tour for our guests when the vessel arrived. I soon learned that there isn’t much on Adak and that includes US Customs and Immigrations agents. To clear the SOO, Cruise West needed to fly the agents out to the island. This meant chartering a flight to get them there and back. There was extra space on the flight and imagine my surprise when I was invited to go along and then join the ship. I was thrilled. I was going to see our brand new ship AND be able to cruise from Adak all the way into Whittier, visiting places like Dutch Harbor, Geographic Harbor and Kodiak along the way.
To be continued next Wedneday...
Karen Kuest is one of our Product Managers for the US Fleet. She manages several our of West Coast itineraries, so if you've traveled with us to Alaska, British Columbia, Columbia & Snake Rivers, Karen ultimately planned your trip. Karen got her start in the travel business behind the wheel of a motorcoach in Alaska. A woman of many talents, Karen can change a tire, route a ship or narrate on the migratory patterns of the tufted puffin with the best of them!
Posted by Karen Kuest on June 07, 2006
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June 05, 2006
Haunted Sonoma
 I just can't resist sharing this movie with you. It is a hoot!
I've been to Sonoma several times while on our California Wine Country cruise. In the past, I've spent most of my time shopping and tasting wine & cheese. This fall, I may just have to find Carla Heine and get a glimpse a the real Sonoma.
I also like the website that is hosting this movie. It's called Turnhere. They have hundreds of independent film makers submitting edgy clips from cities around the U.S. I have to admit, some of them are a bit far out, but I did like this one.
Within a few weeks, we'll be hosting our own video clips as well.
Stay tuned!
Submitted by Leigh Strinsky, former Cruise West Captain and now, Manager of Online Initiatives.
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on June 05, 2006
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June 02, 2006
British Columbia Photo Album
 Last week, I received a very nice email from a recent guest, named Deana. She simply sent the link to me with the subject line: "Here is a web page from your last British Columbia trip that my daughter and I enjoyed with you." That was it! Just the link and the subject line.
Intrigued, I clicked on the link and discovered this fabulous website that her daughter Rachel created. As it turns out, Rachel is a web designer and of course, Deana, the proud mother!
When I wrote to Rachel, to ask her permission to blog about it and post it to our website, she sent this response:
"My mother forwarded your email to me as I was the one crazy enough to pull it all together. Once it’s done, it’s great to share with friends, but it takes a lot of time, so I am glad Deana forwarded it to you, and that you may have a use for it. I hope that it helps visitors to your site see what a super trip this was. By all means, please link it. ...Deana and I have already started saving for the next cruise. Alaska? Sea of Cortez? Nice decisions."
We love it when proud parents share the talent of their children with us- and of course, when they travel with us!
Thanks to Rachel & Deana for sharing your experience with us. We do have plans to start our own online photo gallery for our guests, but in the meantime, if you have produced your own online memory book, please share it with us. We'll be happy to blog about it!
Submitted by Leigh Strinsky, former Captain and now Manager of Online Initiatives.
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on June 02, 2006
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