Markus' Travel and International Living Blog

Watching the L.A. Kings vs. Detroit Red Wings in L.A.

markus@code-magazine.com — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 7:25:5 GMT

Watching the L.A. Kings vs. Detroit Red Wings in L.A.

We are in L.A. this week for Microsoft PDC 2008. As luck would have it, this conference is at the L.A. Convention Center, which is practically one big complex with the Staples Center. This is where the L.A. Kings play (and also the L.A. Lakers…). So I took a few minutes and walked over to the stadium (after checking on the web first) to see what games were on, and – even more luck – it turned out the Kings played the Detroit Red Wings (current NHL champions) that very night. And – most lucky of all – tickets were still available, since L.A. is not really a “hockey town”. (Try getting into an NHL game with the Stanley Cup Champions playing in Canada for instance…).

So we got some very good tickets (12th row behind the L.A. goalie) for $76 each, which isn’t bad all things considered. And it was worth every penny! I expected the Kings to be overrun by the Red Wings, but the game was very close and exciting. (At one point, a Kings player was taken into the boards so hard the glass broke!). The Kings even lead up to less than 2 minutes before the end, when a defensive error allowed the equalizer and sent the game to overtime. There was lots of action in overtime as well, but no goals were scored, so the game had to go to a shoot-out. It doesn’t get much better than that! :-)

In the end, the Red Wings won the shoot-out. I am sure they were glad (you could really imagine the locker room talk: “c’mon guys… we can’t loose against the Kings!…”) and the Kings wasted a great opportunity. But at least they were rewarded with a point.

Posted @ 2:25 AM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Splash, Dash, and a Wedding, at the Sandals Resort in Jamaica

markus@code-magazine.com — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:53:59 GMT

Splash, Dash, and a Wedding, at the Sandals Resort in Jamaica

This year, we decided to skip the usual July 4th celebrations and instead head down to Jamaica for a long weekend and to get my good friend, fellow speaker, and partner of many late night crimes in Las Vegas and Orlando, Nick Landry (a.k.a. “ActiveNick”) married off. We were joined by Alan Griver and Beth Massi, who had a layover in Houston on their way from Seattle/San Francisco, so they decided to hang out with us for a night and celebrate the occasion with a fabulous dinner at Guri do Sul, the new Brazilian steakhouse we have nearby.

Going to Jamaica from Houston is pretty straightforward. It’s a 3 hour direct flight into Montego Bay at a somewhat reasonable (although not cheap) price. The one thing you need to be aware of is that you need a passport that is valid for at least 6 more months. I got lucky, because I made it in with about 5 days to spare (and getting another passport from the Austrian embassy would have taken forever… I since had mine renewed back home with took only 10 days… although in the past you could do it on the spot). Anyway: Entry is fairly painless although somewhat time consuming.

We stayed at the Sandals Resort in Dunn’s River, which is one of Jamaica’s nicest resorts. It is a beautiful resort and I would recommend it to anyone willing to spend the money. The resort itself is nice and offers all sorts of entertainment. It is an all-inclusive resort, meaning that you do not need any cash at all while you are at the resort, and in fact, you are not even allowed to tip. No matter what you want, you just walk up to a bar or restaurant and get it. And contrary to what you may often hear about all inclusive resorts, the service was good and reasonably fast for Caribbean standards. In other words: I don’t think it would have been any faster if it was a cash-bar system.

The beach at the Sandals Resort is quite nice, and generally not all too busy…

…because most people like to stay at the pool, which is sometimes so packed, you can hardly see the water.

The resort can get pretty busy, but most people seem to stay at the pool (or, more accurately: in the pool chairs). This is great if you like the sandy beach better than the concrete slab around the pool, since you will always be able to find a few empty chairs.

The only real downside with this resort (besides the hefty price tag) is that it is pretty far from the Montego Bay airport (about a 90 minute ride in a hot and smelly bus). Add up the ride to the airport, flight, immigration procedures, wait for the bus, and bus ride to the hotel, and you end up with a wasted day. The same goes for the way back, especially since you have entry in the US as well as a lengthy border procedure when you leave Jamaica (which is pretty unusual and the only other time leaving a country has taken me that long was on a trip to Israel). That is a bummer, because it means if you have 4 days for a short trip, then half that time is wasted with travel, which means there are many better destinations than the Dunn’s River Sandals.

What makes this even more of a bummer is that this destination would otherwise be perfect for a 4-day getaway. You can be pampered and relax and be entertained, and simply forget everything that is going on outside the resort. And I mean that quite literal! Because right outside the resort, the world’s a different place. Everything I saw of Jamaica (which admittedly was limited to the 90 minute stretch on the north side) seems to be relatively barren and not a tropical jungle by any stretch of the imagination. The resort itself is fenced in, and if you venture outside, you immediately end up amongst shacks that are built up right to the resort walls. People will try to sell you drugs and all kinds of other things you have little interest in buying, and they do it in a way that scares you away, even if you might have been interested. It is quite puzzling actually, how pushy they are, to a point where it just has to hurt their business.

In general, I found that staying inside the resort was the better choice, which is odd for me, because normally, I hat that sort of thing and want to see the native stuff/people over the fakery. But here, that just wasn’t that appealing. Locals for instance are nice in a “Ya mon! No problem in Jamaica, mon” sort of way, but it always also seems to be a “you and I, we have a good time… but my good time is different from yours, you rich bastard” deal. (Note that this was different inside the resort, where the locals seemed to genuinely like the guests). So at no point did I feel that Jamaica was a cool place where I could settle down and be comfortable and free of worries. Maybe I am just spoiled, but compared to Costa Rica or even Egypt, I didn’t feel comfortable or welcome. Or maybe it is because I don’t smoke dope. Who knows?

But don’t get me wrong: We liked this experience very much for what it was. We leaned back and relaxed, ate, and we were probably were more active than most people at the resort. We went out to the reef to go snorkeling (which was OK, but not truly awe inspiring… but if you have never been to a good diving/snorkeling destination, you should do it, especially since it is free), we swam a lot, we kayaked all about, we sailed on a hobby cat, and I even rented a jet ski on several occasions (which is not provided by the resort, but tolerated… I paid 30 or 35 U$ for half an hour, which is less than half of what they asked for, and I am sure I could have gotten it down further if I wanted, but what the heck, let them make a living too…), and we even played some par-3 golf.

The resort also has a number of different restaurants, which are decent. (You have to try the “Jerk Chicken” or “Jerk Pork” while you are there, since it is the local specialty… you will like it if you like BBQ). There is something there for every taste and almost every dress-code. (Although I have to say that “do me a favor and hand that plate down to the other end of the table, mon” and “here is your expensive bottle of wine… I will bring you the opener in a moment, mon” is not the kind of service that goes at all with an upscale restaurant. They need to do a lot better than that, especially if they hassle you about wearing a collar-less designer shirt).

So how would I rate this experience overall? Well, it was a fun thing to do, in an “I am on vacation with non-vacationers” sort of way. The people at the resort were almost exclusively American, and the resort clearly caters to them. Most people like to hang out at the pool so they do not have to face the “dangers of the oceans” and they float around on air mattresses so they do not have to face the “exhaustion of swimming”. I got the impression that most people could have a similar experience if the hotel and pool where somewhere in Wyoming (no offense to… um… “wyommingers?”… “wyommingnites”… ah… “people from Wyoming” :-)…). The resort allows no children, but for some reason, most of the adults there are not into staying out late and partying at the bar very much, which I would have expected from people who are without their kids for a few days. (The resort also organizes an evening trip to “Cheeseburger in Paradise”, which they try to sell you as a local Reggae Club… we didn’t go but it seemed odd…). People eat a lot, and they add a little activity here and there. The resort has sailboats and kayaks you can borrow for free, but on a schedule that is a little odd (“it’s a quarter to 4pm now… come back tomorrow…”).

I was a great place for Nick and Ishani to have their wedding. (But that is the topic of a separate post).

All of it adds up to a lot of mindless fun and a few fun days if you take it for what it is, but don’t expect to have any adventures or experience the native culture. I would do it again, but it probably ranks at the bottom of my list of trips this year (with only the Mexican Cruise rivaling it for bottom spot). But that probably tells you more about what an awesome traveling year this was for us…

Posted @ 4:53 PM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Alaska Cruise – The Conclusion

markus@code-magazine.com — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:7:22 GMT

Alaska Cruise – The Conclusion

So now that I blogged in detail about our experiences at our Alaskan cruise (here, here, here, here, and here), how would I rate it all, what would I do different, and what would I do again?

