siestakey
Guru
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2013
- Messages
- 1,815
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- Steppin Stone IV
- Vessel Make
- Marine Trader Kelly Trawler 46
Interesting read. I quite liked Seattle, but then I was just visiting and understand the difference to living there. I do think its one of the nicer USA cities to visit. I spent time to the north (Edmonds as a liveaboard for a time) and in Port Townsend, where I lived on and off for a year during a boat refit. I got a kick out of folks there saying 'welcome home' after getting back there from one of my regular visits back to Australia. I have fond memories of Washington and folks I met while there.
Then when I put the boat on a ship bound for Australia I drove through BC, the Yukon and Alaska before catching the 'Blue Canoe" back to Prince Rupert and continuing my road trip. Now yes it was only a short visit but some impressions are vivid and I think informative and accurate. I have to say that the Alaskan towns that get the cruise ships have been thoroughly ruined. I got really annoyed at the number of diamond/jewellery stores taking up good space in main streets of places like Skagway and Juneau. Then the ships stop coming, a lot of transient workers leave and the streets are full of shops locked for the season. Really depressing. As I had my car I could see a bit more of Juneau than the old town that is either full of cruise ship tourists or deserted, but it was still a bit disappointing. I had always wanted to do an Inside Passage cruise, preferably on one of the smaller vessels. But not anymore. The cruise ships are very much a mixed blessing for Alaska. I certainly would not want to live any place they visited.
That seems to be so true of most smaller cities the cruise ships go to we could make a lengthy list of those in the Caribbean