San Diego Sunday

Fall Coastal Cruise -
October 21, 2018

Sunday morning and we've arrived in San Diego. Per my usual routine I snapped the elevator carpet and, on the way to Lido for coffee, happened to snap the map in the Lobby that tracks our voyage. Looks like we will be in Cabo San Lucas on Tuesday, but then ...

Back in my stateroom a letter from the Captain is on the bed ...

Click for larger image ... which I hope you can read.

Hurricane Willa, headed for Mexico, has forced a change of itinerary ... so, our next stop is now San Francisco! While we're stopped here in San Diego about 800 passengers, who have been with us since Vancouver, will be getting off and new passengers will board, they have all signed up for the next 7 days and expect to be going to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. As you can imagine, there are some unhappy cruisers aboard. Safety first, as they say, and I, for one, am happy to be heading to San Francisco, L.A., Catalina Island, and Ensenada.

The San Diego Cruise Terminal is right in front of downtown.

A short walk of a few blocks gets me to the classic
Santa Fe Station. (You know I love trains, right?)

Later in the afternoon snapped this pic of Star of India and
happened to catch a Southwest flight about to land at
San Diego International about 1 mile away.
A great day: Ships, Trains, and Planes!

View from Aft Deck as we depart.
The other cruise ship is the Norwegian Pearl.
The Pearl was also affected by Hurricane Willa

Next: Golden Gate Sunrise
Previously, on this cruise Vancouver BC and Astoria, OR

Thanks for stopping by John's Island.

Astoria, Oregon

Fall Coastal Cruise -
October 18th - Port Stop Astoria, Oregon

Throwing out the lines.
Astoria, Oregon
October 18th  10:46 AM

The whole process of docking a large floating vessel is pretty fascinating. Watching the entire procedure can give you a good idea about the Captain’s experience. Astoria, Oregon, does not see many cruise ships visit and part of that may be due to the challenge of getting securely tied up here. When we get close enough the crew in the photo above throws out a lightweight line to stevedores on the dock. That line gives them a way to pull the heavy ropes to the cleats that will hold the ship in place.

We are docked in front of another fascination … the Astoria-Megler Bridge. The Astoria–Megler Bridge (for US Highway 101) is a steel cantilever through truss bridge that spans the lower Columbia River, between Astoria, Oregon, and Point Ellice near Megler, Washington. Opened 52 years ago in 1966, it is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.

The photo below (by Bob Heims, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) gives some perspective on the bridge. In the distance the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean. There is a famous sand bar known as the Columbia Bar. Wiki says, "The bar is where the river's current dissipates into the Pacific Ocean, often as large standing waves. The waves are partially caused by the deposition of sediment as the river slows, as well as mixing with ocean waves. The waves, wind, and current are hazardous for vessels of all sizes." As we approached the Bar --- both on arrival and departure --- our Captain made official announcements to be prepared for significant motion which might be enough to cause a fall.

Overview -- Port of Astoria, Oregon
and the Astoria-Megler Bridge
(Photo by Bob Heims - Wiki - Public Domain)

Holland America's Eurodam
Docked in Astoria, Oregon, October 18, 2018

Good Golly, Miss Molly?
Yes, she is here.

Next: San Diego Sunday

Vancouver BC - Canada Place

11 Day Coastal Cruise 2018

Canada Place Cruise Terminal
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 17, 2018
12:23 PM

My interest in big ships continues to lead to enjoyable travel. In October I spent several days aboard Holland America’s Eurodam as the ship made its seasonal change from sailing in Northeastern Pacific waters to latitudes more to the South. For this journey I’m going to focus on the ports visited. The MS Eurodam left Canada Place, in Vancouver, BC, about 1700 hours, October 17, on a voyage with San Diego, California, as the destination. As we departed Vancouver a storm was just beginning to brew far away off the coast of Mexico. It would ultimately become a hurricane named Willa and lead to some interesting changes in the second phase of our itinerary ... 7 days from San Diego to the Mexican Riviera and back.

Canada Place is the nicest Cruise Terminal on the
West Coast of North America! Period!
Congrats to Canada for putting together this excellent facility!

This is going to be a tough trip.
Getting into my work position.
Departure is moments away.

Aboard Holland America's Eurodam
Embarkation Day - October 17, 2018
Just pulled away from Canada Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada
4:03 PM, Beautiful Sunny Afternoon

Next stop: Astoria, Oregon, USA

Goodbye October

A large part of October was spent traveling. During that time John's Island was on the back burner. Catching up with today's post. Took a ton of photos while traveling and will share a few soon. During the part of the month I was in Seattle the fall weather was unusually nice. Lots of warm, sunny afternoons made for some enjoyable walks and some beautiful sunsets.

October 13th  6:19 PM
The end of an exceptionally fine fall day.
Looking out from home over Puget Sound.
Olympic Mountains in the distance.
Nearby Elliott Bay Marina, at bottom of this view.

