Sunday, July 12, 2026

We sailed from Juneau all night and arrived in Haines at 0600 in totally calm waters. Saw the lights of a couple more cruise ships during the night. We left all of the curtains open, it's so nice to have the huge picture window! It was light at 0330 this morning! Overcast but no rain in the forecast so typical July weather for this area.

Had a lovely room delivery meal because we had an early shore excursion. The creamiest oatmeal I had ever eaten - it was such a silky texture. Mary loved her little breakfast parfait.

We met the tour groups in the lounge to get the instructions and be checked off the list. Security is tight and you need both your room key and your picture ID to get back on. Three tours were checking in at the same time; ours was a bus tour to Chilkoot Lake, just 16 of us. Had to descend an enormous ramp and walk up the dock to meet the bus. Glad it wasn't raining!

The tour bus driver was wonderful and taught us a trick to remember all five kinds of salmon in the area. He is a Haines native and had all kinds of wonderful stories. We made several stops for photos to and from Chilkoot Lake (click here to see a short video) and saw several eagles but the bears were hiding. He also took us along the Chilkat River and through old Fort Seward. It was a lovely morning.

We got our walking steps in today, for sure. We had not signed up or another excursion but this one was so enjoyable we will be taking another one in Wrangell.

Since breakfast was so early we headed in for lunch as soon as Amphora opened. Every buffet is amazing, always something new. Today it was heavy on Alaskan seafood - had king crab fried rice, rockfish fritters, some sort of trout dish, salmon, and crab salad. Just small portions of everything hits the spot and allows tastings. Wild blueberry tart for dessert.

We went to see Heather Lende speak this afternoon, it was a great presentation. She is a best selling author who lives in Haines and has written several books about it. She was so interesting that the hour just flew by. She had great stories to tell about how people live in that area. Her first book, "If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name" was on the NY Times best seller list.

Tonight was the official "sail away" event with the raising of the Windstar flag. We were a bit behind and Andreas had just started the flag raising when the captain cut in with announcements so we had to start over but it was pretty fun to watch Andreas and his antics. Came back to the cabin, changed, and went to dinner.

Tonight we had intersting cocktails - an Amaretto Cherry Sour and a Smoked Margarita Sour. Then I had Beef Wellington and Mary had Sesame Tofu Patties with Seasoned Rice and Rempura Bok Choy. My dessert was Milk and Dark Chocolate Cremeaux with Caramel Popcorn and Pistachio Sprinkles.