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By Michelle Theriault Boots | ADN “It kind of gives us a little wake-up call,” said Rick Janelle, a civilian U.S. Coast Guard employee based in Juneau who acts as an adviser on cruise ship safety. By: Travel World News Editor The 42-passenger Alaskan Dream will sail on three new itineraries in 2012: an eight-day trip that focuses on many less-explored destinations, including Hobart Bay and Kasaan, and two more comprehensive 11- and 13-day trips through the Inside Passage. The three itineraries also include new ports of call for the cruise line: Ketchikan, Skagway, Haines, Thorne Bay, Kasaan, Wrangell and Gustavus. Read the full story in the Travel World News. SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state ferry service isn’t going to start turning away hefty passengers, but it has had to reduce the capacity of the nation’s largest ferry system because people have been packing on the pounds. Coast Guard vessel stability rules that took effect nationwide Dec. 1 raised the estimated weight of the average adult passenger to 185 pounds from the previous 160 pounds, based on population information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
by Craig Medred | ALASKA DISPATCH Now, though, state officials seem to think they’ve found the perfect vehicle to challenge federal authority in a lawsuit filed by moose hunter John Sturgeon. A former state forester who’s now an executive with Koncor Forest Products, Sturgeon has sued the federal government, charging it has gone well beyond its legal authority to regulate navigable waters in Alaska parks and preserves. By law, Alaska’s navigable waters were supposed to pass into state ownership at statehood. Read the full story in the Alaska Dispatch.  Haines Mayor Jan Hill Haines Borough Mayor Jan Hill was unable to attend the Chamber of Commerce candidates forum on Friday, September 23, at the library. Hill had prearranged meetings with Yukon officials in Whitehorse. She asked Chamber of Commerce officials if she could have a statement read at the candidates forum while she was away on borough business, but her request was denied–a departure from the way the Chamber handled similar situations in past years. Mayor Hill apologized for her absence, but said the benefit to Haines was worth the trip. The following is her report from those meetings:  Cruise Ship Statendam at the PC Dock We’ve said it before: “We need more business-oriented people on the assembly.” Where non-business folks tend to look at the budget or the economy as a fixed pool of money that needs to be divided up fairly, an experienced private sector business manager realizes that the economy is something that can expand or contract, depending on sound management decisions. Decisions by a governmental body affect not only the government’s budget, but the health of the underlying private economy that the government depends on for income. This was best illustrated at the Chamber of Commerce candidates forum last Friday, when one question separated the wheat from the chaff. Read more-> By Beck Bohrer | AP The president of the Alaska Cruise Association, John Binkley, says an estimated 870,000 passengers took cruises to Alaska this summer. That compares to 878,000 last year and falls short of the estimated 887,000 passengers that were expected. SOUTHEAST ALASKA–Veteran weather watchers, pilots, and mariners see a familiar story when we study the weather charts. Today’s surface analysis shows a large, deep low pressure system centered over Kodiak Island, with the jet stream carrying some stronger, small “post-tropical” storms across the Pacific Ocean to the Southeast Alaska and British Columbia coasts. Periods of heavy rain and wind will be the norm this week. The Daily Sitka Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/mZ02ie) the Amsterdam and Westerdam canceled their port calls Tuesday and Wednesday because of poor weather. The last cruise ship of the year for Haines, the Statendam, scheduled for tomorrow–Wednesday, September 21–has cancelled this week’s sailing, apparently also due to weather. View the current short term forecast and hydrologic outlook. by Craig Medred | ALASKA DISPATCH By Dan Joling | ASSOCIATED PRESS  Haines Harbor HAINES–The Haines Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening as a committee of the whole, to discuss proposed changes to Title 16 of the Haines Borough Code, “Harbors.” Much of the one-hour meeting was consumed by presentations by Haines Harbormaster Ed Barrett and Boat Harbor Advisory Committee members Bill Rostad and Jim Studley, who presented the assembly with a proposed rewrite of Haines Borough Code Title 16. Read more-> USCG press release
Seattle-based InnerSea today announced it had acquired the 86-passenger Spirit of Discovery, a former Cruise West vessel, and would put it into service in Alaska next summer after a significant makeover. Cruise West collapsed in 2010, and the ship has been out of service. As part of the overhaul of the Spirit of Discovery, InnerSea is reducing the ship’s capacity to 76 passengers. The vessel will be renamed the Wilderness Explorer and sail between Juneau and Sitka in Alaska. USDOT press release
The ordinance would have amended Haines Borough Code 3.80.220 to remove the designation of the 1 percent tax for tourism and economic development, allowing the funds to go into the general fund instead. It would not have removed the tax; only the designation. Read more-> HAINES–The Haines Borough Assembly unanimously approved the tour permit for SEABA’s backcountry tour permit for 2012 after a public hearing during which only one person spoke. Read more-> By Casey Grove | ADN
Press Release:  The Sea Princess departs Haines in August 2010 The Sea Princess has cancelled their Haines port call on June 14th due to operational issues. According to S. Kirby Day, III, Director of Shore Operations for Princess Cruises, “Some operational setbacks have arisen which will cause Sea Princess to have to sail some 5 hours late from San Francisco and she can thus not keep her current itinerary intact with the speeds required to carry out the schedule.” Day apologized in behalf of Princess Cruises. “It’s disappointing,” says Haines Tourism Director Tanya Carlson, “but we can’t change this. They’re still planning on being here in August on their regular sailing.”  Kim Larson weighs a King Salmon while Hannah Wing records the numbers Robert Piper won the Haines King Salmon Derby with a 39 pound King Salmon, the largest of 41 turned in during the derby. After a week of slow fishing, the derby count more than doubled today. “As of yesterday, we only had 27 fish,” said Kim Larson, co-chair of the Haines King Salmon Derby and President of the Haines Sportsmen’s Association, in an interview earlier today. ”Today we already have 28 — and we still have another half hour left in the derby.” As Larson spoke, two more boats arrived with more fish. Read more-> by John Thompson | Yukon News Weekend passes for the festival, which runs from June 10 to 12, have nearly sold out. But worry not, bluegrass fans. Organizers intend to also sell tickets to individual events.  Southeast Road Builders crew lays down asphalt in the ABEF Parking lot.
 Tourism Director Tanya Carlson by Tanya Carlson | Haines Convention & Visitor’s Bureau The cruise ship season has begun. The new dock is just about finished and looking great. This is our first tool to help attract more ships and thus more people to our beautiful port. However, we need your help in this endeavor.
 Tourists from Skagway board tour buses at the Haines Port Chilkoot Dock while paving equipment works in the background. HAINES–The first cruise ship of the season, due to arrive in Haines tomorrow, will be greeted by the sights and sounds of a cruise ship parking lot still under construction. The construction timeline was delayed by heavy underground frost and a cool spring, which delayed paving plans. At this point, the project is nearly finished, except for laying of asphalt. UPDATE: Read more-> |
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HAINES–An attempt by the Haines Borough Assembly to a tax question on the October 4 municipal election ballot to remove the one-percent tourism tax designation, failed when assembly members voted 3-2 against a motion to advance ordinance 11-07-271 to a second public hearing.