Princess Cruises and the Chosen Route

First of all, let me say that I was very happy with Princess Cruises in general, and our ship (the Diamond Princess) in particular. The ship was large (2,600 passengers and 1,200 crew) and I had previously thought larger ships aren't as desirable. "Too many people... can't go close to shore..." is what I thought. But I was completely wrong! The size of the ship meant that it never seemed like it was packed. Not once did I wait in line for a meal or for getting on and off the ship. Checking in took about as long as it does in a hotel. At most. Getting off the ship in Vancouver took about 15 or 20 minutes, including customs. (Compare that to the mess Carnival Cruises and US Immigration had on our last cruise!). We often had a hot-tub or the pool to ourselves. It was quite amazing, actually. Also, the deep water of the glacier-carved fjords means that we often sailed within less than 200 feet of the shoreline. At times it felt like you could reach over and touch a tree!

The route worked out perfectly. We went up to Anchorage (Whittier) because we wanted to see Glacier Bay, and it was well worth it. I wouldn't do it any other way. The inside passage also meant that the sailing was always smooth. Not once did I feel the ship move. So that may be an important aspect for those who are prone to getting sea sick. The route also means that with the exception of a few hours the second day, you always see land, mostly close enough to provide a good view. (This may also be comforting to those passengers who are uncomfortable not seeing land).

The only thing I didn't like about Princess Cruises was the food. The buffet selection was disappointing. Quality was OK but not great. I liked the "anytime dining" option better than scheduled seating at the same table all the time. You can make reservations for the anytime dining restaurants, but we didn't find it necessary. We never had to wait for a table. What I didn't like however, was that the 5 different dining rooms on the ship all served the same food. Does the slightly different decor really make the experience different enough to keep things interesting? Not to me. I would have rather had different food selections. Why have a "Santa Fe" dining room when it doesn't serve Mexican food, and the only different to other dining room is that they serve tortilla chips instead of bread? And frankly, the food there just didn't taste better than average.

All in all however, I was very impressed with Princess Cruises, and I would probably go out of my way to sail with them again, probably even with the same ship if I had the option. And hey, considering the average cruise passenger gains 8 pounds in a week, having slightly disappointing food options may not be all bad... ;-)

Glaciers, Scenery, and Wildlife

This is one of the main reasons to come to Alaska of course. At least it was for me, and I wasn't disappointed. I saw glaciers calve, and I saw ice bergs float by (not the huge ones that sank the Titanic... those are in the Atlantic). I saw oodles of Eagles. I saw probably 50 Humpback whales doing anything from just swimming around to raising their tail flipper into the air, to breaching the water big time. Another couple we met saw a school of Orcas. We saw dolphins, sea otters, sea lions, and seals. We saw bears in the distance. I missed the moose, but that was my fault. In short: I was surprised by how much we got to see.

We met quite a few people who had done a week of inland Alaska before the cruise, including Denali national park and other areas. All of them said the same thing: "We didn't see a thing!". Pretty odd, but that is exactly what happened to Ellen when she did that a dozen years ago. I guess I would recommend to save your money and not do that part. Just go for the cruise instead.

The Tours

I liked all the tours we did, and I am glad we picked the more active ones. The helicopter trip to the dog musher's camp up on a glacier was just out of this world. If you get the chance and can afford the extra 500 bucks, go for it! I can now totally see why dog sledding is Alaska's national sport. If I lived there, I could easily see myself getting sucked into it. (Of course, it is quite a commitment to make, once you get your own dogs).

The whale watching tour was OK for what it was. I am glad we did it, and at any other trip, it might have been the highlight of the trip. Here, it ended up at the low end of the scale, but nevertheless, I would recommend it. We saw whales relatively close, and we were lucky enough to see them splash around and be quite impressive.

Kayaking was absolutely breathtaking. We got lucky with the weather in Ketchikan, I realize that. But it certainly was the best we did in terms of an "activity". It's another thing that I could easily envision as a hobby of mine, and since it isn't nearly as much of a commitment as becoming a musher, I might actually pick it up.

Bottom line: I like the more adventurous and outdoorsy things. Do the things you can only do in Alaska. Spend the money and fly on a plane or helicopter. Go dog sledding and kayaking. My personal preference is to stay away from the towns.

The Ports of Call

Whittier is unique, there is no question about it. I thought it was a pretty depressing little town, but when I heard that all people live in a single building, that added just enough weirdness to make it interesting. I am not sure Whittier is really considered a "port of call". You just hop off the train there, get on the ship, relax and eat a little, and off you sail.

Glacier Bay (and also College Fjord) are not real ports, but they are “destinations”, so I include them here. Seeing glaciers “calve” was probably the original main reason for me to go. After having seen Glacier Bay, I knew the trip had been worth it, no matter of what was to come next. If you want to go on an Alaskan cruise, I would recommend you pick an itinerary that includes Glacier Bay. I know I certainly wouldn’t do anything without it.

Skagway was interesting in its own way. I generally do not like towns that are set up for tourists only, and this def. falls in that category. But some of the stuff you can see, and some of the stories you hear can be entertaining for a few hours.

Juneau was disappointing. Period. It may be the capitol of Alaska, but it seems to be a depressing dump. Not much there has charm. It has all the tourist stuff but it lacks the attractions. There are probably a few interesting things like the State Museum or the Mendenhall glacier, but I would be surprised if one couldn't see more impressive things in other Alaskan towns. I have no desire to go back, and it def. was my least favorite place we visited. (Whittier might be able to give it a run for its money, but we didn't really spend any time there, and it at least has the uniqueness factor going for itself...).

Ketchikan was a mixture between Skagway and a nicer version of Juneau. A real town with real people, many of which would probably be there even without cruise ships. At the same time, Ketchikan has a certain charm that makes it attractive. Overall, I would say this was my favorite Alaskan town. However, we saw Ketchikan on a beautiful day, and apparently, that is extremely unusual. People call it the "rain capitol of the world". So that could put a damper on things...

BTW: Why is it called "port of call"? Nobody seems to know the answer to that. If it is because those are the ports that are calling to you, then strike Juneau off this list. If it is calling to anyone, it certainly ain't me.

Time of Year

I had wanted to cruise in late June to experience some really long day (spring equinox is June 21st, making it the longest day of the year). That worked out very well, and if I ever went on an Alaskan cruise, I would probably aim for the same time of year again.

However, be aware that things can be pretty chilly still. Most of the time the temperature was in the 50s and 60s. The first 2 days way up north, probably colder. And the wind chill on the ship makes everything worse. I would also consider it somewhat likely to you will encounter some rainy or at least misty days. So bring some sweaters and your winter jacket. Don't forget your gloves and hats.

Don't do what I did and catch yourself pneumonia at the beginning of the trip! In this climate, you will have a very hard time shaking even a cold, and it does put a damper on the trip, no matter how good you are at ignoring it.

Going Back

We had decided to go on a cruise first and not do a land trip through Alaska at this point. That has worked out extremely well. While I have no desire to move to Alaska, I will definitely go back to do various things. Some of them I had intended to do before (like go above the Arctic Circle, fly on a water/pontoon plane, see the midnight sun,...) and others I will now add to my list of things to do before I die. (Such seems to be the nature of bucket lists: You manage to cross of 3 things, but you find yourself 6 new ones to add in the process). I would love to go on a multi-day kayak and camping trip. I would even consider going on a multi-day dog sled trip, although I realize I'd have a lot to learn for that. I would even like to return to Skagway to hike up the Dead Horse Trail myself to get a little bit of an impression of what the stampeders had to go through. However, I wouldn't do it in the winter. What do you think I am? Crazy?

Conclusion of the Conclusion

This was an amazing trip, no question about it. One of the most interesting ones I have had in a long time. It is always interesting when you live through an experience, and as you do it, you realize you will never forget it. Cruises in general aren't cheap, but all things considered, the trip probably cost us around $1,700 a person. Not bad for a once-in-a-lifetime trip. And as readers of this blog know, it isn't often that I have this much to write about for a 7 day trip. Right there, it tells you how exciting this trip was.

All in all, this was one of those journeys you come back from with a slightly different outlook on life...

This post belongs to a series of posts describing our cruise in Alaska (June 2008). The following is a list of all 6 posts in this series:

Posted @ 4:07 PM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Kayaking in Ketchikan

markus@code-magazine.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 5:0:0 GMT

Kayaking in Ketchikan

After an OK, but somewhat lower key day in Juneau, our next stop on the Alaska cruise was Ketchikan, the supposed rain capitol of the world. To everyone’s surprise, it was a cloudless day and reasonably warm. The locals told us they hadn’t had such a nice day in 6 months. Awesome!

