it’s been a long time since i wrote. i apologize… my time in kansas city was not what i expected, and i was yearning to come back to the boat. i felt depressed, unable to work, unable to take my dogs on walks for fear of injuring my knee further… it was rough. i slept a lot.
but i am back! i flew down to la paz, bcs on friday the 19th and spent a few hours catching up with old friends before we went onboard the ship on saturday morning. that was a whirlwind of work. guests disembarked, we embarked, and we immediately got to work. of course. by one pm, we were pulling away from the dock, on our way to san diego. it was a three day trip, and we got so very lucky with the weather. of course, spending two and a half months off of the boat does not help one’s sea legs (or stomach) so i have been a little queasy the entire time! luckily, i get to spend a lot of my time working on cabins that are on the upper decks and therefore amongst the fresh air.
we pulled into san diego harbor early on the 24th. customs and immigration came onboard and looked at all of our passports, looked at us, checked our trash/food… all the things people think are important. several crew members disembarked and several more came on. we spent most of our morning sitting around the dining room. we pulled out of the harbor around one pm, next stop seattle. it was a cloudy morning in san diego, but by late afternoon, once we were north of la, the sun was shining and we had a superb sunset. have you ever seen the green flash? i watched for it, but apparently you need to not be looking at the sun before it sinks below the horizon. out here on the water, in the middle of nowhere, the horizon is well-defined and i am eagerly awaiting my chance to see the elusive flash.
it’s my day off today (thursday) and i spent my morning lounging in my cabin, reading and sleeping. in the afternoon, i swung in a hammock while reading, watched a whale smack its tail on the water, sat in the sun and did some yoga. it’s one thing i hope to continue while onboard. i started it back up in kc once my therapist said my knee was good to go, and now that i’m here, i want to teach myself more. i want to work on my balance (on a boat that sways, that is hard!), my meditation, my breathing, my core strength. already, i know my flexibility is envied… who knew that so many people cannot touch their toes?! i can put my palms flat on the ground.
*april 29 – may 1*
i had a hell of a time trying to get into my blog account! i changed a bunch of passwords while i was home, and i also reset my gmail account… and when i went to log in to this blog, i couldn’t. oops.
anyway… we are now in canada. i know, what a change from southern cali. it took us about 5 days to get from san diego to seattle, and we pulled into dock at 8pm. the next day, our sister ship, the sea lion, was docked next to us and we had a mini reunion with some of our ship friends. they were embarking guests that day, and we were all still waiting on warehouse and store orders to come in. i felt bad for those guys – their ship was in complete disarray and we were sitting pretty on all cabins done and an extra day.
on the first night, i went out with the rest of the girls into ballard, a neighbourhood of seattle just north of the ship. a few beers, some good conversation… all is well. the next day flew by – we had lunch delivered by evolution revolution, a delish food truck, and we got to hang out with the lion crew too. my friend s ended up coming by too – a total surprise – so it was great to catch up with everyone i worked with in baja.
the lion pulled out that afternoon and we finished up our work early. i went out into freemont with my friends after a good tour of seattle. i decided – it’s a great city. maybe a little expensive, maybe a little jaded… but i liked it a lot.
the next day, we got the afternoon off before we took on guests. e, a, c and i went off walking into seattle and ended up taking the ferris wheel over the city. what a view – the olympics, the cascades… the WATER!
*may 1 – 12*
guests came on that night and we’ve had them on now for a week. we had a few rough nights coming up from seattle, and we did have a few days in canada – in nanaimo and in alert bay. we stopped in ketchikan on the way into alaska – did customs and got water and then kept on. we anchored at misty fjords that afternoon, where my friend a and i kayaked through the narrows and explored the shoreline. we heard – did not see – two avalanches in the upper mountains.
the next day, we docked in petersburg and had the afternoon off. i went off into town and explored the bookstore and then went to a tiny cafe with a and a. the weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, and i’m so happy to get to spend my summer up here. it’s like the last frontier – is that weird to think? i mean, that’s what it’s called… and it really is. we go places where we don’t see a soul.
the next few days were a blur… we kayaked at misty fjords, we took our small boats out to dawes glacier (where i took some stunning portraits of my fellow crew — i’ll post those soon!), we stopped in juneau for a morning, and we spent a day in glacier bay. juneau was nice. i’ve never been before, so when i was done with my cabin cleaning, i walked through town, got myself a coffee, found a used bookstore, bought some yarn and just generally explored a bit.
we have been so lucky with weather. it’s our 9th sunny day here, and we couldn’t have asked for a better day to be in glacier bay. the sun was glistening off of the water, sparkling like diamonds. the margerie glacier gave us a couple of small shows – nothing massive, but we did get a few good calves. onward and southbound now – to sitka.