Contact your local Viking travel advisor, call us on 138 747 (AU), 0800 447 913 (NZ) or visit viking.com | 21
I am experiencing the 49th state on an 11-
day 'Alaska & the Inside Passage' itinerary
with Viking Cruises, and it is totally blowing
my mind. More than half of Alaska is not
accessible by road, just by air or boat. This is
why cruising here is so popular, meandering up
serene sounds, marvelling at mystical forests
and docking in legendary Alaskan ports. It is
undoubtedly the most beautiful place I have
ever been.
Our cruise starts in Seward, named for the man
who brokered the deal to buy Alaska from
Russia in 1867 for US$7.2 million – two cents
an acre (0.4 hectare). That was the deal of a
lifetime with Alaska, a veritable gold mine.
EXPLORING ALASKA WITH VIKING
Our ship, the Viking Orion, stays in Seward for
two days, giving us time to get to know the
ship, get settled in our cabin and to go ashore
to explore the town and its attractions, such as
the Alaska SeaLife Center, which rescues injured
marine life. I am delighted to see puffins, surely
the cutest bird in the avian world.
SOLOMON GULCH
After a sunrise-lit departure, we arrive in Valdez
and head to Solomon Gulch for the first of our
David Attenborough-like nature exposures. It is
almost indescribable, with the water bubbling
with millions of salmon trying to leap up the
stream or into the salmon hatchery to spawn.
Add to that the cacophony of a zillion sea birds
squawking with glee at this fishy buffet, and
the front row seats we have to seven Steller sea
lions indulging in a salmon feast that puts some
of them into a food coma, eyes closed, swaying
in the sun.
VALDEZ, ALASKA
ALASKA SEALIFE CENTER
