High drama on the high seas for our world correspondent Malcolm Barr Sr.

The Celebrity cruise ship Solstice in the Tracy Arm fjord. Photo/Celebrity Cruises website

On Sunday, July 2 at dawn, an earth tremor dumped hundreds of tons of glacial ice and rock into southeast Alaska’s Tracy Arm fjord into which our cruise ship had sailed, turning an otherwise placid waterway into a dangerous, ice-strewn open-ended lake.

The inland earthquake occurred perhaps 15 miles ahead of our ship, the Celebrity Solstice, with 2,800 passengers aboard, disturbing the sleep of a relative few of us, including me, who rushed out on the fore deck armed with cameras and coffee as alarms began sounding around the vessel.  A couple of crew members were seen donning orange life jackets.

Above, a crowd of about 100 of the ship’s passenger manifest of 2800 gathers on the fore deck around 5:30 AM after alarms sounded; below, good to know there’s at least one life preserver close at hand. Photos/Malcolm and Carol Barr Sr.

The fjord, surrounded on either side by spectacular high mountains, picturesque trees and waterfalls, and abounding in sea life and birds, had become a river of floating ice, some bergs and big as buses, that had broken from a huge glacier in front of us.

The flotsam – the best word I can think of to describe the masses of ice and debris floating toward and around us – was considered dangerous enough for the captain to take evasive action by turning the huge cruise ship around on a dime, and high-tailing it out of the mile-wide estuary.  Fortunately, no damage was done, and I estimate that fewer than 10-percent of the passengers knew of the drama until breakfast later in the morning.  My wife, Carol, was one of them!

The view toward the landmass where the tremor occurred about 15 miles ahead of the ship. “We’re turning around,” announced the skipper.

Later, the ship’s captain described the incident as one of the most potentially serious in his many years experience as a cruise ship skipper.

The Tracy Arm fjord visit occurred on just the second day of a 7-day cruise for Carol and me, veterans of several previous excursions in the Caribbean and the Adriatic. Ironically, about five years ago, we’d undergone similar high drama at sea when one of our ship’s two engines quit, giving us some uneasy moments as we floated past several islands, eventually limping into Baltimore Harbor 10 days later. Royal Caribbean refunded our fares.

In British Columbia, multiple weather proofed, brightly painted, pianos are set in provincial parks with outstanding views by the Canadian Park Service providing musical inspiration for those who play.

The British Columbia Parliament building in the city of Victoria.

We disembarked from the Solstice July 7 in Seattle after visits to Ketchikan, Juneau the state capital, Skagway, and Victoria, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada.

As Siberian Husky owners, one of the trip highlights occurred in the Klondike gold rush town of Skagway (winter population 850) where we saw and interacted with a team of Alaskan sled dogs and learned what it takes to be a dog sled musher.

Wait a second – that tall, black sled dog looking for a treat seems kinda familiar… LUDA you dawg, do you have something to tell Malcolm, me and your mama?!!? Bottom Photo/Roger Bianchini

A visit to another more famous (and more stable) glacier was on our itinerary, the stunning blue ice Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau. It brought back memories of climbing the Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand while still in our mid to late seventies. Climbing days are behind us, however, so we took a whale watching tour at a place named Auke Bay where Orcas (also known as killer whales) and a solitary but spectacular Humpback whale put in an appearance.

Above, our Royal Examiner international correspondent seeks positive vibes from a native totem at the Gateway to the Klondike region; and further below, in Alaska’s ‘First City’ Ketchikan, “the salmon capital of the world”.

(Malcolm Barr Sr., 84, our contributing writer and former Associated Press correspondent, reported last month on a dramatic trip he and his son made to London, England, and their adventures in Iceland en route home to Front Royal.)

Footnote: “Small World Alert” – The Barrs told of making new friends from the Northern Valley during their Alaskan odyssey. They met up with Jenkins family members from Winchester and Stephens City. “They were delightful…we all had a great time!” said Carol Barr. There was Manuel Jenkins of Stephens City. He’s the brother of Edie Jenkins who is Robert Jenkins’ wife.

Manuel Jenkins of Stephens City – Jenkins Courtesy Photos

Something strange about this? Yes, they’re all named Jenkins – a Jenkins married a Jenkins. Robert (Bobby) Jenkins is well known among the area’s golfing community. He worked 10 years at Cress Golf Club at Shepherdstown, WV, then for 20 years at the now closed Carper’s Valley Golf Club, WV,  and at Rock Harbor Golf Club in Winchester from which he retired last month after 17 years, totaling 47 years in the business. On July 11, he was due to play in a tournament at Shenandoah Valley Golf Club, promising to stop off at the Barrs’ house across from the 9th hole to say hello.

Robert and Edie Jenkins of Winchester at the 4th of July party aboard the Celebrity Solstice.