Crossing the Atlantic on the Magic

"One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." - Andre Gide

There is something magical about sailing across the ocean, completely out of sight of land and civilization.  Standing on the top deck, looking out at the horizon and all you see is ocean and the curvature of the earth along the horizon.  For years I'd dreamt of crossing the Atlantic by ship.  So much of our history as a nation was founded on such voyages; I wanted to take one of my own.  Last September, I had that chance.  It was truly magical.  So much so, I managed to plan, scheme and finagle a repeat trip.

Our itinerary, on a magnet I received in a gift exchange with other cruisers

This year's crossing was a couple of days shorter than last year's, with far fewer port days, but additional sea days - eight all told.  Sailing from Barcelona, we rounded the southern coast of Spain, sailing out through the straight of Gibraltar just as the sun was starting to set.  Heading out across the Atlantic, we stopped briefly in Funchal, Madiera, then continued on to the Bahamas, with six consecutive sea days, before fetching up in Miami, where we disembarked.

Lost my shoes, but have champagne as we cross through the Straight of Gibraltar

Despite the fact that Joaquin was slowly building in the Atlantic during our crossing, the weather was picture perfect. Sunrises of molten orange, neon pink and brilliant gold were followed by days of crystal blue skies with those pretty, wispy, white clouds, and ended with sunsets of golden magenta fading to soft lavender, periwinkle, then midnight blues.  Crossing the Atlantic, the daytime temperatures hovered in the high 70s to low 80s.  Interestingly, things heated up by about ten degrees as soon as we crossed into the Caribbean Sea, well before we made land.  There's no visible line of demarcation, but if felt different.

The sea days were glorious! Open-ended days where you could do as much, or as little as you wanted. Lounge by the adult pool, watch a movie while swimming in the family pool, attend behind-the-scenes talks and interviews by some of the movers and shakers inside the Disney family, learn to draw Disney characters, learn ballroom dance, watch first-run and Disney classic movies, read a book, meet new friends, laugh (a lot), work out at the gym, take a stretch class, walk around the promenade deck or play shuffleboard, even enter a shuffle board tournament.  The list of possibilities just goes on.  And on.  One of my personal favorite things to do was to spend part of each afternoon beading, sitting in the shade on the top deck while watching movies on the big outdoor screen, with cool ocean breezes drifting by.  Here's a new pair of earrings I made one afternoon for the Frozen party scheduled for that night.

Personally, I spent most of my days up on deck enjoying the sun and the breeze.  I knew it would be full-on Fall by the time we made it back home to Seattle, so I reveled in the warmth.  That said, I'm not a direct-sun sort of girl, so I appreciated all of the shady, covered areas.  It's nice being able to nap in a lounge chair without worrying about waking up beet red!

When I tired of lounging, one of my favorite organized activities was attending the behind-the-scenes lectures.  Amongst other things, each of the people interviewed shared background on their often-circuitous career paths.  While I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do when I group up at this point, I found it fascinating; the myriad paths they took to get where they were as artists, dreamers, performers and business people.   My biggest take-aways were, there is no one path to any destination, but you have to have passion and drive to get there.  Oh, and one of the lecturers mentioned that in hiring, if he had two equally qualified candidates and one smiled during the interview and the other didn't, he'd hire the one who smiled.  Because smiling is part of the whole personality-type and mindset that he was looking for.

We also caught up on our movie watching, something we don't have much time for at home.  Besides the big screen by the adult pool, the ship also had a state of the art movie theater, and some movies were also shown in the big theatre, after the evening stage productions.

The Disney Magic is a gorgeous ship, and the cruise staff is wonderful.  From our stateroom host and dining staff, to the recreation staff, to the deck hands always hard at work maintaining the ship in tip-top order, everyone was so obviously proud of what they do, and interesting to speak with.  Simply touring the ship itself is fun, and the recreation staff put together daily photo challenge quests for those so inclined towards scavenger hunts.

And every once in a while (or so it felt) we'd pull into port and have a chance to get off the ship to explore.  I love the port days, because they give me a chance to explore places I'd likely never see otherwise; if the ship I were on didn't happen to stop there.  That was definitely the case with Madiera!

Madiera is one of those islands where steep, often sheer cliffs drop almost directly down into the sea.  The city of Funchal is terraced into the side of one of these cliffs, with only a couple of blocks of flat around the port before the city begins to rise up the mountain in a series of terraces and bridges. 