Unfortunately, we didn’t see much of Ketchikan since we went off on a bus to get to our kayaking adventure. From what I saw about it, I think it is probably the nicest town we went to. A little less touristy, and it seems to have a nice character. On a future trip, I would def. make a point in stopping and making sure I’d have some time in town.

As things were however, kayaking was one of the main things we wanted to do on our trip, and I am glad we did, since this turned out to have been one of my favorite things. After riding the bus, we went on a boat that took us off-shore to an island. There would have been other options as well where one would kayak from the main land or even out of the port, but I am glad we went on the longer tour, because ending up out in the middle of nowhere was one of the things I liked best.

But first things first: The boat trip to the island was a pretty exciting mixture of a fast-thrill-ride and looking at wildlife and nature. We saw tons of eagles and some marine mammals. The water was crystal-clear and just looking down from the boat, we were able to see lots of marine life, such as starfish.

Once we arrived at the island, it became pretty clear how isolated the place was. It is pretty rare these days to be somewhere where one can’t see or hear anything man made. There was just nature, wilderness, and awesome blue skies as far as the eye could see. In short: It was incredible.

Kayaking at these excursions is mostly done in 2-person kayaks. (For experienced kayakers, singles are available as well). It is pretty easy to do, and – in case you worry – it is almost impossible to flip them over. (Although if you did, the water is cold and it wouldn’t be fun. Apparently the typical demographic for people who flip their kayaks is "brothers"… :-)).

Pictures probably say more than words in this case, and it is really hard to describe the experience of actually doing this. We were paddling along this awesome scenery, with eagles soaring overhead, and seals swimming along. If you are lucky, you might even see a whale. All I can say: If you ever have the chance to do this, then you absolutely must! We are now considering going back to Alaska just to kayak.

So here are a few photos:

The group of kayakers in the distance…

The author paddling hard… :-)

This was one of those things that ended all too quickly and we had to head back to the cruise ship, while some of the guides actually decided to spend the night on the island, just for fun. Pretty cool, and apparently the bears around the costal regions like to eat fish better than people… :-)

This post belongs to a series of posts describing our cruise in Alaska (June 2008). The following is a list of all 6 posts in this series:

Posted @ 12:00 AM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Whale Watching in Juneau

markus@code-magazine.com — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 5:0:0 GMT

Whale Watching in Juneau

This continues a series of posts around our trip to Alaska in June of 2008. For earlier posts, click here, here, and here.

The fourth day of our voyage brought us into Juneau, the capitol of Alaska. That's right, the capitol! When asked, most people would probably name either Anchorage or Fairbanks as the capitol, but as is the case with many US states, the capitol is a smaller, lesser known city. In this case however, things are a step odder yet, because Juneau is not connected to the rest of Alaska by road. You can only get there by plane or ship! While there certainly are cars in Juneau, they only are used locally on their 20 (or so) miles of road in and around town.

Personally, I didn't really like Juneau. Most of the town seems to be run down and crappy. The main street leading away from the cruise ship dock is a bit on the cute side at first, but it's literally just jewelry stores and smoked salmon places. We had gone off our ship relatively early thinking we could have breakfast somewhere in town, but couldn't find a single restaurant other than seafood places. There is a Red Dog Saloon in town, which is apparently a rip-off on the Red Onion Saloon in Skagway, except it's just cheesy and obviously done up as a cheap tourist attraction. Sawdust on the floor and beers being served bright and early. Not exactly what we were looking for at 8:30am. Instead, we tried to find a half-way decent restaurant to have breakfast, and couldn’t find anything.

On the whole, Juneau really gave me a somewhat depressed feeling. The town is close to Canada and also closer to the US than most of Alaska, but it gave me a feeling of being in Russia. (Maybe that is what Governor Palin meant when she said “I know Russia… you can see it from Alaska”. After all, she lives in Juneau).

A view of “lovely” Juneau

Anyway: I recommend you do something else when you are in Juneau. We went on a whale watching tour, but there is tons of other stuff to do. For instance, you could hike on the Mendenhall Glacier, which is close to town and probably one of the easiest glaciers to get to. I am told the hike is relatively easy. If you want a little less exhaustion, you could always just take pictures of it from a little ways away. They even have special picture taking tours and expeditions they offer.

We took a bus-ride to the whale watching boat dock (with the obligatory cheesy teenage bus-driver jokes). The boat ride itself was fun although pretty cold. Admittedly, it was overall probably my least favorite thing we did on the cruise, but on any other trip it might still have made for the highlight. We saw numerous humpback whales, and lots of other wildlife such as eagles and sea lions. Apparently they have never had a tour without seeing whales, and I believe it. We had a number of different sightings. Of course most of the time you just see a bit of the hump and sometimes you see a tail fin. If you are lucky, you may even see a whale “breach” the water (jump out of it as far as it can, basically). We did see that in the distance, and even though we weren’t close, it was a sight to behold.

Whale watching is an odd thing to do. You really end up not seeing much of the animal, and still, it is awesome and probably much better than it sounds here.

One of the whale watching boats.

In whale watching, what you are looking for is spray, humps, and – if you are lucky – a tail fin up in the air like this.

A whale breaching the water in the distance (waaaay zoomed in… sorry about the poor quality…)

So that’s it for Juneau. Next stop: Ketchikan, the (supposed) rain capitol of the the world!

This post belongs to a series of posts describing our cruise in Alaska (June 2008). The following is a list of all 6 posts in this series:

Posted @ 12:00 AM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Hurricanes and Travel

markus@code-magazine.com — Mon, 6 Oct 2008 2:47:24 GMT

Hurricanes and Travel

What is going on here? Why is this web site down, and why am I not posting to my blog?

Well, there was this hurricane, you see. Ike slammed into Houston, which caused us to shut down our data center, "just in case". And that was a good idea as it turned out. Our area, although not hit quite as hard as some areas south of Houston, had no power for a long time. In fact, we were among the last to get power back. Apparently a transformer blew and they didn't have spare parts for it (they had to be made, actually). Why they would have a setup where a single transformer takes out hundreds of thousands of people as a single point of failure, with no backup plan, is beyond me, but there you have it.

So that is why I have not posted. Luckily, we didn't take any other damage. The house is OK, and the office is OK, and as far as I can tell, most people at EPS got away without any major damage. Personally, I was in Greece while it all happened, sailing with the family. Good timing, I guess :-)

Now I will be in Houston for a while, which should give me ample chance to catch up with my blogging. There is lots to talk about, after all. I still have some posts from the Alaska trip that are already written but have yet to be posted. Then we went to Jamaica. Afterwards to Egypt, and now to Greece. We also spent some time in Austria. In addition, there is some general "international living stuff" I want to post about. So this should be a fun few months coming up blog-wise :-).

Posted @ 9:47 PM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Canceled Trip to New Orleans due to Hurricane Gustav

markus@code-magazine.com — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:50:57 GMT

Canceled Trip to New Orleans due to Hurricane Gustav

Dang it. We had planned to go to New Orleans this weekend with a friend, but we just had to cancel our trip due to Hurricane Gustav. Bummer!

Oh well. At least we got all our money back from the hotel. They had some special cancelation policies in this case. Normally we would have owed them one night's worth.

BTW: Did you know that when I was little, I used to tell people my name was "Gustav" so they would feel sorry for me and give me candy? True story...

Posted @ 10:50 AM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Skagway, the Klondike Gold Rush, Helicopters, and Dog Sledding

markus@code-magazine.com — Sat, 9 Aug 2008 21:28:10 GMT

Skagway, the Klondike Gold Rush, Helicopters, and Dog Sledding

The first true port of call of our Alaska cruise - not counting the departure port of Whittier, and not counting any of the stops and "fly-buys" at various glaciers - was the tiny town of Skagway. Skagway is situated at the northernmost tip of the inner passage in south-east Alaska. (It took me a while to get used to the term "south-east Alaska"... after all, going on this cruise brings most folks about as far north and west as they have ever been, and then they end up in a place called "south-east").

The Klondike Gold Rush

Skagway's main claim to fame is having been the "gateway to the Klondike gold rush", and practically everything in Skagway that isn't a jewelry store is somehow related to those few years way back when. When gold was discovered in the Klondike area (which is actually in Canada, hundreds of miles from Skagway), news about it spread quickly (that is, within a year or so... we are talking about the 1800s here...) to places like Seattle and beyond. The overall financial and economic climate in the country at the time was such that just about anyone was immediately fascinated by this sole and unique opportunity to strike it rich, and thus was easily persuaded into risking just about everything for a chance to dig the precious metal out of heaps of mud. Apparently even Seattle's mayor resigned and ventured north.

