Destination Circle: Day 12

May 25, 2016

Woke up on the water....traveling is seductive, isn't it? with all the memories one accumulates. Faith, you must have millions. Are your trips still clearly and easily recalled? all the wonderful and unexpected details and situations and people and geographies?

I had no idea what time it was or what time zone I was actually in. The clock in the cafeteria said 10:40, but no one was up and about. Folks were huddled in sleeping bags or under blankets on couches. I found coffee and an employee offered to get me an actual coffee cup and told me the "waxed" cups  on the counter weren't good for hot drinks, etc, etc. He was a young Native; other than the employees,  almost every person was Caucasian. Many were middle-aged to older couples speaking French or German (interestingly, no Japanese on board); some were slightly loose and disheveled (but in the backpacker way, not the biker way) and were usually on the open deck; and increasing numbers of young mothers with very noisy kids and babies came aboard as we moved north. It was 5:50 a.m. I figured out as I sat in the front, watching for birds and reading and drinking coffee. Perfect....

Seals taking their leisure where they can

The ocean was calmer now that we were definitely on the INLAND waterway, calm but mostly overcast with intermittent rain all day. I saw a life bird: a Pacific Loon, similar to the Common but which has a pearly grey head and neck. Gulls and Pigeon Guillemots were numerous along with other species flying swiftly over the water that I couldn't ID.

I read most of the day, a book of essays by Peter Hessler. He had at one time been in the Peace Corps in China and then stayed as a journalist, and much of his writing is about that country. It was quiet and civil. There were no TV or radios or any digital stuff happening, except for cameras. Many of the men had binoculars but weren't birders, and nearly everyone took photos. We stopped at Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Haines and finally Skagway the next morning. Each stop was prolonged as the captain had to do no damage to his ship or the docks and moved cautiously. The harbors had small to medium-sized fishing boats; the homes rose on slight hills. These villages are isolated collections of humans in a world of water and trees and wilderness. Much of the route is actually through the Tongrass National Forest. One cannot drive to Ketchikan or Juneau - it's either boat or plane, and I wondered about health care and medical emergencies, the schools, the kids growing up, the social hierarchies, the economies. Two Alaskan guys were gabbing, and the subject arose of moving Alaska's capital (now Juneau) to a more accessible city. The more voluble, opinionated one said that this wouldn't happen as the politicians like that their constituents "couldn't get to them easily."

Table top in the cafeteria on the Matanuska

Four of the tabletops in the spacious cafeteria were works of art, commissioned by various government agencies. Birds, animals, sea fauna and shells each had a separate table. Really, they were beautiful, accurate and informative, as good as any nature guide.

I moved from side to side, from window seat to window seat depending on the direction of the rain. I went to the open deck and read there and spent time outside watching as the captain moved through a long narrows aided by red and green navigational buoys. It was a nice bit of seafaring.

through a narrow strait on the Matanuska

If I ever do this route again, I would sleep out on the deck in a sleeping bag or on a couch inside. The rattling in my cabin was not dulled by Dramamine the second night and was significant. I saw where previous occupants had shoved pieces of cardboard between the metal joint of the bunk above, and I added another six pieces with no improvement. I slept fitfully for four hours.