Sunrise as we sailed into Madiera, Portugal

View from the waterfront

View from the venicular

The shots I took from the funicular really don't do Madiera justice.  I wish I'd caught one that showed the terraced bridges that laced the city together.  Besides simply enjoying the view, we rode the venicular to reach the starting point for one of Madiera's most unique tourist attractions.  The toboggan ride back down the hill through the narrow, twisty city streets.

My first sight of the toboggans - extras awaiting use

I really wasn't sure I was up for it;  I am NOT an adrenaline junky (there was the very real possibility that I'd be one of the few people to ride the venicular back down the hill).   But I put screwed up my courage and hopped into one of the wicker and wood sleds beside my love.  We were guided down the hill by two gentlemen who alternately rode the back of our sled and pushed us away from what seemed like imminent danger around every curve.  They laughed and laughed as I squeaked and squawked with each new turn!  

Perched in the toboggan with one of our guides

Talk about scary fun.  If you ever find yourself in Madiera, I'd definitely recommend give it a try.  The toboggan ride takes you about half way down the hill; from there you can either catch a taxi ride (the cabbies are waiting right there) or walk down the narrow, steep twisting roads.  We chose the taxi and it was an adventure in and of itself, especially as we'd run out of Euros and had to take a detour to a cash machine so we could pay our driver.

And of course, Madeira is known for it's wine, so we had to do some wine tasting!  We decided on a single 'flight' of 15 year old wines.  The sercial was the biggest surprise to me; it started out almost sour, with a bit of a vinegary bite, but blossomed into surprising sweetness. 

A handy guide on the winery's wall

Poised to begin our wine tasting!

Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas, was our next port of call (following six consecutive sea days crossing the Atlantic).   Again, the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  The island is one of my favorite places on earth, so it's no surprise we were one of the first passengers ashore.  Ignoring the tram, we enjoyed the walking path around the lagoon to the family beach, where we were able to score two hammocks nestled together in the shade.  To good to pass up, we spent the early morning lounging, napping, staring up through the fronds of the palm trees at the brilliant blue sky and enjoying the live music wafting our way from further down the beach.

The morning view from my hammock

When the sun shifted enough to deprive us of our shade, we wandered down to the water, and played for a while there at the family beach before making our way over to the adults-only beach, Serenity Bay.  Since it's not protected by a breakwater, the surf was considerably higher than at the family beach.  Joe and I swam out beyond the breakers where we could enjoy the swells.  The water wasn't quite as clear as it's been on other visits, especially closer to the shore, but that was almost certainly due to Joaquin's approach (we could see the clouds building off in the distance).

Walking along the family beach lagoon

Several year's ago, Disney expanded the Family beach area of Castaway Cay to accommodate the visits of their new, larger ships the Dream and Fantasy.  We visited the island a couple of years ago on the Fantasy, and were pleased that it did not feel 'crowded'.  This was our first visit on the Magic since that expansion, and it was incredible, the feeling of space!  The only time it felt crowded at all was waiting in line for lunch over at Serenity Bay - it definitely paid to get in line early there.  Walking back towards the ship, the hammocks where we started the day were open, so we ended our beach day where we started; enjoying ocean breezes and the drifting sounds of live music before heading back to the ship to pack for disembarkation the next morning.

A squall along the horizon

About a half hour after we returned to the ship, we looked out our stateroom window to discover it was pouring, POURING rain as the ship prepared to leave port.  The seas remained relatively smooth for our last evening as we sailed to Miami, but Joaquin hit the Bahamas, and Castaway Cay, the next day.

Rest, Relaxation and Inspiration

DCL's Fantasy, docked at Castaway Cay

Slowly regaining my bearings after two wonderful weeks at sea on the Disney Cruise Lines Fantasy, sailing through the warm blue waters of the Caribbean.  This was our first time on Disney's new, larger ships and I have to say it was sweet.  I especially loved the new adults-only deck areas. 

Rather than giving you a potentially boring blow by blow of our vacation, I thought I'd take a slightly different approach and share some of the inspiration I found on board.  Unlike other cruise lines, the Disney ships are designed by Imagineers, the same people who design the theme parks and attractions.  In my opinion, it really shows. 

All four ships were designed as "modern classics"; the Fantasy's interior design draws heavily from Art Nouveau.  Everywhere I went, I was awed by their attention to detail and their ability to tell a story.  Time and again, I was reminded of the City and Guilds' Design course I took with Gail Harker years ago - where we looked at all the different ways we might interpret and use a single source of inspiration.    I thought I'd share two of my favorites.