Things weren't really easy though. Getting to the Klondike fields was difficult. The Canadian government proposed two alternate routes. One involved a lengthy trip by sea, all the way around western Alaska and into Anchorage, followed by a lengthy trip on land. Only a handful of men who attempted that approach ever made it through. The other option was to travel up the inner passage all the way to the end, which meant that you ended up either in Skagway or Dyea. From these places, you could then venture on by foot over some treacherous mountain passes to Lake Bennett. Depending on whether you started out in Skagway or Dyea, you would attempt one of two routes: The White Pass, a slightly longer track from Skagway later named Dead Horse Trail (so named due to the many pack animals that died up that path), or the slightly shorter, but incredibly steep Chilkoot Trail. Most people attempted this in the middle of the Alaskan winter in order to be ready to move towards the Klondike fields as soon as spring would set in. This would allow miners to arrive as early as possible and also at a time of year when the snow melt tended to wash down the most gold from the mountains.

This picture gives you an idea why it is called the "Dead Horse Trail".

Now as if this wasn't though enough already, it gets a bit worse: The Canadian (North West) Mounted Police ("Mounties") had seen such mad dashes for riches before and had realized, that it left most men unable to support themselves. Therefore, stampeders (which is what the men rushing in to dig for gold were called) had to bring enough food and supplies to support themselves for an entire year, or else they wouldn't be allowed to cross the border. This meant that each men had to bring about 1,500 pounds (some even say 1 metric ton) of goods, which meant that not only did they have to cross the mountains once, but most had to make around 40 round trips to get all their stuff moved, resulting in about a thousand miles those guys had to walk before they were allowed to cross the border into Canada. (All this may seem pretty harsh, but it apparently did prevent major starvation problems). One might think that this would have deterred most, but quite the contrary is the case. The line of men attempting the trek was such that one is tempted to call it a "3 month traffic jam".

That black line going up the mountain is a queue of people trying to cross the Chilkoot Pass with all their gear.

Even for those that made it this far, things didn't improve much. After all, several hundred miles of journey were still between the stampeders and the Klondike. The rest was on the Yukon river to the Klondike gold fields near Dawson City. That of course required a boat, which the men had to construct, starting by cutting down some trees for the wood. Few of them had ever built any boats before, so the typical "boat" must have been quite the contraption, with which they attempted to brave some serious rapids. Most of the stampeders that made it this far made it to the gold fields. But guess what: By now, a year and a half (or more) had gone by, and all the gold fields were already claimed, leaving most of the men with little opportunity. The Klondike gold fields were extremely rich, but only a very few struck it rich. Most of the men simply ended up earning a wage by working for those that had manage to make their claim early, or could afford to buy out another man's claim.

Skagway Then and Now

Skagway's role in the gold rush was simply that it was the point furthest north in the inner passage (together with Dyea), accessible by steam boat, making it an ideal starting point as far as the stampeders were concerned. This allowed Skagway to grow from a simple tent camp into a tent-town with fake wooden fronts to make the tents appear more like houses, to a town of real buildings with fake facades to make the buildings appear bigger. In fact, the town grew so fast that it soon was the biggest town in Alaska.

As you can imagine, Skagway didn't just attract gold miners, but there were merchants and dance hall girls and outlaws. The most successful con-man was an individual by the name of Jeff "Soapy" Smith, who ran all kinds of scams, from fake telegraph offices to fixed gambling and apparently quite violent stuff. He had apparently made such an impression on the town (before he was shot dead) that even today, a lot of the stuff you will hear around Skagway will include "Soapy".

We arrived in Skagway very early in the morning. We decided at the very beginning of our cruise (which is pretty much the latest possible point in time for such a decision, if you want a good chance at tours not being booked out) that we wanted to do a helicopter tour up to a glacier, to visit a dug musher's camp ("musher" is what you call a dog sled "operator"). However, that tour wasn't until 2pm, so we had plenty of time for a slow start and a hearty breakfast before we strolled into town with plenty of time to explore before our tour started.

Skagway today is a tourist attraction entirely based on the few years of the gold rush. You will see old buildings and saloons, which is all very entertaining in a way. I recommend you take a free tour operated by rangers, and generally stroll around the town. It is quite easy to do so, since most of the buildings have been rearranged (moved) to be in one general area that even Johnny Geezer can walk comfortably. Looking at most of the buildings is quite fun. I recommend you at least poke your head into the Red Onion Saloon and (former) brothel. (You can take a tour there. "$5 for 15 minutes... just like in the days of the gold rush", they say...).

The Red Onion Saloon.

However, be aware that what you are seeing is there for only one reason: Cruise ship tourists. You might get an entertaining glimpse of a condensed and glorified version of Skagway from back then, but you are not visiting an Alaskan town the way it is. If it wasn't for cruise ship tourists, Skagway would not exist today at all. (In fact, Dyea is not a town anymore today, since the fjord that used to be its port is to shallow for cruise ships to enter). It is a collection of jewelry and souvenir stores that have nothing to do with Alaska or Skagway, unless someone neglected to tell me that Soapy Smith was the founder of "Diamonds International". What you are seeing is an extension of the cruise ships and not something that is Alaskan. While I found myself somewhat amused by it all, I am also quite appalled by it all. Go to Skagway and have some fun, but be aware that what you are seeing is no more genuine Alaska, than a visit to Disney's Animal Kingdom provides a glimpse into Florida's wildlife.

The streets of Skagway today.

So we found ourselves strolling around the streets of Skagway (mainly "Broadway", actually). You can find tons of jewelry and souvenirs here. What is strangely missing are places to eat. I guess Johnny Geezer doesn't like to spend money on dining experience since that would mean missing out on the food provided on the cruise ship. So pretty much your only options are the Red Onion Saloon, which is always overrun and you have to wait forever, or a bar and grille (the name of which I forgot) which is pretty much a modern sports bar and seems strangely out of place. We ate there, and the food was terrible. So all in all, while it was fun for a few hours, I was glad when the time had come to go on our tour.

Helicopters and Dog Sleds

We had booked a tour that was a little more expensive than I had originally allocated for a single-day tour ($500), but in hindsight, going on this tour was one of the best decisions we ever made. We took off in a helicopter pretty much right from down town Skagway. There were 6 helicopters that took off all at once, but only ours and one other took the same route (with 6 passengers each).

Skagway helicopter port.

Our helicopter was just behind the other one, which gave us a great view of the other helicopter flying ahead of us, which to me, made things almost more impressive. Of course, just flying in a helicopter was an incredible experience (and a first for me, believe it or not). Flying over the fjord and passed the cruise ships, up into the forested mountains and then on to the snow covered mountains and glaciers, past an enormous ice fall. Seeing the other helicopter in front of us provided an intense sense of scale and made this one of the most impressive things I have experienced. (And being from Austria, it isn't all that easy to impress me with mountains, mind you).

Can you spot the leading helicopter flying across the ice fall?

After about 20 minutes in the air, we landed on top of a glacier at the dog musher's camp on Denver Glacier. There, a number of musher's (some with Iditarod experience) camp out with 290 dogs for several months. Flying into the camp and landing on the glacier (which had a good snow covering, hiding most of the crevasses) was a sight to behold.

Flying into the dog musher's camp.

Timing had worked out perfect for us. A somewhat foggy day in the morning had turned into a beautifully sunny afternoon. It couldn't have been better. We were greeted by "our musher" Olaf, who claimed he was from Fairbanks but was originally from Europe as we found out later. He had brought 30 of his dogs who we all met. They were incredibly friendly and the 10 of them we took out on a run were just incredibly excited to get to run. Before we took the sleds for a spin however, we aquatinted ourselves with the dogs who all had quite different personalities.

The dogs are very friendly and used to being handled.

We then sledded off, 2 sleds tied together, with Olaf steering the first one, and me pretend-steering the second one. Olaf was really in full control of both sleds, but just standing on the back of the sleds was a thrilling experience. And it wasn't hard at all, since all the hard work was done for us. Even Ellen gave it a go and was afterwards happy she had done it. We went around on the sled for maybe 20 minutes. Maybe more, but it sure seemed way too short when it ended. I found myself fascinated by dog sledding ("big surprise" some would say, since I always say I would like to own a dog if I had a different life style) and could easily envision myself picking it up as a hobby, if I lived in Alaska.

