life has been good to me these last few days. our first trip – the long, 12 day cruise from seattle to sitka – ended well. the guests were nice, the weather cooperated, we had whales, bears, wolves, great days to kayak, good glacier calving… what else could you want in a trip to good ol’ alaska?
it started to rain on our last day. the guests were soaking wet after elk cruises at the inian islands in the morning, but they (and we – because even being outside on deck was chiiillllllly!) everyone warmed right up over lunch and the afternoon cruising south. we docked in sitka early and thus began our long turn day. guests off, guests on. life is cyclical, and so is my job. i like to take my time with cabins… yes, i like to get them done so i can have some time off, but i also like to relax and really make them look nice. the beds are easy. the heads are harder – no, more time-consuming.
enough about my toiling job though… i’ve had a really good time over the last week. when i first got back, i felt bummed out – depressed, lethargic, very unhappy. i chalked it up to not being in sync with my fellow stews, still thinking about home, about my babies there… but i’ve gotten close to my roomies, c and a, and spent a lot of time talking with several other crew – and really made some good friends here. t and i do crosswords everyday. a sometimes helps, but she likes to do her own. they’re calling me the crossword queen – haha – and t always checks with me before writing something down (unless it’s super freaking obvious..).
at night, we’ve started playing card games. golf, or gin. sometimes, someone breaks out catan and we’ll play. or make card houses. really, after two glasses of wine, we’ll do anything to get our minds off of the day.
i’m in love with alaska. who knew? i love petersburg, and i liked juneau a lot. sitka… well, it’s cute, but everything was closed on sunday. granted, it was mother’s day, but even the coffeeshop closed at 4. i just barely got my drink before they practically kicked me out.
**
one week later.
i’m sitting in the dining room on my little ship home. we’re just inside tracy arm, home to a stunning glacier and even prettier mountainous scenery. it’s my day off – a MUCH needed one, i might add. yesterday was turn day – yes, it’s really already been a full week since i started writing this post. last weeks guests were kind of needy, but they were incredibly appreciative of us, so we must be doing something right. there was a day where i wanted to throttle at least four of them around their necks, though.
we were down a person at the beginning of the week – m didn’t make her flight – and we had a new girl, d, so things were a little hectic for the first few days. somehow, we muddled through, but i lost my day off. we also started a new schedule, so it was a week of trying to work out the kinks.
now that we are up on the inner passage, we have pretty much the same itinerary each week. we always do petersburg, tracy arm, the inian islands, glacier bay, point aldolphus (for the whales!) and then maybe one or two more places. last week, our best day was at glacier bay; the rest of the week was rainy and chilly to the bone. however, once again, we took to the lido to spend our afternoon in the sun. since the boat doesn’t really move once we get to margerie glacier, it’s warm enough to sit in a t-shirt. c, t, a, a, and m were all up there with me, and while we didn’t get a good show from margerie, we did have a great time lounging in the bright sun.
on the 17th, we were in petersburg. it’s a tiny little town, but it’s really cute and friendly. we usually get some time off there in the afternoon; i handled clean laundry and then took off to phone the office for an interview (no word yet). it turns out that the 17th is norwegian independence day, and it also turns out that p’burg has the largest norwegian day festival outside of norway. go figure, but there were beer gardens, food booths, a parade, and old men dressed as vikings. i also took some time to hit the hardware store and buy some experimental seeds to plant and set in the window ledge that t built for me (i planted them on the day that i wrote this).
the festival was really cool, i guess as far as tiny town foreign country independence festivals can go… they had a herring toss, vendors selling little trinkets, and bands. there were people everywhere, which was unnerving to me (i have decided, after much soul-searching, that i really hate large crowds of people. they make me nervous. in fact, today, i saw a lovely spot where i would put a house: in the middle of an uninhabited mountain in tracy arm, surrounded by pine trees.) but anyway, p’burg: loads of people. the parade was small – it reminded me of stilwell’s 4th parade: random floats, church groups and children, candy throwing, and badly made handmade signs. BUT the coolest thing about this was the fact that everyone in the town was there, and they were all so excited and pepped up about it, and they were putting in a ton of effort to put on this party. also, i think the other coolest thing is that the vikings go around kidnapping people and making them either drink their way out or pay their way out. i understand that most people drink their way out…
that night – as p’burg night always is – was crab night. a night where we put on music, overfeed the guests crab and ribs, and are done by 9.
enough about the job though. i like doing it, but the best part for me is where we get to go and what we get to do. this past saturday at tracy arm, it was cold and rainy, but a few of us still went out on a boat to see the glacier. we came back and had water streaming down our jackets, but who cares?! it’s a freaking glacier. gb day is the best, i think, because we get to chill on the lido and tell stupid jokes, dance around and be ourselves – no “on face.” as i write this, i’m thinking back on my morning. i went out with 4 other crew/staff to the south sawyer glacier. we putted around watching arctic terns, harbour seals and one large calve off of the glacier face. afterward, i enjoyed the sun on the lido with t, who also has the day off (the only other person).
tomorrow, we are back in p’burg, and then we head north to glacier bay and point adolphus before turning back south and hitting a few places closer to sitka. i’m already a month in – only 2 1/2 months to go. it’s super crazy how fast it all goes.