The views were spectacular while sitting in port waiting to leave San Francisco. The weather was glorious as we sat on the deck. We passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and it looked like we only had inches to spare! For the second time we took our Brompton folding bikes.
Our first port of call was Astoria in Oregon. It's at the mouth of the Columbia River. We cycled from the port over to Fort Clatsop which was founded in 1805 when the Lewis and Clark expedition spent some time there. In 1810, John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company sent the Astor Expedition that founded Fort Astoria as its primary fur-trading post in the Northwest, and in fact the first permanent U.S. settlement on the Pacific coast. It was an extremely important post for American exploration of the continent and was influential in establishing American claims to the land. The company failed, however, and the fort and fur trade were sold to the British in 1813. The house was restored to the U.S. in 1818, though the fur trade would remain under British control until American pioneers following the Oregon Trail began filtering into the port town in the mid-1840s.
Seattle was our next port and we hadn't been there since 2001. We cycled out to the salmon locks and along the harbour wall. While in port waiting to leave, we saw a whale by the side of the ship!
On Victoria Island we cycled quite a distance around the coast. Managed to fit in a cocktail at the Empress Hotel before catching the ship.
The weather wasn't so great at Vancouver so we walked to the Art Museum and then onto Granville Island.
As usual, the food was great on Celebrity. The Mercury was the first ship we sailed on in Alaska. Although it doesn't have a large covered pool, it does have open deck areas at the stern of the ship. Unfortunately they were enlarging some of the cabins at the stern, so we didn't have as much access.