The sled in action with Olaf, our musher.

The visit to the musher's camp ended with a tour of the camp, and the most important part: A quick visit to the camp's puppies. Sled dogs are bred to be friendly, and the mushers apparently like it when people handle them to get the dogs accustomed to people. Here is one of the two puppies we spent some time with:

How's that for a puppy dog face?

The tour ended with a 10-15 minute helicopter flight back to Skagway, making for an interesting transition from one of Alaska's most traditional ways of travel, to one of the most modern. Once again, just the helicopter ride over the Alaskan wilderness would have made for a thrilling tour all by itself.

Conclusion

All in all, the day we spent in Skagway was fantastic. In terms of a once-in-a-life experience, it was probably one of my favorite things I have ever done. It was certainly well worth the $500, and possibly even quite a bit more. I would be hard-pressed to say whether I liked Glacier Bay or our dog sledding tour better. (And the same is true for our kayaking adventure, which I have yet to blog about). I guess all these things were awesome for different reasons and stand on their own as incredible things I will never forget. I even enjoyed the town of Skagway for what it was, despite being put off by the touristy fakeness of it all. Maybe once in a while, you can just be a tourist, can't you? Maybe.

This post belongs to a series of posts describing our cruise in Alaska (June 2008). The following is a list of all 6 posts in this series:

Posted @ 4:28 PM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Sailing the Fjords and Glaciers of Alaska

markus@code-magazine.com — Fri, 8 Aug 2008 18:7:42 GMT

Sailing the Fjords and Glaciers of Alaska

Now that I have blogged about the overall experience (and setup) of our cruise in Alaska, let's talk a bit more about some of the specific trips we made. Our cruise left from Whittier and sailed south-east, starting out with 2 days at sea, visiting some great glaciers, before we sailed down the "inside passage", all the way to Vancouver:

For me, this first part of the cruise was the main attraction. I simply wanted to see some of those gigantic tidewater glaciers "calve". Those are glaciers who reach all the way down from the mountain to the ocean. The face of the glacier is often 10,000 year old ice that got pushed down from all the way up the top of a mountain. As glaciers flow down slowly, the face gets pushed into the ocean where the ice mixes with salt water, causing it to break of bits and pieces. Often, these "bits" are quite large. As they break off, they form ice bergs (or "bergy-bits", which are the smaller variation of ice bergs that occur in the Pacific ocean). The process is loud and spectacular.

However, glaciers are also retreating, and there are fewer and fewer tide water glaciers left. Whether this is caused by global warming or not is a different story (my money is on "yes"), but either way, they are retreating no matter the reason. So seeing this was very high on my list.

Our cruise left from Whittier at around 9:30pm the first night (at bright daylight, I might add) and sailed to our first destination: College Fjord. College Fjord has a number of different glaciers, some tide water, some further up. And you guessed it, they are all named after universities. College Fjord is not very far from Whittier, so we arrived there at 6am. Not my preferred time, but it really didn't matter so much. We got up and watched in awe. The glaciers are spectacular, and sailing through waters full of small floating ice bergs (yes, they are really called "bergy-bits") isn't something you see every day. The most spectacular glacier here is Harvard Glacier:

A look at Harvard Glacier from the ship on an early morning of a gloomy day.

You do not see any glaciers calving here. There also is a limit as to how close the ship can get to the glacier itself. Nevertheless, it was well worth getting up early (and after all, we could go back to sleep at around 9am). We saw amazing scenery, several glaciers, and even quite a bit of wildlife on shore. We counted at least 2 or 3 bears. However, they were admittedly quite far in the distance.

The rest of day 1 was spent at sea. This was also the only day, where, for a brief period of time, we were out of the sight of land. Amazingly, the ocean was completely calm with maximum wave heights of less than 1 foot. Quite unusual, from what I understand.

The next day, we arrived in Glacier Bay. This was the part of the trip I looked forward to the most, and in hindsight, I can only recommend a cruise that includes Glacier Bay. We entered the bay at around 9am, and right away, we were rewarded with the sighting of several Humpback whales. Some even quite close to the ship (which at that point had to sail very slowly to protect the many whales in that area). Seeing your first Humpback whale relatively close is a sight you won't forget. I just stood there for at least an hour watching for whales and seals.

At around 1:30pm, after sailing past awesome scenery and several glaciers, we arrived at the main attraction: Margerie Glacier. This is about as amazing a tide water glacier you will ever see, and the ship stops right in front of it for about an hour (quite close too). The size of the glacier is just amazing. Its face is about a mile wide and reaches 250feet (almost 100 meters at the tallest parts) out of the water (another 100 feet are below the ocean's surface). The whole glacier is about 21 miles long (34km). The amazing aspect here is that you can just wait for the glacier to calve. Every few minutes, a piece will break off with a thunderous roar and a big splash. It is a peculiar experience. Most of the time is spent waiting for something to happen (camera at the ready), and then each "event" is over in just a few seconds, followed by half the ship saying "dang... I missed the photo opportunity!". But it is one of the most amazing natural sights I have ever seen. Right there, the whole trip would have been worth it!

At Glacier Bay, even very large ships like the Diamond Princess can get very very close to the calving glaciers. Is is a very very impressive sight that you surely won't forget.

Glacier ice is blue due to its compression over tens of thousands of years. In the middle of the picture, with the sun shining through, it is most apparent.

Looking back at Glacier Bay as we are sailing away on a gorgeous day.

The ship we were on (Diamond Princess) was a great vessel to see this from. Despite there being 2,600 passengers on board, we had no trouble finding a spot on deck that allowed us to witness everything comfortably. The captain did a great job at giving us enough time to enjoy the spectacle, and he turned the boat around, so absolutely everyone had the chance to see it. (And yes, there even was enough room for everyone to walk over to the other side once the ship turned and watch some more).

Of course, standing by the railing wasn't the only way to see the glacier. Some people used one of the ships many hot-tubs to watch everything in their bathing suits, with a cocktail in their hands. What a trip!

However, a word of warning is in order: Glaciers are frozen because temperatures are low! I had expected temperatures in the 50s, but with the wind chill, things can get very cold, and I ended up buying a hat, scarf, and gloves. Luckily, I had brought enough sweaters and a winter jacket. Nevertheless, it was rather cold (and having caught myself a serious cold the week before in Seattle didn't help either [Update: 6 weeks later it turned out that I actually had pneumonia... but hey! Can't let little details ruin a great trip, right? :-)]).

The rest of the day we spent traveling back out from Glacier Bay towards our first real stop. We watched tons of great scenery and saw quite a bit of wildlife. Bears, seals, whales, and eagles. You can expect to see them while you watch for them on deck, or you can see them from one of the ship's bars, or the dining rooms, or... well, you see them practically all the time! And that didn't change as we sailed on towards Skagway. That however shall be the story of my next post...

This post belongs to a series of posts describing our cruise in Alaska (June 2008). The following is a list of all 6 posts in this series:

Posted @ 1:07 PM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Cruising in Alaska

markus@code-magazine.com — Thu, 7 Aug 2008 16:29:53 GMT

Cruising in Alaska

I have always wanted to go to Alaska. I have also always known how I wanted to do it: Go for at least 2 weeks, cruise for 1 week, and travel around some interesting places the other. (And thanks to my Alaskan friend Don Kiely, I have a pretty good list of great stuff to do as well!). I have always wanted to go in late June, since the spring equinox is on June 21st, which makes for the longest day in the year. The problem has always been that I am usually extremely busy in the spring, with all the conferences and trade shows we go to, and even if the conferences are over by late June, we are so busy catching up with everything, we just don't have time to go.

The same thing happened again this year. However, we decided we didn't care. We have been talking about going to Alaska for 9 years now, and it never worked out, because we were just too busy that year. But you know what? That will probably be true for every year to come in the near future, so we decided we would see if we could make it work this year. And besides, we already hat to visit with Microsoft in June this year anyway, so we were already in Seattle. How much more convenient could it possibly get? Maybe, we reasoned, we could even find a cruise that left and arrived in Seattle.

We did however decided that we could only get away for a week. After all, we have also just been to Costa Rica. So the plan was to do the cruise this year, and then at some point in the (hopefully near) future, we would go back to Alaska and do some hiking and other adventures. Maybe the cruise would give us a way to see what kinds of things we liked the most, which would give us an extra chance to plan the second trip better anyway.

