It’s always a very pleasant experience to visit the waterfront and watch the commercial shipping come and go, and I’ve enjoyed doing this in many different places. On a recent vacation in Alaska, I spent many happy hours on the Coastal Trail in Anchorage. Stomping through the snow and gazing upon the placid but cold water of the Cook Inlet, I had the pleasure of seeing several vessels, both underway and anchored. The star of the show, however, made her appearance just before I was due to return home. This was a special ship, one my family and I had sailed on fourteen years earlier.
But
let us begin at the beginning. I arrived
in Anchorage on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
The next morning I made my way to the waterfront, about twenty minutes’
walk from my sons’ and granddaughters’ house.
While they were busy in school and at work, I found this tug and barge reposing
on the anchoring ground just past the snow-covered tidal flats:
This
is a popular spot, with vessels anchored here frequently. On the following Monday, April 20, I found another
tug and barge combination reposing there.
By this time, though, milder temperatures had eliminated some of the
snow:
In the early morning of Saturday, May 2, yet another tug and barge rested at anchor there, while to the left, the tug One Cure pushed a loaded cargo barge ahead, bound for Valdez[1]:
Half an hour later, the One Cure and her barge were gradually fading into the mist as they proceeded seaward:
With some of the family joining me in the late afternoon of Tuesday, May 5, my son Steven took this profile view of the freighter North Star departing Anchorage:
A few minutes later, he caught the North Star farther along the channel with Mount Susitna in the background:
Finally, the big day arrived. In the cold early morning of Friday, May 8, the cruise ship Nieuw Amsterdam of the Holland America Line came into port. We had made a Caribbean voyage aboard this grand vessel in February of 2012, and we’ve had very happy memories of this occasion ever since. Ten years after our voyage, Steven and the granddaughters and I had the pleasure of seeing her moored in Whittier, Alaska, one Sunday afternoon on May 15, 2022. Today’s arrival in Anchorage would thus be our third rendezvous with this great ship. And so, shortly after 6:00am, she came into view as she rounded Point Woronzof by the Anchorage International Airport:
Several minutes later, I caught a lucky shot of the Nieuw Amsterdam with an Alaska Airlines 737 passing overhead and coming into port as well:
After a few more minutes, the Nieuw Amsterdam aligned herself with Mount Susitna:
Soon she came abeam of me, and I caught a profile view;
As the Nieuw Amsterdam sailed farther up the channel, I hustled along the Coastal Trail to a new vantage point. As I hurried along, I caught another lucky shot of the ship framed by the forest:
Finally, the great lady came alongside the wharf just north of the downtown area, right on time for her scheduled 7:00am arrival:
Twelve hours later, we went on a family outing to the docks and Steven found the Nieuw Amsterdam moored in an industrial neighborhood backed by mountains, a somewhat incongruous setting:
Late on Saturday afternoon, May 9, the Nieuw Amsterdam set sail and departed from Anchorage. Watching from Point Woronzof, I took this port bow view as she approached us:
A few minutes later, with the ship at her closest point of approach to us, Steven caught this profile view of her:
He also recorded my granddaughter Miss Katie watching in rapt attention as the great ship sailed in front of her:
She
did not remain in front of us very long, however, as this port quarter view from
just a few minutes later can attest:
Finally,
with the Nieuw Amsterdam fading into the distance, it was time to bid
her a fond farewell with wishes for a fair wind and a following sea:
Just
as the Nieuw Amsterdam’s two-day visit to Anchorage went by too quickly,
so did my three-and-a-half week vacation there also pass much too quickly. It was a precious time. My purpose in going to Anchorage had been to
visit family; visiting the waterfront and watching the merchant fleet came as
an added bonus. While I am thankful for this
bonus, I appreciate my children and grandchildren much more deeply. They are truly “an heritage of the Lord” (Ps.
127:3), and any time spent with them is precious, much more so than the time
spent watching a ship arrive and depart.
Indeed, the Nieuw Amsterdam is special to the family only because
of the voyage we made aboard her together fourteen years ago. Without this family connection, she would be
just another cruise ship.
I will leave the closing thought to Steven. When I was blissfully unaware of what he was doing, he took this photograph of a tired, old, and indigent merchant seaman wandering aimlessly along the water’s edge with the Nieuw Amsterdam in the background. For some of us, no matter how long it’s been since we went to sea, we just can’t stay away from it. Now we even drag our families along with us to the waterfront!
[1] Information
from marinetraffic.com.
