KRoth our E.L. wakes us all up at 0600 for an announcement that we have entered Alaska and that Dall Porpoise our riding our bow wave.
It is a spectacular morning with stunning scenery. We do not have any kayak rangers with the Misty Fjord National Monument come out to greet us. We go into Rudyerd Bay for some scenic cruising and go past Punchbowl and Owls Cliff and turn around. Wanted to do our kayak operations but we have to postpone until after lunch and we’ll be doing that in Walker Cove. I spot the first several Mountain Goats in more than 4 locations today and we spot a healthy black bear in the morning and a brown bear in the afternoon.
I give a geology talk on the top deck and ask Randall my roommate to give a glaciology talk with me. It is very enjoyable since the day was warm and there was little breeze. I use props such as different colored boots that represent accreted terrains and how the dock up against other terrains and make the geological story of the Coast Range very complicated. We have the perfect background for the talk, being in the fjords with snow pack and avalanche gullies.
After lunch we have to cancel the kayak operations since the captain could not find a good anchorage and the winds were blowing a little too much for launching the kayaks from a moving ship platform. Instead, Kevin the Chief Mate and I have a terrific time naturalizing together (he drove) along the shoreline after a 30-minute close viewing of the grizzly bear digging for clams. I shot like 200 pictures and now have to do the sad job of deleting and selecting which ones are worth keeping. I have so much coming back to me after almost a 3 year hiatus from my last time up in Alaska.
Put a back of a sea star up against the back of a mans wrist and he feels the pincher organs called pedicillaria. Teach everyone all about the flora and the three different kinds of lichens and weathering (crustose, foliose and fructicose and chemical, biological and physical weathering, respectively). Incredibly steep walls and lots of snowmelt. See common mergansers, goldeneyes, raven, nw crow, hear hermit thrush, pigeon guillemot, marbled murrelet, belted kngisher. Lots of Dall porpoise each time we were about to enter or depart an inlet. Also had over half-dozen porpoise feeding right alongside two humpback whales at sunset. Switched one hour back this morning/last nght. Had antoher dinner outside on the top deck to soak up the scenery along with a staff meeting…usually three meetings a day.
Tags: Adventure, Adventure Blog, Adventure Travel, Alaska, Alaska Cruise, Grizzly, InnerSea Discoveries, Kayak, Misty Fjord National Monument, Rudyerd Bay, Travel, Travel Blog
I missed Klemtu…terrific last time with the Oceanus three years ago. Captain Marce said she saw some Pacific white-sided dolphins at 3 a.m. Today lots of rain squalls, most of them light rain followed by brief bursts of sunshine. Lovely scenery that grows on you…endless mountains and glacial fjords, trees and waterfalls, eagles and inlets….
Right at the time that Lauri was to give a talk on the Tongass National Forest we arrived in Butedale. Bosun was to take Randall out for pictures…Randall forgot his pics and I jumped on board to do a plankton tow with the net that Jacqui gave us for the season…another reason I really like her and wish we’d cross paths again soon. We end up going over and talking to the two caretakers that have been on Prince of Wales island for a long time. Fun to see the dilapidated old cannery started in 1902 with a very cute stocky orange cat named “Tiger”.
We give them the very tasty breakfast burritos we had earlier and some of the fabulous bread that Lee cooks up for us every day. Then we invite them onto the ship. Bosun then drove Randall and I for some pictures of the waterfall and I do my plankton tow and put them in Petri dishes and have the passengers enjoy in the 20X and 40X of the stereoscopes.
Ron gave a talk to the passengers for ½ hour or so and we said our goodbyes and it was fun to be a part of the dignitary group…reminded me of the chiefs of Ifaluk in the south pacific 3 years ago as well. I feel I’ve reached a certain maturity and it is fun to be on the Bridge. Before lunch, I grabbed the microphone and thanked the Captain, Chief Mate, Bosun, E.L. and Hotel Manager for their flexibility and for bringing us this serendipitous expedition stop and announced the new map on the wall that Randall and I put up, as we finished the previous one.
Beautiful rain squalls for more pictures and a project just before the rain of putting together all of our tents this morning going through all of our first aid kits and labeling items….
I gave a talk on the natural history of the 3 bear species in alaska and what to do around bears. Entertaining and I also showed some slides of my program on the Great Bear Wilderness of the Kermode/spirit bear with some of my slides from Katmai. Mentioned Timothy Treadwell from Grizzly Man.