So it all became about finding the best possible cruise. I had a few things on my list that I really wanted to do. After all (as you know if you read some of my previous posts), I am not really a cruise fan. However, in Alaska, there are some things you can do on a cruise ship that would be very very difficult otherwise. For one, I wanted to see the glaciers "calve" (that is when pieces break off and fall into the ocean). That was probably the biggest selling point for me. After all, how much longer will we be able to see tide-water glaciers from ships the way things are going now? We soon realized that cruises that leave from Seattle or Vancouver spend a lot of time sailing up (and later down) the Canadian coast, but they barely reach the southernmost tip of Alaska. And they don't really go anywhere near the massive glaciers. No, that wasn't going to do it! I wanted a cruise that went to a major glacier, preferably Glacier Bay. With that in mind, we realized we had to either start or end the cruise at one of the ports near Anchorage, which left the ports of Whittier and Seaward as the obvious choices.

We finally settled on a cruise from Whittier with Princess Cruises. We booked it about 10 days before the cruise actually started, which is kinda crazy in a way. However, it worked out really well for us! We got an inside state room (no windows) for $589 per person! We considered getting a room with a balcony. This really appealed to me, because there is a ton of stuff to see on an Alaskan cruise, and I didn't want to spend all the time standing up on deck. However, a balcony cabin would have been close to $2,000 a person, and that just wasn't worth it to us. In hindsight, that was a good decision. While a balcony certainly would have been nice (our ship - the Diamond Princess - had very nice setups for balcony cabins), in the end, I really didn't see myself spending all that much time in the room anyway. If I did the same cruise again, I might be spend an extra $400-500 for a cabin with a balcony, at most. But I wouldn't have wanted to spend 3 times the regular price.

Of course, going out of Whittier also meant that we had to fly to Anchorage. An extra expense, you might think, but this wasn't really true in our case. We already had to fly from Houston to Eugene to Seattle and back (for business), which (as most 3-legged trips are) was a relatively pricey ticket already. Adding a 4th leg to Anchorage really didn't make any difference price-wise. So the core cruise cost us less than $600, for a 7-day cruise with all meals included. Drinks are extra, but I purchased a $29 all-you-can-drink soft drink promotion, which also was good for all the sit-down restaurants. (Sometimes, when you buy these promotions at cruises, they are good for bars and the swimming pool area and such, but not for the real meals, which is a rip-off!). So that all worked out very well. Of course, you will end up spending more for tours you take from the ship (I will blog separately about those), and you just gotta take those! What is the point of an Alaskan cruise, if you do not go to the glaciers, whales, or other wildlife? Still, all in all, the cruise wasn't very expensive for us. We met some other people on board that spend as much as $4,000 a person (not counting tours). I don't think I would have been very happy paying that. But for what we paid, this was an absolute bargain!

I was also very happy with the cruise we ended up picking. The Diamond Princess is an absolutely marvelous ship! Much more impressive and modern than the cruise to Mexico we did earlier this year. The ship holds over 2,600 guests and it was completely full, but to my surprise, most of the time, it felt like the ship was half empty. No lines for food or restaurants. Getting on and off the ship was as easy as walking in and out of a building with no wait whatsoever. Most of the time, we had one of the many hot-tubs to ourselves. When there were things to see outside, there was always enough room at the railings. The ship was just so darn big that you couldn't tell how many people were on board.

Of course, you have to be aware that if you do this type of cruise, you will be cruising with Johnny Geezer here. Not that there is anything wrong with it (and I apologize to all the old geezers reading this... but if you read my blog, you are, by definition, not an old geezer anyway), but it means that the nightclub (which would have otherwise been awesome) is going to be empty and deserted at 10pm (more than an hour before the sun goes down, mind you!) and the casino isn't faring much better. Johnny Geezer just doesn't like to party. Johnny also likes to eat early, which you can use to your advantage if you just eat a little later and you will get the bet tables right by the windows. It also means that most of the more adventurous tours will be available even if you book a bit later. So there are pros and cons to this. It's just something to be aware of.

And it's a bummer too, that young people do not go on these cruises more. After all, they are not all that expensive, comparatively speaking. And there is tons of stuff to do for young people. Probably more than for our friend Johnny. In fact, most of the tours are operated by college kids, because they are the ones that are into the more adventurous stuff. Plus, the ship would be great to party the (5-hour) night away! But nope. You will be playing bingo and watch song & dance shows, because that is what Johnny Geezer likes to do. Unless you bring your own friends and your own fun, that is.

So with all that in mind, we flew up to Anchorage, which was an experience in itself. We left Seattle Friday night at 9pm. Maybe even a bit later, because it was already completely dark when we left. As we flew north however, it got lighter and lighter, and as we arrived in Anchorage around midnight (1 hour time difference), it was light enough to read a book without a light. We spent that night in Anchorage. I was not very impressed by Anchorage overall. I have to admit that I didn't spend nearly enough time there to make a real statement, but everything I saw was run down and dirty. That includes the hotel we stayed in, which was pretty expensive at the same time (Best Western, I believe).

The next day, we traveled on a train down to Whittier. This was a somewhat scenic ride and we saw Eagles and other wildlife. Some people say they saw moose, but I missed that. Overall, the train ride was interesting and entertaining, and even though I normally hate trains, I would do this again and I would recommend it. After about 2 hours, we arrived in Whittier. We had originally looked for flights to Whittier but couldn't find an airport. As we arrived, it became pretty obvious why that was the case. Whittier is a small town. Very small. In fact, all the people in Whittier live in a single (!!) building! Think about this one for a moment. I mean, how would anyone meet anyone new? "I met someone really interesting on the 5th floor today..." just doesn't seem right.

The "town" of Whittier, as seen from the ship.

Anyway: We got off the train in Whittier and just walked across the street and straight onto the ship. We were among the first people on board. The boarding process was extremely straightforward. There was no line at all, so getting to our cabin was about as simple as checking into a hotel. We were off to the buffet and had gained 2 pounds before most of the people even arrived.

Our first glimpse of the "Diamond Princess" as we arrived with the train.

Talking about the buffet: The food on the ship was reasonably good, but it wasn't anywhere near as good as it was on the Carnival cruise. Buffet selection was limited (I thought), and also the sit-down meals were just OK. We had opted for the "any time dining" rather than the set times, which I really liked. However, the food quality was not what I had expected. Also, food-related service was not all that great. Waiters were reasonably nice, but not really outgoing. You always had to ask for a refill, and it always seemed to take forever for them to come around. I finished many a meal before I got my drink.

However, that is the only bad thing I have to say about the whole cruise. We left from Whittier and went straight into College Fjord. We then went on to Glacier Bay where we saw what we had to see: Glaciers calving. We also stopped in Skagway where we flew to a dog musher's camp in a helicopter. We went whale watching in Juneau, and we went kayaking in Ketchikan. Each and every one of those things would have made the trip worthwhile, and I would be hard pressed to tell you what my favorite thing was.

But all that, I will leave for other blog posts :-).

For now, let me just say, this this was an incredible trip. Definitely one of those "I want to do this once before I die" type of trips (and - as one of the comedians on board remarked - a lot of people on this trip barely made it in time, by the looks of it). I came away hugely impressed. I managed to check off several items from my bucket list, but I also added several new ones (resulting in a net-loss, some would argue, but that's OK). I am definitely planning to return to Alaska in the future, and I am now much more prepared to plan those trips. So in that regard, the trip has worked out exactly how I expected. In a lot of other ways, it way succeeded expectations...

This post belongs to a series of posts describing our cruise in Alaska (June 2008). The following is a list of all 6 posts in this series:

Posted @ 11:29 AM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Adventure in Costa Rica: Quepos and a Hurricane Alma

markus@code-magazine.com — Sat, 2 Aug 2008 20:57:55 GMT

Adventure in Costa Rica: Quepos and a Hurricane Alma

Previously on "Adventure in Costa Rica": After an adventurous trip to, and jungle-hike in Corcovado National Park, and a great day of hiking and snorkeling on Caño Island, we took a much delayed jungle-flight from Palma Sur to Quepos for a more leaned back experience. (Click the following links for the first 3 posts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3)

Corcovado National Park had been great and certainly a highlight of the trip. It is a great adventure for those who like to take active trips and have "experiences". For the next part of our trip, we had planned for a more relaxed stop in Quepos, one of the resort towns of Costa Rica. Bars, restaurants, and resort hotels dominate Quepos, although still in a fashion that is more environmentally friendly than I have seen anywhere else. The lush tropical rain forest overgrows just about everything unless it is actively cut away, and even then, most hotels and other buildings are built into the green mountainside at Quepos in a way that masks most man-made buildings, with lots of trees on all properties. Just about anywhere, you might end up with a monkey swinging overhead, or some tropical bird flying by.

