As if it weren't sad enough to be leaving our lovely home (Diamond Princess), it was pouring rain today and if there are mountains around here, you couldn't prove it by me. Nonetheless, our new adventure was about to begin as we woke up in the port of Whittier this morning. Our next form of transportation - a catamaran (the Klondike Express) was clearly visible from our deck.
We pulled out from the dock around 7 am and were off to the next port - Valdez. Our captain said we had a few minutes to spare so he slowed down and pulled nearer some of the rocks so we could have a great view of the sea lions snoozing. 
Then it was back to business to get us to Valdez on time. The port doesn't have a pier (which adjusts somewhat to the tides) but rather a dock (which does not move - but we could easily have heard those terms backwards!) so we had to climb to the top of the catamaran to make our exit.
Once safely back on shore we were introduced to our bus and driver (Ashley. As we were travelling in two coaches, her husband was the driver/guide for the other bus). She took us on a brief tour of Valdez, which mainly consists of a couple of restaurants, the bar where Capt. Hazelwood (of Exxon Valdez fame) enjoyed his last meal (and drinks) before setting sail that fateful night, a large chainsaw sculpture (apparently this guy does one for each of the 50 states and Valdez is where Alaska's is located) and LOTS of RV parks - the population of Valdez is something like 4,000 unless it's fishing season and then lots and lots of people come to "put a pole in the water!" Then we were off on our own to further explore (and find our lunch and a dry place to hang out until it was time to reboard the bus).~later, tw
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