Icy Strait Point and Sitka

Position: 57°03’09.4″N 135°20’13.8″W Icy Strait Point survives on cruise ships. The little hamlet sits at the crossroads of salmon migration in and out of Icy Strait. For years its economy was built around a salmon cannery. When that finally closed, like …

Glaciers and Bays

Position: 60°00’22.3″N 139°31’32.6″W From Juneau Captain Ward turned the ship back towards the ocean for a couple of “days at sea”. Days at sea is cruise-speak for periods that do not include tying up and allowing the punters time on …

Cruising the Inside Passage

Position: 58°25’37.8″N 134°32’14.8″W Our feet had fully dried out, and an excess of lubberliness filled in around our waistlines. Our respective conditions had grown serious enough that only a spell at sea would ameliorate our symptoms, if not the underlying …

Hugs for Humanity

Position: In a clinch This post will come as something of a non-sequitur. But we’re not above that on this blog, now, are we? Having been back in North America for the past six months, I can’t help but notice …

Age, Exercise and Boredom

Position: 45°49’54.6″N 122°23’19.9″W There comes a point in the aging process when you might feel you’re running short on time. The time when the endless future of your 20s gives way to the inevitability of destiny. This feeling is underpinned …

503 Posts

Position: Behind the Keyboard Carol, Marlon and I broke the 500-blog barrier a couple of weeks ago. Including this one, between us we’ve published 503 posts and therefore missed the opportunity to draw parallels with the Indianapolis 500 motor race. …

Zheng He

Position: 32°07’40.7″N 118°46’17.5″E Continuing our occasional series on famous sea captains, this week it seems appropriate to delve into a little about Zheng He, China’s Ming dynasty-era admiral and adventurer. Zheng is often regarded as China’s greatest admiral. Beginning in …

Okanagan, Okay?

Position: 49°29’47.8″N 119°35’38.7″W At the end of our house sit on Vancouver Island we could have headed straight south, or we could have arranged to meet our friend Tom in Penticton in the heart of the Okanagan Valley – Canada’s …

Flights of Fancy

Position: Once Around the Moon It was one of my life’s greatest disappointments when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin decided they couldn’t sleep and instead walked on the moon five hours earlier than planned. That meant humans first walked on …