We stayed at the "Si Como No" resort (loosely translated "Sure, why not?"). I haven't stayed at any other resorts in town, so I can't truly compare, but it seems that this is one of the nicer places to stay. We certainly enjoyed our stay. The rooms were nice, the food was good, and the view was excellent.

The view from the reception of the Si Como No resort.

Quepos may be more of a "standard" tourist resort, but it still has some eco-tourism to offer. In particular, the Manuel Antonio National Park is a must-see for everyone who comes to Quepos. Granted, after having seen Corcovado National Park, this seemed to be a more artificial affair. Expect wide and well worn paths with handrails and concrete stepping stones. So this isn't a true jungle experience, but nevertheless, it is worth seeing. You have to pay an entry fee to get in, but it is worth it, especially if you allow enough time to hike around the park. You could easily make this an all-day excursion. (You can pay for a local guide, but you probably won't need one). We saw various kinds of monkeys, lizards, mammals, birds, and (most entertaining of all), sloths. The later may be a little hard to spot at first (at least with monkeys, you can look for movement, but with sloths...) but with a little bit of patience, you will surely run into a fellow visitor who has spotted one and points it out to everyone else. Our first sighting of a sloth occurred after we sat under a tree on the beach for about 30 minutes. I laid back on my towel and looked up into the tree, and there it was! Sleeping right above our heads without us even noticing.

One of the beaches at Manuel Antonio National Park during a brief rain-break.

Unfortunately for us, this was also where the weather took a decided turn for the worse. Earlier in the day, we had tons of clouds and a slight drizzle, and that turned into a real downpour while we hiked through the park. We tried to find shelter under some trees at the beach, and it was easily warm enough to go swimming even. But still, it just wasn't quite the same as a nice, sunny day. Which was a real bummer, because some of the beaches in the park are plain awesome. Nice sandy bays with no rocks or corals in the water, lined by rugged coast lines at both ends of the bays. Palm trees grow out over the surf. Very picturesque, and well worth coming back to the park, even if you have no interest in hiking. (The beaches are also easy to get to without a long hike).

A sloth hanging upside-down in a tree, moving along at a pace that was quite out of this world. One would think a creature that comes down from the trees only once every 40 days for a "bio break" would be more in a hurry at that point...

The next day was even worse weather-wise. The word "downpour" does not do it justice. "Monsoon" is more like it. We still went down to the beach in Quepos, and I decided to hire one of the local surf-guides to take advantage of what seemed to be pretty nice (although not huge) waves. As it turned out however, the waves really packed a punch. They were extremely short and powerful, much beyond what I have seen in places like Oahu, Maui, or California. Unless you timed diving through the waves really carefully, waves might break into your back with enough force to make you fear you could snap your spine. Luckily, things weren't quite that bad, but about 20 minutes into my surf-adventure, my guide got mangled by a wave and was pushed to the bottom (which luckily was sandy rather than a coral reef) and dislocated his shoulder. I ended up having to help him out to the beach. I went back to surf a little more on my own, but the weather was so decidedly nasty at this point that is simply was no fun.

Ellen was waiting at the beach under a huge umbrella, but soaked nevertheless. At this point, most of the little merchant tents had closed down since nobody else was around anyway. We ended up eating at one of the few restaurants that were still open before we returned to the hotel.

While the hotel was really nice, it also was not made for indoor activities. As almost everything in Costa Rica, all the restaurants are basically outdoors. Some have roofs, but none have walls. The rooms were also nice, but made for relaxing rather than spending time in the room. The hotel's indoor entertainment offerings were sparse (there was a movie theater, I believe). The weather was so dreadful that we could hardly leave the room, which made for a really boring stay. The only thing we did that day was go out for dinner to the "Airplane Restaurant", a fancy place just down the street, built around an old American military cargo plane that was somehow involved in the "Iran-Contra Affair". It ended up being left at an Airport somewhere in Central America, before the owner of the restaurant bought it, brought it to Quepos, and build an entire restaurant around it from scratch. It makes for a pretty cool and nicely done place. The food was also good (which is true for almost every place we went to in Costa Rica... another place in Quepos I can recommend is "Ronny's Place". Have the fish-platter...).

As it turned out, the rain was not a matter of the rainy season anymore. We had actually gotten ourselves into a hurricane. The first named hurricane of the season in fact. Nice to meet you, "Alma". Luckily, Alma was more wet than wild, so wind-speed was not a major factor (at least where we were), but it rained so hard, that nearby areas flooded, including several bridges we needed to cross on our way to our next stop (lake Arenal, which features an active volcano as well as awesome windsurfing... I was really looking forward to this stop). We waited for a day, but things didn't seem to improve, so we had little choice but to end our Costa Rica trip early and cancel the third leg of our trip.

All that was left to do at this point was to get a ride back to San Jose as soon as the roads were passable. However, "passable" is a somewhat flexible term as we came to discover. On our way to San Jose, we saw not just flood damage from the 2 days before, but some severe actual flooding caused by some broken damns.

Even once the roads were "passable" again, after hurricane Alma, the trip was still somewhat of an adventure.

Large areas we had to pass through on the way to San Jose were flooded.

Many of the houses and neighborhoods we saw on our way out suffered a similar fate.

Needless to say that this must have been cause for some incredible human tragedies and suffering, as we saw many a home being flooded or covered in mud up to the windows. But to make matters worse, not only did we see neighborhoods flooded, but on top of it, there were 12 foot crocodiles swimming in the waters. Talk about a double-whammy!

When your house floods, and you think it couldn't possibly get any worse... you realize that there is more in the water than just bacteria...

So our trip to Costa Rica had ended on a somewhat sour note. Nevertheless, the trip was awesome, and we have seen many things and lived through many experiences we will never forgot. We certainly plan to return to Costa Rica. The country is incredibly rich in things that just need to be seen and experienced. The people there were among the most genuinely nice I have ever met. And the overall vibe of the place is very much to my liking. But next time, I will come a bit earlier in the year (March or April perhaps) to avoid the dreaded rainy season...

This post belongs to a series of posts describing our trip to Costa Rica (May 2008). The following is a list of all 4 posts in this series:

Posted @ 3:57 PM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Adventure in Costa Rica: Caño Island, Snorkeling in Paradise, and more Wildlife

markus@code-magazine.com — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:45:14 GMT

Adventure in Costa Rica: Caño Island, Snorkeling in Paradise, and more Wildlife

Previously on "Adventure in Costa Rica": We traveled by air and boat to get to Corcovado National Park and had some amazing experiences in the jungle. To catch up on that, click here (part 1) and here (part 2).

After a somewhat exhausting day of hiking and adventuring, we were ready for a somewhat more relaxed day at a small island (Caño Island) about an hour off the coast from Casa Corcovado (our hotel). This called for another boat ride, which only Ellen and I opted to take, since the rest of our party was concerned it might be too bumpy. (This proved to be true since the weather wasn't overly great, which made for choppy waters and a bumpy ride. People prone to sea-sickness would probably not be overly happy, but it also wasn't like there were huge scary waves either).

A typical view of Caño Island: Turquoise water, lush vegetation in the background, and a white sandy beach with palm trees.

Caño Island is a picturesque tropical island that features some of the best beaches I have ever seen. It provides great snorkeling and some nice hiking. It is also an ancient Indian burial ground and has some minor archeological artifacts anyone can hike to even without a guide. We did the hike and enjoyed it for the scenery, the jungle, and the wildlife. The island apparently has no venomous or otherwise dangerous animals, making it a much easier venture than the hike we did the previous day. We saw a snake or two, we saw thousands of Jesus Christ Lizards. We also saw a few Iguana and some Basilisks. The vegetation was lush and it was generally a cool place to be.

A Basilisk relaxing just off the narrow path through the jungle.

The "archeological site" turned out to be a bit disappointing. We saw a few smallish stone spheres (the local Tiki tribes created perfectly round spheres and nobody really knows how they did it), but that was about it. I imagine a guide could have made it an interesting experience, but just hiking there by yourself doesn't make it all that exciting. Come for the jungle and take the archeological aspect as a bonus.

Not a bad place to sit down for your lunch...

After our hike we returned to the white-sanded beach where Danny (our guide who had taken us there by boat) had prepared lunch with about enough food for 3 times as many people. So we invited a few of the other people around (there were a few other boat captains and guides, but generally, there weren't all that many people on the island) and talked about football (soccer) and had a genuinely enjoyable time.