Roses used as a design element in the Royal Court restaurant

First up, the Royal Court restaurant.  It's overarching theme is Disney princesses, with several stunning mosaics depicting the ballroom scenes from their movies.  Cinderella running down the stairs, the feast from Sleeping Beauty, the ball at the end of Beauty and the Beast; you get the picture.  All done in tiny glass tiles.  That's the art, and it is truly beautiful.

But what brought me back to the restaurant before breakfast one morning were all of the different ways they used Roses.  My collage shows a few of these, including the pillars that sweep into tree-like light-canopies overhead, and the carpets and tile underfoot.  Beauty's roses crest each pillar, which are topped in turn by rose bushes which also hide the main light fixtures for the room.   Most of the room is done in muted shades of ecru and cream, reminding me of castle walls, except for the flooring coverings.  Tile paths led through the restaurant, with rich red and gold carpets to either side.  I'm particularly fond of the bramble vines, though the densely packed rosebuds create a gorgeous red-carpet effect. 

It was really funny, because the waitstaff got a kick out of watching me run around taking pictures of carpeting and they started pointing things out, making sure I didn't miss any of the other details, including Cinderella's carriages embossed white-on-white on the plates, and the symbols for each of the princesses - rose, slipper, etc - carved into the backs of each chair. 

FYI, there are three main dining rooms - doing some quick math each can accommodate six hundred plus guests at any one seating.  But they never felt cavernous, or over-crowded. 

It's funny how you think you've taken so many photos, but you get home and discover that you're missing some of the most basic?  Well, I don't have any pictures of the whole, three-story atrium.  Just lots and lots of detail shots of all the different ways they used peacock feathers in the space.

The top right photo is of the atrium's central carpet.  It's every bit as detailed (and as large) as a full-scale wall mural.  If you look, you can see a few people in the picture for scale.  To me, it looks like a jewelry design waiting to happen.

Around the edges of the atrium, below the second floor balconies, the flooring switches to tile, reinterpreting the feather design yet again.  There's a set of broad stairs that sweeps up to the second floor of the atrium.  At the top of those stairs, three peacock feathers sweep out to fill the landing, with smaller blue-on-blue feathers in the background (bottom middle and left in my collage).  If you look closely, you'll note that even the railing carries the design.   The top two photos to the left of my collage are from the carpeting in the cafe area on the atrium's second floor.  The gold band helps delineates the walkway from the seating areas. 

I didn't do any beading on the trip, but I did do a little sketching. 

sketching while lounging on a deck chair around the Satellite Falls pool

Joe grabbed a shot of me painting my sketch in the atrium's cafe

And since it was a vacation, here a a couple of random shots:

One mural from the Royal Court restaurant.   I love all the details!

St Maarteen was one of our prettiest ports of call

An amazing sunrise over the water

my attempt to take a panoramic, just a little earlier the same sunrise

They say it's 7 years good luck to kiss a stingray

It wouldn't be a Disney Cruise without the characters

Capt. Jack Sparrow staggered, wandered down the beach at Disney's private island, so of course I had to grab a shot with him.  Not my best shot - but Captain Jack's looking good.  :)  Joe spent part of each morning journaling at the bar up on the pool deck.  We got to check out the kids' clubs during one of their open houses.  Boy does it look like it would be fun to be a kid!  And Joe heading back to the ship after we toured Costa Maya, Mexico. 

And now we're home.  Can I just say that Seattle seems positively cold in comparison?   It seems that we've jumped straight from Summer into Autumn.  I'm teaching my Fancy Fish at Fusion Beads this coming Sunday.  Last I checked, there's still a couple of spots if you're in town and interested.  Also need to finish up a little something for Sarah's Sequintastic September this Saturday.  Oh, and I've decided to rearrange my studio - I spent the morning moving furniture and tubs of fabric.

Hi ho, hi ho..... Just wish I could whistle as well as they do. 

Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan

Disney Wonder docked in Skagway

Wow, time has flown since we got back! It's now been a little over two weeks, but I've promised this post to several people, so here it is.

Last September we barely saw Skagway, as we'd booked an all-day excursion. This time we had no plans except to explore the town.  At first glance, it looks like a movie set for an old western. Turns out many of those buildings are original to the gold  rush era, even if they have played musical chairs with their locations.

