Me at Eyjafjallajokull March 27, 2010

… but she was understanding that I couldn’t be there this year. I was only gone for a couple of days, but there wasn’t any flexibility in the travel plans that were requested of me. And one doesn’t get an all expense paid trip to an erupting volcano every day! This is a flow at the Eyjafjallajökull volcano near the Eyjafjalla glacier. I’ve put a red dot over my head since this is the *only* photo I have of myself during the trip and even I might have trouble remembering where I was in a few years. Actually it’s the *only* photo I have from the whole trip (another story) but it’s not like I can take better pics than you can see all over the net. Anyway, thanks for understanding Suebabe, and Happy Birthday!

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/index.html

I’m going to raid the minibar in a bit. 

I have good coffee pre-staged for brewing in the morning.

This is an “at sea” day as we head back to Seattle via Victoria (Canada).  We will dock at Victoria at 6 this evening and be there until 10.  Sue and I haven’t decided if we will get off there or not.  At 10 we leave for Seattle where we should disembark between 8 and 10 am.

We went to a presentation a little while ago where the Captain discussed some of the operational aspects of the ship.  Interesting, it was.  I’m going to post a couple of pics  from the bridge view.

The *sun* is out.  We are planning on taking our books (me, maybe the iPod) and finding some deck chairs to lounge in.  Schools of fish parallel the ship from time to time, jumping, and it is fun to watch.

First, a moment of silence in remembrance.

We woke up in Ketchikan, AK, where we had landed at 6am.  The day was damp, gray and foggy.  Ketchikan is in a temperate rain forest which seems somewhat out of place in the far, cold north; they measure their rain in FEET, not inches. There are trees everywhere…but no top soil so very little, if any, grass.  We went on an excursion through the cruise lines…lighthouses, totems, and eagles. We rode a bus to board a boat to go out of a small harbor about 20 minutes from downtown.  The bus drivers were very entertaining.  There was only one lighthouse, several totem poles, and lots of eagles!  We saw nests, juveniles, and adult pairs.  There was an occasional harbor seal and sea lion on the way.  It was a very fun and worthwhile trip.  And the boat driver said there are NO snakes in Alaska so this must be a good place to visit (or live)!

A few comments on the cruise as a whole….the NCL folks are serious germophobes! There are self-dispensing hand sanitizers throughout the ship as well as crew members with squirt bottles outside all eateries.   They keep emphasizing that if you have any symptoms of the flu then you should call the service desk, and they will have you medically evaluated, free of charge.  There have been few if any sneezes floating about! These folks believe in prevention.

Sailing yesterday evening, the seas were “moderate” again – meaning the occasional grab for something to hold on to, and of course a regular motion to the whole vessel.  Again no problem for Sue and me (we take turns writing paragraphs/sentences by the way) but obviously not to the liking of some.  It apparently can get much worse in these parts.  Yesterday, two ships that were supposed to dock where we did early this morning didn’t.  Apparently one (a large one) got turned sideways by the wind in the approach channel and that seems to be something that captains and pilots don’t like.  The operator of the excursion that we took today said that they couldn’t run yesterday because where we were just fine, the day before had 50-mph winds and 8-foot seas.  While we were out the weather was actually nice, nearing actual sunny!  That was a surprise after the heavy fog this morning.  Right now (about 4:30) it is as I described to Sue:  “I think that it is sunny but it’s just hard to tell because of the fog.”  You kind of have to be here, I guess.  At any rate, the weather hasn’t dampened (sic) our trip at all.

It is disturbing to see ditches of dead fish.  Said another way, streams where the salmon were born and where they now return in a frenzy to spawn and die.  A real illustration of what I have heard of for a long time (but they don’t mention the smell).  We did see many eagles today, and they are opportunistic hunters where these streams empty into larger bodies of water.

We have been carefully monitoring our purchased internet minutes.  We find ourselves with a surplus that we will have to burn over the next couple of days.  We have gotten good at doing any writing off-line and minimizing photo sizes to keep required connection time to a minimum.  Plus in the ports we have had AT&T service including data to some degree (albeit E, not 3G).  Just a data point.

A pause.  I have decided to brew a pot of Community.  Bringing that was a good idea.  Their coffee is better than some I have had, but your standards have a tendency to adjust to what’s available under duress.  The room does have all the comforts of home: a small flat screen TV with a few satellite (TNT, CNN, FOX, ESPN) and movie channels; a coffee pot with fixings (enhanced by our own brand); and lots of light though the large glass doors that open to the balcony with 2 chairs and a small table.

In Ketchikan we were at the site of the proposed “Bridge to Nowhere” that Sarah … the Governor Palin took so much heat over.  It looked like a good site to me.  How many of you have been over the Mississippi Bridge near Gramercy?  Like Juneau (the state capital), Ketchikan can only be reached by light air and water.  I don’t think that the bridge would have changed that, but it would eliminate the need for some local ferries.  Anyway I’m sure that the bridge will be built at some point, just when people aren’t looking so close.  I heard one local analysis (by a summer student worker from Tempe, AZ)  that said that the cost could be recovered, in an ideal situation, in as little as three hundred years or so, so why the fuss?

The coffee is brewing so I’m still writing.  The stewards forgot to leave clean coffee cups again!  This one is coming out of their trip tip, dangit!  Other than that, they are taking good care of us.  (Sue had to add that last part, but it’s true.)

Now to see what kind of pics we got on our excursion this morning and post a few.  I would have done it earlier but the potato-watercress soup (chilled), spicy lamb kabobs, and pineapple cake (with caramel and butterscotch) for lunch sort of put a point on the morning’s exertions and I had to take a nap …

Entered Glacier Bay this morning to fog and rain.  It was too early (6am) to be too upset.  By the time we traveled to Tar Inlet to see Margerie Glacier, it was still drizzling but less foggy.  There are 4 National Park rangers onboard from the Glacier Bay National Park who have been educating us about the formation and ecology of glaciers throughout the morning.  We heard and saw the glacier calve (what they call it when a hunk of ice falls off!) a couple of times.  When the water dried on my camera lens, it left a white residue – salt perhaps?  Then we traveled to Lamplugh Glacier in the John Hopkins Inlet.  It was not quite as big as the previous one.  This is a really beautiful piece of the USA, and I would encourage all who can to visit.  Of course, I am easily impressed by nature.