There and Back Again

Pondering: To be happy, we must be true to nature and carry our age along with us. (William Hazlitt)

Day 2 of our cruise. I woke up early, around 430 p.m. to find two things that brought a smile to my face: first, the vessel was slowly approaching the port of Ketchikan, in the southeastern part of Alaska. Second, my iPhone was showing ATT’s four bars, signaling cell phone service in the area. I am not totally unreachable anymore. Though no one is going to call me during this trip – I’m not that important – but just thought of being in the middle of the big ocean, with no way to call out or in (other than the ship phones that are ghastly expensive!) was a little frightening. I never thought getting a phone signal on my cell phone would bring such a sigh of relief from me.

Today, we had our first excursion offshore. We cruised the inside passage all the way to the Misty Fjords National Monument. What an amazing display of nature’s wonder and beauty. It was cold as hell on board the catamaran but I wouldn’t have wanted the tour any differently. The Misty Fjords were truly misty and thereby eerie, peaceful and intimidating.

We caught a glimpse of a number of wildlife on the ride to and from Rudyerd Bay. We saw a family of orcas, bald eagles perched on top of trees, a bald eagle’s nest the size of a water rafter, seals that were, as I was told, warming themselves while growing hair and hundreds of purple starfish growing on the side of giant rocks in Punchbowl Bay. For a moment there, I thought I was finally going to see a real live bear but the thing got shy and disappeared before the Captain could point him out to us.

My sister Myra was busy taking pictures of the scenery, and so was I, though for a while, I was busy just trying to stay awake. Alas, I haven’t been sleeping real well during this trip. I always somehow find myself awake at 3AM, unable to go back to sleep no matter how many ships I count. So on board the catamaran this morning, I felt like lying my head against the window sill and dozing off. I fought against it because that would have been a waste of freaking money.

Now were back on the big ship. In a few minutes, we’ll be sailing away again. Our next stop will be Juneau, Alaska. Who knows what awaits us there - another wet and rainy morning for sure and a host of many more beautiful scenery. I can’t wait to get there…