Ugly sketch/cool stamp!

In Seattle's Pioneer Square we have a National Park museum for the Klondike Gold Rush as many of the miners sailed north from Seattle.  They sailed to Skagway, then set out on foot (later rail) over the White Pass.  So of course I had to visit the Rangers' Station and get a stamp for my sketchbook.  It was almost strange to realize I was actually there, and to try to imagine the town as it might have been.

Heritage Museum in Skagway

Beyond the National Park exhibits, there's an interesting museum filled with both historical displays and contemporary works by residents and locals (less than 1000 people call Skagway home year round). At the museum we picked up a great walking tour map. The map also detailed several local hikes.

Kirmse's Curios

As we were the first cruise ship of the year, and the only one in port, the seasonal shops like Diamond International were still frantically setting up. Luckily, that didn't matter to us. The local shops were ready and waiting, and far more interesting in my opinion. I especially enjoyed Kirmse's (no website unfortunately), an fen craft/art gallery featuring works of Skagway and Alaskan artisans.  I mainly drooled over their jewelry and woven baskets, then spent time speaking with one of their sales associates who was finishing what I think is best termed an apprenticeship in carving fossilized ivory.  Definitely worth a visit!

There's gold dust in that there pan! 

Up next, Juneau was our only port where we'd pre-planned our shore excursion. Joe really wanted to go gold panning, following his grandfather's (and father's) examples. I thought I'd tag along and take pictures. I had a blast!  Our prospector guide picked us up at the cruise dock then gave us a short but fun tour of Juneau as we headed out of town towards Gold Creek.

The day was warm (for Alaska in early May), the scenery beautiful, and their's something rather heady about seeing gold flakes at the bottom of your pan.  After showing us the basics, our guide passed out pre-filled pans.   And sure enough we found gold - in the form of tiny flakes. But even better, he'd brought a shovel so we could scoop dirt from the creek bank itself and keep going. My first solo attempt was a bust, but three bright gold flakes winked at me from the bottom of my next pan. Woo hoo!

Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau

And since that finished up mid day, I was able to catch one of the shuttle buses out to the Mendenhall glacier as well.

Having now visited Alaska in both shoulder seasons, I have to say that I think I prefer September. May is fairly early spring, so far north, so wherever I saw deciduous forests they were still quite bare and brown. In September, those same forest blazed gold with fall color. Also, the salmon are running in September, so ther's more wildlife - seals and bears, feasting on the salmon. But as Joe pointed out,  Creek Street (Ketchikan) does smell better in 'May without the dead carcasses os spawned salmon.

View of Ketchikan from the top deck

Our shortest stop was Ketchikan, which is also my personal favorite. I love the look of the town, climbing the steep hillsides rimming its narrow waterfront.

'Our' team at the Lumberjack Show

Last minute we booked tickets for the lumberjack show, which was a hoot. They divided the audience into two teams to root for 'their' lumberjacks. While I vantage say it's out 'thing', we enjoyed the show.  My favorite part was the log rolling. Turns out they host a school for local youth to learn the sport of log rolling, and before the official competition they had two of their students - both looked like they were in their early teens - to compete. And best yet, ours was a lumberjill. And she won!

Treetop Adventure walk at Capilano

On our return to Vancouver, we took a taxi to the trains station and stuffed our bags in one of the rental lockers there.  Then I headed off via sky train (Joe wasn't feeling great so he stayed behind) to explore the city. Ended up taking the free shuttle out to the suspension bridge at Capilano. Definitely worth a visit. The park is beautiful, and the suspension bridge was much longer and higher than expected. Walking across was like being aboard a ship in high seas, except it rolled with your movements instead of you trying to roll with its.

Cedar tree

And last, here are a couple more of my quick sketches from Capilano. Even when they don't turn out well - like the suspension bridge sketch, the sketching and notes help remind me how I felt when I was there, even more so than the pictures. At Capilano, it was windy, sprinkling and just cold enough that I couldn't sketch for long. And everything was so, so green!

Tracy Arm vs. Glacier Bay

Crowds gather on deck as we enter Tracy Arm

Both are glacial fjords, but Glacier Bay is after all a National Park with several major tidewater glaciers, including the magnificent Margerie Glacier.  An image search for Glacier Bay turns up incredible photographs.   Meanwhile, Tracy Arm, part of the Tongass National Forest, only has a pair tidewater glaciers - the North and South Sawyer Glaciers.  Heading into this cruise I wasn't quite sure how much to expect from Tracy Arm.