Pass Prince Rupert at 11:30 and we will enter the State of Alaska soon after passing through the testy waters of Dixon Entrance, lasting 4 hours
Tags: Adventure, Adventure Blog, Adventure Travel, Alaska, Alaska Cruise, Grizzly Bear, Grizzly Man, InnerSea Discoveries, Katmai, Timothy Treadwell, Tongass National Forest, Travel, Travel Blog
I give a Route map orientation right after we depart: When you feel the bump, I’d like to Welcome you to British Colombia. Talk about history, climate, geography, and also about the Europeans coming to the area, how the Strait of Georgia was named, what led to the Pig Wars. Anticipated storm waves not so bad because we waited a bit longer to depart.
At night we have game night and I play Scattegories and people think I’m hilarious with the answers I give. Randall is a pro and I am right behind him. We have a Disney ship pass us in the night at Cambell River.
Randall and I do a big cleaning for the CREW QUARTERS INSPECTION that takes place this morning by the Captain…gotta keep accomodations in a neat, orderly condition, as this “is not only seamanlike and courteous to your roomates to keep your cabin shipshape, but it is good health and safety policy as well. The Captain will be inspecting for the following:
- Deck vacuumed
- Beds made
- Floor free of debris and clutter
- No burned out bulbs
- Plumbing functional, no leaks
- No food
- Clothing stowed
- Air handlers operational
- Extinguishers visible/free of blockage
- Escape hatches clear
- No foul smells or other signs of unsanitary conditions
- Any deficiencies will be noted at the time of the inspection and will have a scheduled follow up to confirm conditions are rectified. If you have any questions, please check with the Capain or the Chief Mate…”
Talk with Chris who is a pilot and who worked in 1996 on the Wilderness Explorer and actually has film of me swimming out onto an ice-berg an sitting on it like a seal!
Today I give a presentation with Kim Dahm. She introduces fish found in Alaska and mentions the 5 species of salmon. She lets me do the 2nd half of her program which covers salmon farming. I go over everything that I spent months writing about last year while preparing for the book that I am in Sea Voices. It was a blast to be re-gurgitating this material. The discussion went on with many questions and I brought up many issues, including: farmed Atlantic salmon are dyed pink color; pesticide use to kill lice and how lice infest waters for the out-migrating juvenile salmon and the in-migrating salmon; heavy metals copper used on the nets; food waste and fecal waste and hypoxic environment; Norwegians using 2.5 to 10 pounds of wild caught fish for every pound of farmed fish; the use of Seafood watch cards put out by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, etc. I showed a Powerpoint slide show that I made/adapted it for today from three years ago during my last Alaska season.
In the afternoon, I gave a talk on the top deck after changing my mind about doing it in the lounge due to the big swells on glassy waters that we experienced after moving into Queen Charlotte Sound. People were feeling sea-sick but the weather was terrific. I did my El Nino/La Nina “What is drifting on Ocean Currents” talk with the props only depicting: Asia, New Guinea, South America, North America ;SE and NE Trade winds; Equatorial Current, SST sea-surface temperatures; Indonesian and Tahitian Low, North Pacific High; Jet Stream; Storms; Humboldt Current; Biological Diversity; Inhibition of bio-p; equatorial counter current, etc. and talked about the global impacts of El Nino and La Nina.
I then segued into marine debris talk with all of my props and had a blast doing so while watching one-by-one many folks heading for the downstairs to get sea-sick. They lasted quite a while. I talked about m time on the Lady Washington with the vomitorium of sick kids and teachers and how each minute seemed like an hour and every hour an eternity.
Went to the bridge and noticed the Captain was motoring at 5 knots and our 4-5 hour crossing was really taking a longer time, like 7p.m. I take a one hour nap and enjoy meetings and dinners with fellow crew…we all seem to be really happy and make a great team.
At night, Lauri and Kim do a trivia team quiz…I help a team with some of the answers.
Tomorrow I give a bear orientation talk, which should be fun.
Bears: The differences between a Grizzly bear and a Brown bear and how black bears come in all colors, including a glacier bear and the spirit bear
- · I will tell bear stories
- · How to act around bears
- · What if you are attacked what do you do black bear - fight, brown bear - play dead
- · Moose…run! They might chase you for 1 or 2 miles! Never run!!!!
