“Warning. Bear Activity,” read the sign.
Dusk was settling on the forests of Icy Strait Point and it was springtime in Alaska, the months when bears emerge from months of hibernation, hungry and, I imagined, irritable. Was it wise to wander down this wooded path by myself?
That Icy Strait Point, a tourist hub famous for its zip lines and backcountry adventures, sits on the coast of Chichagof Island, home to the world’s largest concentration of bears per square kilometre, didn’t help to put my mind at ease. I may have arrived in cosseted cruising comfort aboard the Norwegian Spirit, just visible through the trees, but all of a sudden Alaska felt very wild indeed.
We’d set sail from Vancouver a few days earlier, north beneath the Lions Gate bridge and out towards the famed Inside Passage. It’s a landscape of channels and islands, where many of the most beautiful corners can only be reached by water. The no-frills ferries of the Alaska Marine Highway keep remote communities connected, but for discovering Alaska in comfort, a cruise ship is the way to go.
Alaskan settlements have long relied on the ocean for trade and travel, and nowhere is that more evident than in Juneau, famously the only US state capital that cannot be reached by road.
Juneau is a compact city, a short walk from the cruise terminal, and most of the downtown bustle can be easily explored on foot. The Alaska State Museum offers insights into the cultural history of the region and you’ll find plenty of whale-watching boats touting for business, but for most travellers the highlight is a 30-minute drive out of town.
Past the Glacier Gardens Rainforest, also worth a walk, the Mendenhall Glacier lies 20km west of Juneau. And it’s a remarkable sight. Meandering between forested viewpoints, I spent a quiet morning watching this 21km-long river of ice tumbling into a glacial lagoon. Arctic terns fished the glacial-grey waters. In midsummer, the creeks here throng with salmon swimming upstream to spawn.
With time to spare on my route back into town, I hopped off in the district of Lemon Creek. It didn’t take long for my nose to lead me towards the Alaskan Brewing Co, which first fired up the kettles in 1986. Since then it's become the largest craft brewery in the state, with a colourful taproom serving more than 20 brews across a dizzying array of styles.
There’s a free brewery shuttle back into town and on the quayside fellow cruisers were tucking into steaming bowls at Tracy’s King Crab Shack or riding the Mount Roberts Tramway for glorious views of the Gastineau Channel.
SKAGWAY TO HEAVEN
As the Spirit sailed out of Juneau that evening, my thoughts turned to author Jack London, who landed here in 1897 and hired canoes from the indigenous Tlingit people to make a similar journey north to Dyea beach and the town of Skagway.
Skagway was the starting point for miners following the gold rush to Klondike and was later immortalised in London’s epic novel The Call of the Wild.
The town takes its name from shghagwei, Tlingit for the “roughed up water” that arrives on the gusting north wind. But when we sailed into the bay it was a perfect day of calm seas, blue skies and clouds resting on peaks deep in snow.
It’s a neat little town, with none of the chaos and hunger that London encountered, a settlement of rough saloons, bawdy brothels and miners dreaming of striking it rich. Skagway was a lawless place, ruled by the notorious con man and gangster Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith, who famously made a fortune charging miners $5 to send a telegraph to loved ones back home. The con? The telegraph wires never left the building, and Skagway would only be connected to the outside world four years later.
Most visitors hop on board the vintage carriages of the White Pass & Yukon Railway, travelling the steep tracks built to service the distant goldfields, but after a few days at sea I was eager for some firm ground beneath my feet.
The museums of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park bring the town’s heyday neatly to life, but it’s also worth a walk to the edge of town. Soapy Smith met his end in a shoot-out on the Skagway wharf and today lies buried in the town cemetery. Just above the small graveyard is the beautiful cascade of Reid Falls, named for the man who killed Smith, only to cop a fatal bullet himself. A poignant reminder of London’s rough-and-tumble Alaska.
After a stop at Skagway Spirits, a charming distillery crafting handmade gin, I made it aboard just in time for sailing. And these next hours were perhaps the most beautiful of my week in Alaska, as we cruised the Lynn Canal back to the Inside Passage. Little more than 1km wide, but 600m to the bottom, this is the deepest fjord in North America and a remarkable waterway best enjoyed from the deck of a small ship.
While companies race to build vessels bigger, brighter and brasher than the next, Norwegian Spirit was a charming contrast. Though it’s the oldest ship in Norwegian’s fleet, a $100m (now about R1.9bn) overhaul in 2020 has brought it thoroughly up to date. The spa doubled in size, staterooms were upgraded, new restaurants added and classics were reimagined.
I can picture the rooftop pool deck being a hoot in the Caribbean, but this was Alaska in May and it was the siren song of the hot tubs that called most passengers outdoors. I was happiest in the new Spinnaker Lounge above the bow, where floor-to-ceiling glass windows unravelled a never-ending vista of landscapes so beautiful they bordered on cliché. Craggy snow-capped peaks gave way to shorelines coated with dense forests of hemlock and spruce, cedar and pine. In the waters around our wake, humpback whales blew warm breaths into the icy air, while sea otters eyed us curiously before slipping beneath the surface.
In Alaska, larger cruise ships are restricted to certain ports, but Norwegian Spirit's size allowed us to creep up close to the Hubbard Glacier the next day. At 11km across and 200m high, it’s the largest tidewater glacier in North America and a remarkable site when seen looming out of the morning fog.
It seemed that with each day at sea the remarkable sights kept arriving. There was the dramatic entry through the Valdez Narrows, where bald eagles stood sentry on the treetops or the small icebergs we navigated for close-up views of the Columbia Glacier, one of North America’s most active. There were more whales and more birds, charming ports and an endless carousel of food, drinks and entertainment to while away the hours after dark.
And in the end, I wish I’d got a little closer to one of those bears. My last sighting of a brown bear was on a distant shoreline, casting a cursory glance at the ship as we made our way north. Perhaps next time I’ll spend a little longer in those woods.
HOW TO DO IT
Getting there: United Airlines and Delta offer direct flights from South Africa to New York, Washington and Atlanta, with numerous connecting flights to the west coast. united.com, delta.com
Visas: Alaska cruises typically call at ports in the US and Canada, and South African passport holders require a visa for both countries.
Book your cruise: Norwegian Cruise Line offers seven-day itineraries through Alaska, departing from Seward (Alaska) or Vancouver (Canada). To book, visit your travel agent or ncl.com.
Top tip? Pack binoculars for spotting wildlife from the ship.
• Holmes was a guest of Norwegian Cruise Line.
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