Crew members on their private deck.  Just entered Tracy Arm

I shouldn't have worried!  Tracy Arm was every bit as incredible.  First, for anyone who's never entered a glacial fjord, it's like a trip back into time.  Entering the fjord, majestic spruce forests line the mountains, climbing all but the steepest ridges.  The further into the fjord you go, the smaller the vegetation becomes as you encounter ground more recently covered by glacial ice. 

The textures!

Above us, the mountains show clear signs of glacial scouring - deep groves and ridges carved into the granite of the cliff faces.

Mountain goats ramble along these faces the way we might stroll down a sidewalk.  Don't have any pictures of mountain goats, but we saw several!

Note the changing color of the water!

Around us, the water changes color from a steel grey/dark blue, to a deep, milky green as it's infused with glacial silt.  And ice appears; first solitary floes, then more and more until the water is filled with ice.

I don't have a lot of these pictures, because my camera battery gave up the ghost about this point - I had to run down to the room to charge it.  Luckily, by the time we reached the Sawyer Glacier, it had recharged! 

The snow capped peaks are completely lost in the brightness

And last - a picture I snapped from our stateroom when I ran down to reclaim my camera.

For Disney Cruisers - we had a 6:30 reservation Palo's that night and I have to say the timing couldn't have been more perfect! 

For Lynnie - here are four sketches of Tracy Arm. I only sketch on vacation, really, so don't expect too much!

I'd learned my lesson with the sketchbook and used every other set of pages, so no bleed throughs this time. Just for fun, here's a link to some of my Alaska sketches (including the Margerie glacier) from September.  And I love these little pocket blank books.

I will say that they are a really fun way to take in the scenery, and add little notes about what you saw/heard/felt while you were there. I'm a terribly unsuccessful scrapbooker, but I do enjoy flipping back through my travel sketches.

Cruising the Inside Passage with the Disney Wonder

First glimpse of the Disney Wonder in Vancouver

Back home from an amazing week sailing on the inaugural cruise of the Disney Wonder to Alaska. It was an absolutely amazing trip and I would happily recommend it, whether or not you have children.

Leaving out of Vancouver, we sailed north along the outer edge of Vancouver Island heading to Tracy Arm, then Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. Last fall we sailed a very similar itinerary on the Carnival Spirit, along with several members of our extended family, so I was curious how they'd compare. Truth is, there was no comparison, at least for us.

Midway through the trip I tried to pinpoint the differences and what made Disney so special to me. Some were easy - the food is better on the Wonder, both the buffets and sit-down meals. And the Wonder was quieter - far fewer PA announcements; just a daily report from the bridge. In fairness, there were some things I liked better on the Spirit - their naturalist was more personable and worked harder to bring what we were seeing to life, and there were more places to sit inside, warm and toasty, to sketch. But many of those places on the Spirit smelled of stale cigarette smoke, even in the nonsmoking areas. (In truth, if you're a heavy smoker, you might not like the Disney Cruise line - designated smoking areas are few & far between.)

Gotta love Goofy!

But if I had to identify the one thing that truly sets Disney apart, it's the pervasive atmosphere that anything is possible, dreams can come true and magic is just around the corner. That sounds a little corny, printed here in black and white. But it feels so real while you're aboard. It's like a massive dose of penicillin (or pixy dust) for the creative spirit. Over the course of the week I found my own dreams growing stronger, less frazzled, more possible. And I found myself excited about going home, not because I was tired of the trip, but because I was looking forward to tackling my projects anew.

Tracy Arm glacier, Alaska

And every person I met on the crew, from deck and dining staff, spa staff, officers to captain, seemed to be truly proud of where they worked. And it showed. At a Castaway Club reception, Captain Thord promised that though it was early in the season we'd go as far into Tracy Arm as possible, saying that we had plenty of time.

We were the second ship into Tracy Arm this season - the Spirit had actually gone in earlier that day, then turned back early due to the ice. Then it was our turn. We sailed deep, deep into the Tracy Arm.  The captain maneuvering the ship around the larger ice flows with all the grace and dexterity of a professional dancer, slow but sure, until we sat what felt like no more than a stone's throw from the glacier.

Over the next couple of days I plan to post additional trip reports about our ports of call and traveling to/from Vancouver.  For a sneak peak, feel free to check out my Flickr stream.   But now I need to go finish up some class proposals.