I lead a hike originally for 12 but there was a mix up and I ended up leading it for 4 people to the other side of Sucia to Mud Bay. Highlights were pointing out many bird species that I identified by ear…a real rush hearing my winged friends and triggering all sorts of memories and synaptic neurons that haven’t been used in over 2 years:
Heard: Orange crowned Warbler; Townsends Warbler; Pacific-slope Flycatcher; Violet-green swallow; Rufous Hummingbird; Harlequin Duck; Belted Kingfisher, Bald Eagle, etc
In the afternoon I had more projects putting pads on the kayak racks. Went over with the bosun, Aaron, to make a fire right above the beach in a fire-ring surrounded by picnic tables. He started it with one of those smallish rectangular batteries and some steel wool! I collected a few plant cuttings, beach-combed a few items and grabbed a handful of dirt from the other side of the island that contained Indian midden material. Also mentioned the rocks as granitic coming and deposited by glaciers and the beach logs people were sitting on as part of log rafts that escaped from the tow from a barge during a storm. All this downwind of the fire, but was a terrific idea from our hotel manager, Terri, to throw the cocktail hour at 5pm on the beach. Leah did a fire show demonstration on the beach to cap it all off…
Now on our way back in our Dib that Kristin Roth was driving, bosun sped alongside us to grab some of the left-over hor’s deuvres and sped around us…he’s very entertaining! I had one of those dried meats onshore and as soon as I had it I was tripping over the logs and proclaimed: “I was looking at my meat and not my feet!” This got put up in the crew lounge bulletin board for memorable quotes by Leah, another very entertaining place to be during meals.
Fabulous feeling to come up from my cabin to see gorgeous scenery after sleeping the last couple of weeks in Fisherman’s Terminal on Salmon Bay in Seattle. Usual view then was rusty fishing boats, roads, parking lots but now glorious clean water, hillsides, forests, meadows and near-shore kelp beds.
We take a relaxing, wonderful whale-watching cruise after breakfast circum-navigating SJI into Haro Strait and past Lime Kiln Lighthouse State Marine Park where Killer Whales are often seen. Watch Humpback Whales and I have a chance to interpret their behavior on deck to the crowd on the fo’csle. Also see white-winged and surf scoter and pointed out the first bald eagle that flew overhead.
Not enough time ashore in Friday Harbor. I bought Patty lavender flower heads and shipped them to Texas I also looked at nets for collecting marine algaes to look in the stereoscopes provided by Jacqui from the Wilderness Adventurer. Went back to the ship to work on projects. Our E.L. is a real task-master, which is great so that we can have a productive and enjoyable season.
Head on over to Sucia Island and some of the crew and I eat on the top deck soaking in the marvelous skyscapes and seascapes. Surrounded by islands. I gave a route talk, describing Walden Island as a place for Annie Dillard who wrote part of her book “The Writing Life” on that off-the-ferry-stop path (won the Putlitzer Prize for her book “A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”).
Saturday | May 7th
One last big push by crew to get the vessel looking ship-shape. Passengers board by 2pm and are welcomed with champagne and appetizers.
Soon we are pulling lines and departing our dock in Seattle. Finally Alaska bound after 5 long mothballed years for this vessel and at least 7 months undergoing major renovations. Through Salmon Bay and the Ship Canal through the Charles M. Chittendem locks adjacent to the Carl S. English botanical gardens located on our starboard side as we pull into the “ship elevator” and we drop 25 feet from fresh water to salt water. Port side is Magnolia district of Seatle with a fish ladder and chutes with water released.
Then to Elliot Bay—not quite—for a view of the Seattle skyline, but bagged it because of the rainy squalls. Nice sunset after passing through Admiralty Inlet. Pulled into protection of lee side of SJI.
Friday | May 6th
Announcement on the ships public address system from the Hotel Manager: “All Hands report to the pier for stores.” Most of our 26 crew members set up a line and pass 6 pallets worth of food toward the refrigerator, dry stores and freezer. It takes a ½ hour to lift and pass hundreds of boxes. Wouldn’t want to make one person suffer through 13 hours to do the heavy lifting!
There is an insane flurry of activity, vacuum cleaners moving back and forth every 3 hours over the same spots in the lounge and dining room areas. Engineers, the boatswain or bo’sun, deck hands expedition guides swab the decks.
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