DAY TWO
I awoke early this morning. Coffee was brewed in the lounge. The ship was quiet, and I enjoyed the scenery of Frederick Sound all to myself. After breakfast, passengers were placed into excursion groups for the day – all with clever, Alaskan names. My family? We were part of the Fairy Barf Lichens. Yes, that’s a real thing! Everyone was shuttled to the shore in Demaree Inflatable Boats, or DIBS, for a shore walk along Halleck Harbor. Low tide revealed plenty of sea anemones, clam shells, kelp bulbs, and washed-up jellyfish. The younger kids were instructed to find their favorite shell or stone for a craft project later that night. In the afternoon, the groups took turns in the double kayaks. My oldest son and I followed a very sly otter. I struggled to capture his photo as he rolled from his tummy to his back in the water. The afternoon was punctuated by the much-anticipated Polar Plunge, a voluntary leap from the kayaking platform into the 40°F water. Regretfully (not!) my husband and I had to record the moment (two cameras rolling for safety), so my sons were the only ones in the family to join the Killer Whale Club. Watch here.
One nice touch aboard the Chichagof Dream is that the expedition leaders eat with the passengers. It’s an opportunity to talk to them about their lives in Alaska. On this day, we ate lunch with Joy and talked about growing up in Sitka. At dinner, we sat with Kelly, who grew up in Kake as a member of the Tlingit tribe. She answered all our questions about Native culture right down to how the paint colors for totem poles are traditionally made.
After dinner, we heard an excellent presentation on Alaska’s bears from Maggie, the expedition director. Kudos to her for being well-informed and well-spoken. I was amazed at how much information that she communicated without notes! The kids had the option of doing icebreakers and then having movie night with popcorn, organized by Matt and Joy, the youth expedition leaders. Alaskan Dream actually added a staff member to better manage the kids and activities on this special family sailing.
Something began to happen on day two that’s worth noting: kids of the same age found each other. Despite my 15-year-old son telling me at the start of the cruise that he didn’t want to hang out with “people he’d never see again,” he began to socialize with the other teenaged boys. On a cruise with no WiFi, it was so refreshing to see kids interacting face-to-face. From this day on, these boys would play chess, poker or other games every afternoon in the lounge and eat lunch and dinner together every day. The Israeli boys in the group even taught the others how to perform complex magic tricks that my son continues to perfect to this day.
KidTripster Tip: Consider a cell phone ban while on this cruise for your kids and yourself. Unplugging is a good thing. If you must check your phone, you’ll get service when in these ports: Sitka, Petersburg, and Juneau.
