Last night we were all very happy to hear that we would get to see the
Wrangell Narrows in the daytime and many of us were up and about
early... Me included. 7am found me clicking away as we came into dock
at St Petersberg. Its a small little place and in the sunrise, with the
peaks of snow behind it, it looks like part of a fairy tale. And the
mist was swirling around creating wonderful photographs. The water this
morning was glass quiet - with absolutely stunning reflections that now
live in my cameras :) They have scarecrows on the docks to keep the sea
lions off the decks - apparently they make a memorable mess! The snow
capped mountains are a back ground to almost everything around here -
the cameras have taken on a life of their own!
After less than an hour, we left St Petersberg and headed the short
distance to the Wrangell Narrows entrance. As we rounded a bend in the
Inside Passage, the mist closed in totally - it was total whiteout all
around us. So much for seeing the narrows in the sunshine! Slowly the
Captain tickled the ferry closer and closer to the entrance, the we made
big circles in the water - going around about twice...... headed closer
again and....... nope - around we went again.
Apparently the mist on the way to St Petersberg slowed us down and the
tide went out and now there is not enough water in the Narrows to allow
the ferry through. So, the anchor was tossed overboard and we will be
hanging out here for a few hours waiting for the tide to come back in
and fill the narrows again. The difference between high and low tide
here is also around 20 foot each tide, so its makes a big difference and
it would not be fun to be caught halfway down with an outgoing tide!
That would be an ugly mess.
So I took one of the deck lounging chairs on the top deck, dragged it
out of the solarium and into the warm sunshine facing some of those
majestic mountains - and fell asleep!! It was not the most comfortable
thing to sleep on, but it was absolutely lovely, refreshing and great to
get warmed to the bone with that sunshine! Felt almost like Florida -
except that I was wearing thermal longs, jeans, wind pants, two jackets
and a neck warmer - oh and a pair of long socks too. But that sun on
my face was glorious! Almost every one is enjoying the delay - but there
are some that needed to be somewhere on time - they are the ones with
cell phones glued to their ears and muttering oozing from them as they
changed their plans. Everyone up here is used to plans changing in a
minute - so there was no one really grumbling, just a little bit of
discontent until everyone enjoyed the beautiful quiet, on glass still
waters. It really was a bonus - and many people said that afterwards
too. I don't know why my cell phone will not pick up a signal at all!
Nothing. I gave up a few days ago and it serves as my alarm clock till
I get to Bellingham again.
After a good few hours, the anchor was pulled up and we headed slowly
through the Wrangell Narrows.... Wow - the sandbanks were sliding by
just feet away from the Malaspina's hull. The tide was not fully in yet
and most of the houses along the banks were still a good long way from
the water. There are serious markers all over the place and it was
fascinating to see just how the Captain maneuvered through the many
adjustments needed to get through there without touching the bottom.
The water swirled viciously around some of the marker bouys, like
whirlpools - again just feet from the hull. Some of the houses along
the banks are really lovely homes, and others look more like cabins
visited occasionally. One of the passengers who boarded in Petersberg
was telling me that its lovely to stay there - many trails and so much
to do and also that the people are all wonderful. I guess that out in
remote places like this, the only thing to do is to stay close as a
community.
After the narrows came more towering mountains, less with snow on them
now and those that I could see were way back behind the tree covered
ones. At times we sailed really close to the banks that it was easy to
see and photograph the bald eagles in the trees, and other times the
banks were a good long way away, with mountains sort of layered in size
and shades of a dusky blue/grey. Just lovely.
After dinner last night the Road Scholar group had one of their ladies
singing, so I went to join them. The singing was good and the company
and laughter that happened afterwards was just wonderful.
We are almost at the end of this adventure - heading straight for
Bellingham through open waters now - Milbank Sound. The coastline is
all Canada and we dont stop anywhere. The Malaspina is bouncing along
really beautifully right now. I am sitting in the Observation room
getting a great view of the open waters.. One minute the windows are
filled with only a view of the water and the next its pure cloudy sky
filling the entire views. I love this motion and could easily curl up
somewhere and sleep - its so soothing. The Captain has warned that if
we move around, one hand is to hold on to some part of the boat, watch
the kids and....... take your medicine if you have an issue with motion
in a boat! I stood out on deck again, just savoring the spray in my
face and the sound of the hull crashing onto the waters, the swish or
swoosh of the water being parted at high pressure and the feeling of
freedom that brought. I took a few short videos of it as well -
hopefully I will be able to feel those feelings again once home.
We just passed another lighthouse. They are not lighthouses like I
always thought of them - tall, perched almost out in the ocean and
battered by the waves. These look like proper houses, all white with
lovely red roofs. There are other buildings around them, helipads on
some and what looks like whole communities at others. We saw some Dahl
Porpoises again today, but once again they were too quick to capture
good photos. A couple of eagles were swirling around above the ferry as
well, but nothing much else on the wildlife front today.
It was a lovely relaxed day all in all. I woke up very late, feeling
thoroughly grotty and just stayed in bed till around 8.30am. I was
surprised that most of the others did too - so it was a gentle slow
start to the day, spent mostly chatting to others, and watching the
ocean go by. Everyone chats to everyone on here - and there are so
many totally fascinating stories that I have heard - its really lovely
to hear parts of people's lives. A few times each day there is an
announcement and people who have animals on board, can go down to the
car deck and walk them around, play with them or feed them. Today I
went down to see what its like. Wow - what a great vibe! Dogs being
led all over the place, so well behaved. Some really big dogs that turn
out to be only puppies, and the array of different vehicles is
interesting too. There was a small over-the-cab rv that had a great
paint job of bear paw prints on it, little flowers in a flowerbox.......
well, its hard to describe - you are just going to have to wait for the
photos - but it looked like an adventure all ready to go!
I went to the Road Scholar meeting today - it was the last one of the
trip, and they showed a short power point presentation made up of some
photos they took along the way. Lovely! We were all very grateful to
Karen and Jere for all the hard work they did to make this adventure a
success..... Its lovely to see just how people really started caring
for each other during this week....
The crew of the Malaspina baked a cake to say goodbye to the Road
Scholar group and almost everyone in the dining room got a piece - it
was huge! What a lovely thing for them to have done.
And so, after a lovely meal, one last look around the wet cold deck, I
headed inside to pack - only about twelve hours left of this leg of the
trip. I feel sad. Sad to leave but so incredibly happy that I have
been able to see this astoundingly beautiful coastline along with some
little towns along the way.
The Malaspina is running about three hours late because of our wait at
the Wrangell Narrows, so we will get into Bellingham later than
expected, which seems to work very well for most of the passengers - me
included! Unfortunately the stops that were left, had to be scrapped,
well, shortened enough that through passengers could not get off. Ah
well - most of us were tired anyway, but I just know we missed out on
something
Ok - time to get some sleep.
Till tomorrow.............
Annie
xx
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