We also went snorkeling at Caño Island. The choppy sea made it a bit of a murky day, so it wasn't quite the experience it could have been. However, we did see quite a few tropical fish and we also saw a giant sea turtle, which was very cool. On clearer (calmer) days with better visibility, I would expect snorkeling to be quite good there. Other people told us they had seen Barracudas and rays and all kinds of fish. At the same time, there are no crocodiles and reportedly no sharks to worry about, which makes the island a much better place to snorkel at than the beach at the lodge.

In the afternoon we headed back to the lodge and enjoyed the rest of the day at the jungle-pool. We went to bed pretty early that day since our journey went on to Quepos pretty early the next morning. Or so we though anyway. As it turned out, the weather took a turn for the worse the next day, so while we made it back to Palma Sur without much difficulty, the airport had bad news for us: Most of the flights had been canceled that day since the weather was so bad inland, that no flights came out of San Jose. So it looked like we were about to get stuck in the middle of nowhere, when all of a sudden a plane appeared out of seemingly nowhere and landed at the otherwise closed airport. It was our Nature Air flight and we went on to Quepos with just a few hours of delay.

Quepos is quite different from what we had seen on Corcovado. It is a much more tourist-oriented place with more of a relaxed party atmosphere and not as much of an eco-spin. However, Quepos has Manuel Antonio National Park which is also quite interesting. I will tell you about that in my next post...

This post belongs to a series of posts describing our trip to Costa Rica (May 2008). The following is a list of all 4 posts in this series:

Posted @ 4:45 PM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)

Adventure in Costa Rica - Corcovado National Park

markus@code-magazine.com — Thu, 3 Jul 2008 2:14:15 GMT

Adventure in Costa Rica - Corcovado National Park

Previously on "Adventure in Costa Rica": We traveled by air and river boat to reach the amazing Casa Corcovado Jungle Lodge. To catch up, read this post.

Our first day in the Corcovado National Park (see previous post) was spent hiking through the jungle. We started with an early breakfast that day, before 7am. Very early for a night-owl like myself, but since it gets dark around 6pm this close to the equator, I had no problem going to sleep early, and I really didn't mind getting up earlier either. Half an hour later we were on our way into the jungle, which basically meant stepping away from the hotel buildings and there you are!

Casa Corcovado features a few hiking trails guests can use on their own, but for most of the trails it is recommended to have a guide. Our guide (Danny) was excellent. I clearly loved just job, nature, and all the wild life. He prepared us well for the task ahead and told us what to look for, and what not to touch. (In fact, if I ever return to Casa Corcovado, I would probably check to see if Danny still works there and request him specifically).

The Corcovado National Park is an amazing place to see, with tons of wildlife and lots of different types of jungle. And of course, this is not a zoo. So everything is natural and people are just visitors in this amazing part of the world. This means that there aren't any handrails and what you will encounter is a complete matter of luck. You are likely to see monkeys, sloths, frogs, snakes, ants, spiders, bats, iguanas, birds, macaws (parrots, basically), crocodiles, and all kinds of other animals. Some cute and funny, some not to be messed with. Nothing too scary, but you want to follow the instructions of your guide. Casa Corcovado has never had an animal-related accident, we were told, but you wouldn't want to be the first to sit down on a Fer De Lance. If this scares you, then Corcovado isn't the place for you. You are probably better off with a trip to San Diego.

But we are the adventurous kind, and we love the outdoors. And that day, we didn't have to go far that. Perhaps 50 yards into the jungle, after having seen a few lizards and some leaf-cutter-ants, we heard the trees move overhead and discovered a family of Spider Monkeys. It was quite thrilling to see the little buggers jump from tree to tree, clearly aware that we were there, but not too worried about us.

A spider monkey, just hanging out.

The same sight would repeat several more times as we hiked on. One family of Spider Monkeys we had a particularly good view of, and after a little while, the monkeys must have grown tired of us. While Danny was trying to get us in position for a good view of the primates while explaining about their behavior, some suspicious liquid started to drip down from one of the trees.

I brought it to Danny's attention: "Danny, what is happen up there?".
"Oh, the monkeys are drinking water", he replied.
"I don't think so. Looks like he is trying to pee on us...".
"No, I think he is drinking water", Danny insisted.
"I really don't think so. I can see him holding his weenie...".
"No, no. He is drinking water", Danny wasn't ready to concede.
"Danny, he is aiming for us!!!".
"OK, let's move on..."

What can I say? One just hasn't lived unless one has been peed on by a monkey. "Pura Vida!", I guess. Luckily he didn't seem to have had enough pressure build-up.

Another spider monkey, just before his well aimed attack. Maybe he didn't like getting his picture taken...

So we continued on our hike through amazing scenery. Trees as high as you could see. Green everywhere. Leaf-cutter ants creating highways that make Houston's Galleria area seem like a small trickle (although on quite a different scale). We saw a hollow tree with sleeping bats. The tree must have been 50 yards tall, yet you could see it its hollow top from inside. We saw a few snakes, although nothing venomous. We saw Jesus Christ lizards (the kind that can walk on the water), Basilisks, and Iguanas. We also saw a highly venomous Golden Orb spider who had spun a three-dimensional golden web.

A bat mama with her baby inside a huge hollow tree.

A golden orb spider. Probably close to 4 inches in length and also quite venomous. Spins a golden, three dimensional web.

We took a lunch break at a ranger station. We spent some time relaxing while watching a pair of macaws (the red parrots) flying overhead, while Danny whipped up some fish, some cold cuts, and a salad. Nothing too fancy, but very fitting for the location.

A pair of macaws flying overhead.

Before we headed back, we aimed for one more special treat: Taking a bath below a jungle waterfall, Tarzan-style. (No, not naked... just in the jungle and all...). The hike was a bit more difficult and not everyone was up for it, but Ellen, Danny, and I made it after about a half an hour. It was quite a cool sight. Unfortunately, "Poncho" denied us our well deserved batch. "Who is Poncho?", you ask. Well, Poncho is the local crocodile who "owns" the stretch of creek there. And if Poncho is in the wrong place, only Steve Irwin in his best age would have fancied a dip.

"Poncho" may still be small at 6 or 7 feet, but we didn't feel like swimming with him.

But it was all worth it in the end. We didn't get to swim, but we got to see Poncho, which was thrilling all in itself. (After all, crocs are known to be more aggressive than alligators, so you want to be a bit more careful). The hike back continued much in the same manner. We saw more monkeys and other animals. We also saw quite a few frogs. "Frogs?" you may wonder. "What's so cool about frogs?". But these aren't your average frogs. We are talking about poison-arrow-frogs here! At some point during the hike, Danny heard something and dove into the bushes. A few minutes later he had found the poison-arrow-frog. I tried to take a good picture, which caused us to chase it around a bit. It still wasn't easy, since the little fellow was hardly an inch long, so I ended up holding my camera just a few inches from the frog.

A one inch poison arrow frog. Don't make him nervous...

After we moved on, Danny and I talked about the frog some more: "So Danny, how poisonous was this particular frog exactly?".
"Very poisonous", he replied.
"What does that mean exactly?".
"For this particular species, it means that one drop can kill about 10 adult humans".
"10 humans?!?"
"Si".
"Like how exactly? On touch?!?".
"Si".
"So this frog could have killed all of us?"
"Yes, but it only produces poison when it is nervous".
"But wouldn't it be nervous after we chased it around for 10 minutes?"
"Si".

Well, that settled that. I guess I can one day tell my grandchildren that I survived an encounter with a one inch frog...

At this point, the weather was startign to take a turn for the worse (that rainy season kicking in again) and it was time for us to head home. Part of the hike took us along the beautiful pacific coast line that is a mixture of ruggedly rocky stretches and picture perfect sandy coves with palm trees.

The author on top of a rock, trying to get a GPS reading.

The ocean in this area is mostly deep blue with a few stretches of turquoise mixed in. It seems threatening yet oddly inviting at the same time. I was extremely tempted to dive in, but that stretch of ocean is known to have a lot of bull sharks (the aggressive kind) in addition to the crocodiles. All the local guides said they wouldn't risk it, so I decided to wait for the next day when we were scheduled to snorkel at an island about an hour of the coast. More about that in my next post though...

That's it... we are ready to head home and have a drink at the pool.

BTW: Thanks Gwynne, for letting me use your pictures!

This post belongs to a series of posts describing our trip to Costa Rica (May 2008). The following is a list of all 4 posts in this series:

Posted @ 9:14 PM by Egger, Markus (markus@code-magazine.com)