North by North West Chapter Four

Wednesday, Sept. 8th….still trying to figure out why I was sleeping so well. Was it the bed – no joint pain upon waking, the pillows – little fluffy – no neck pain. No fan – a requirement at home. Warmer than we keep it at home. Whatever it was, it was working and I’d been sleeping wonderfully – maybe it was the subtle rocking all night.


SITKA: After breakfast we were eager to go ashore to beautiful Sitka – by the way – first place the American flag was raised in Alaska.

We were taken by life boat to Sitka – the mountains misty and grey – most tops shrouded in mystery.
We somehow missed the fact that the St. Michael’s part of the tour was happening as we did Sitka the way I enjoy – just walking about, breathing the air, glancing in shops. I even managed a brief visit to Sitka’s Quilt Shop where I was able to buy a hoop – the one I had packed had been badly broken in the suitcase – I think by the inspectors – and while they didn’t have a single spool of the needed white quilting thread, I really enjoyed the shop and discovered they are on line, so I might order some of the lovely fabrics they had. More walking, and then we

called grandchildren, Larry and Jessica – left messages for both – and Lar bought a reindeer hot dog and a soda.

I wasn’t in the mood for street vendor hot dogs – reindeer or not – but I popped into a restaurant bar where they made me up a brie/berry and croissant to go. As I was about to go out to join Lar, he came in and said no need to leave, that I should sit and enjoy the gorgeous view out the big windows onto the bay and enjoy my meal.
When I was about half finished, Lar lunged up and dashed out of the restaurant without me. I hurriedly gulped down the last of my lovely warmed cheese and toasted croissant, not the recommended way to enjoy such an epicurean delight and ran to catch up with him. I never did figure out where he was in such a hurry to get to as we then waited more than 30 minutes for our tour. I don’t think he knew either!

Our tour guide for the Silver Bay Nature Cruise and Salmon Hatchery was Sandy who 18 years ago had found herself widowed, kids grown and she first visited Sitka. She fell in love with the place and came back to stay.
Our tour was enjoyable up to the point of disembarking for the hatchery. I’ll just say that commerce and nature do not go well together. I would not recommend the tour to anyone, actually, especially anyone with children along. It's left me with real issues about the food chain.. 'nuf said?!

Here you may be able to see the water is just solid with salmon attempting to get upstream to spawn. Those aren't stones you see...they are fish fighting the fight of their lives.

The hatchery did have some beautiful photo ops however,

At the end of the tour we went from the small tour boat to the life boat to the ship and were soon on our way again. We sat in a lounge area before a large window watching as we sailed away from Sitka – glass of wine – next to us an advertisement for black pearls – on the other side – out the window – the various black pearls of islands edged in frilly white of the water breaking on their settings, and gathered on top by black evergreens against a steely grey and silver sky.
I was rather saddened to see Sitka disappearing in the distance, the furthest mountains as misty

and softened as memories. From afar I saw a tiny flashing of a lighthouse like one small perfect diamond in this chain of ebony.

Abruptly, ( I was beginning to get the idea - Lar had become like a jumping jack - so I had to be prepared at a second's notice for his popping up with yet another idea!) Lar decided we must go to dinner in one of the formal dining rooms. “I want to be served” he announced. The dining rooms are not my preference. They are more “stuffy” and the offerings are fancier – saucier – richer than I like. But he, on the other hand, is not a fan of the buffet, so we must meet in the middle.
We walked in and were seated – alone for the first (and only) time and it was then I realized it was a special “dancing dinner”. I found it – oh, I don’t know – just weird, I guess…the servers were required to march in, singing and dancing with each course. Big fan fare. I kept wondering if, when they were young, they ever dreamed they would make their living in such a way. But, it’s a job….who’s to say mine isn’t as goofy in a way. People seemed to love the fan fare. Give the people what they want.

KETCHIKAN: By Breakfast on Thursday we had docked at Ketchikan. We had a scheduled “duck” tour so after briefly shopping for a few souvenirs, we boarded the duck vehicle. Our guide, a young woman originally from Utah also works as a dispatcher for the Ketchikan police and fire departments. She and our driver kept us amused and informed throughout the tour which covered a great deal of the town as well as a long stretch of their working port. They included a kind of side trip to the site of an eagle’s nest – with two fairly large youngsters still residing. The pair have used this same nest for 4 years now. One of the young has just begun to fly, but the other has not left the nest as yet. He looked absolutely huge through the binoculars. Don’t know if the movie camera picked him up or not. A tid-bit of information we picked up is that approximately 90% of what we see as the little city of Ketchikan closes up and no longer exists the minute the tourist season is over! We were encouraged to support those of the businesses that remain throughout the year.
After the tour we got a bit more shopping done, enjoyed a cup of hot tea and then we reported to the ship as it was due to leave port at 1300 hours, sailing out of the passageway and back into the Pacific. It was smooth sailing and we all saw many whales along the way – quite close to the ship. We were on the way to Victoria.

That night was the second of the two “formal” dining nights. We sat with Vicki and her mom – nice people from Texas and a couple from British Columbia. They were very much the world travelers – having been up the Amazon and other amazing places. Very genteel and soft spoken folks. That evening’s fare included filet and lobster tail.
After dinner we went directly to the theater for a show and later sat once again in one of the lounges and simply relaxed.

VICTORIA: Friday we were at sea until 1800 hours when we docked in British Columbia. Whales accompanied our travel for a great part of the way. We ate dinner on the Lido deck as we’d been advised to be sure to eat, at least a light dinner before our excursion – Pub Hopping. We disembarked and went directly to our excursion bus – we were going on the Victoria Ale and Brewery Tour. Earlier, we’d been told our suitcases had to be outside our door no later than midnight, so we tried to make sense of what we would and would not need in the morning and hurriedly packed before setting out. (I use the word “packed” lightly – it was mostly chuck, shove, throw and toss!) I cannot say how many times throughout the evening I thought back on the frightful state those suitcases were in, but reassured myself that it wasn’t for long….soon as we were on land and in a place to sleep that night I could put everything right.
The pub tour was okay – not outstanding – however the driver was fun and informative and took us by a number of interesting sites, explaining as he drove. At the end of the evening, he took us to a perfect location for pictures of their Parliament at night. We got some great pictures there.

When we returned to the pier, we got a few souvenirs and then returned to the ship.