 Note: Click on photos for larger view!

October 15th  5:15 PM

Colorful sunset near the beginning of October.
October 3rd  6:44 PM
The ship in lower center is a Washington State Ferry
about to enter Eagle Harbor, Whidbey Island

October 10th  6:07 PM
The photo doesn't do justice to the sunbeams.
They were amazing.

Postcard Department

Anyone new to the blog ... John likes to collect vintage postcards (and a few new ones as well) and share them here on John's Island. If you also enjoy postcards do let me know what you think in the comment section. The card below is one of my favorites for celebrating the fall season and the art is by one of my favorite artists ... F. Winold Reiss.

"The Black Forest in Autumn"
by German artist F. Winold Reiss
One of my favorite vintage postcards!

Back of the unused card.

Maritime Department

As always, I'm watching the ships coming and going. I'm especially keeping an eye on container ship loads. For example, the Evergreen ship below has a very light load of containers. I am curious if this will foretell the effects of all the new tariff regulations. From what I've read on the web, container loads have been up recently as companies try to beat the new tariffs going into effect. The longer term effects may seriously hurt the shipping industry ... we will just have to wait and see.

Evergreen Container Ship
Northbound enroute to China
October 14th  7:04 AM

MS Swansea
Arriving Port of Seattle
October 14th  7:58 AM
The land behind is Whidbey Island and
the mountains are the Olympics.

Another view of MS Swansea as she got closer.
October 14th  8:08 AM

MS Star Laura
A blustery afternoon.
October 2nd  3:31 PM
I like the name!
A tug was assisting as Star Laura was about to drop anchor.
The wind makes the whole process more challenging.
If you look closely, near the center of the photo, you
will see a sailboat, which provides some scale to the pic!

Next: Time to "Roll Back" and Goodbye Daylight Saving Time!

Thanks for stopping by John's Island.

Cosco Pacific - Vancouver Harbour

Costco Pacific
Vancouver Harbour
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 17, 2018

I wanted to share this capture of the Cosco Pacific container ship in Vancouver Harbour. The sun was in a perfect spot to light up this giant ship for a photo. Click on the image for a larger view and be sure to note the tug boat just behind the ship ... that does give some scale!

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your comments and will try to give you a reply on your blog. On this post I've turned comments off as I will not have time, over the next few days, to observe that courtesy. Thank you again and best regards from John's Island.

Red HazMat Caboose

Just last week noticed this brand-new looking HazMat Caboose at BNSF's Interbay Car Shop here in Seattle. As one who loves trains I miss the cabooses that use to be common on freight trains. As with so many things, technology changed the need to have a real person at the end of a train making sure all was well. We now have "end-of-train" devices that wirelessly report conditions to the crew in the power unit. So, most freight trains today operate without a caboose. However, this particular one, of course, is very specialized. I'm guessing here, but suspect it might be intended for use at locations where a hazardous event has occurred such as a major derailment, chemical spill or fire. It would then be used as a sort of operations base for the recovery effort.

North to Alaska 2018 (11, 12, 13, & 14)

Click here for my Introductory Post

Sitka - Last Port Stop in Alaska

It's Friday, September 7th, and the 11th day of our 14 day cruise.
Only a few days left and it seems to have gone by quickly!

Looks like I'm up (as usual) before most other cruisers.
This is actually a good time for walking the decks as you
will usually have it all to yourself.

On the way up for breakfast I stopped to snap this photo
of the main lobby and the Guest Services desk.
This is where you can get help from the cruise staff.

It is raining this morning but we expected it based on the forecast.
We signed up for a tour to a walk through the Tongass Forest
This walk is similar to the one we did in Kodiak.
There were about 12 cruisers on this tour.

Lots of steps on the walk.

Despite the rain there was just so much beauty to see!

Along the trail.

A church that seems to be a favorite subject
of Sitka photos. Sitka is one of my favorite ports in
Alaska.

In the afternoon the rain stopped about the time we returned
to the ship. Its just difficult to appreciate the size of these
ships until you are outside and right next to one.

Aft Promenade Deck.

Day at Sea

No stops today as we are heading to Victoria, British Columbia for our final port stop before returning to Seattle.

One last look at the Naturalist's white board.
"Wildlife Sightings this Cruise"
Wow, more than I expected!

At sea ... no land in sight.

These coulds were pretty fascinating.

Victoria, British Columbia

We are docked in Victoria, BC and the workers are
putting the gangway in place.

We have signed up for a tour to the
The Teahouse at Abkhazi Garden

A short 20 minute bus ride gets us to the Garden.
It turns out to be quite a nice spot!

Later, returning to the ship, we pass the famous
Empress Hotel.

Home

Our 14th day of a 14 day cruise and it is Monday again.
Although this is the 14th day, we must be off the ship this morning
so all the passengers for the next cruise can board this afternoon.

Back home. We had pretty skies after sunset.
The Zaandam was on its way again to Alaska!