....Jiggity Jig

Home again Home again Jiggity Jig- And it feels great! The Alaskan Story all her crew and guest made it safely to Juneau on May 9th after a wonderful 2 weeks of cruising. Through BC Canada there was some beautiful scenery but very little wild life, however we did see Orca whales and a few eagles. We spent 6 days in Canada stopping to pick oysters and drop our crab pots in. The seafood was abundant- the oysters were so thick you didn't need to leave the place you hopped off the boat to fill your bucket there were so manny within reach! The Crabbing was also very successful with ~50 crab caught and ate- yep I think we had dungeness crab for at least one meal for the past week- crab cakes, crab salad, crab quiche, crab omelets.... you name it we had crab in it. Once we crossed into Alaskan waters the smile on my face got even bigger- I am HOME! The Humpback whales have arrived and we saw them breaching and lunge feeding, the eagles were so thick in a bay we stopped in- I think we counted 200+ on the beach and in the trees, the sea lions were basking on the rocks, the fishing was better- got a Halibut, the sun came out- you name it it felt good. All in all it was an enjoyable trip north and it has been a pleasure working aboard the Alaskan Story.

Currently I have one week off for the remainder of the summer until September so I have opted to hop the fast ferry to Sitka to spend some time with my Mother and see a few friends. I arrived in Sitka yesterday to my mothers whirlwind of packing for Port Alexander- she cracks me up! Not only did we spend the day running errands and packing boxes but my mother has literally brought the kitchen sink and well actually a bathtub as well. It took two heaping truck loads to get her and all her gear down to the Tracy-C for her trip to P.A (via Baranof Warm Springs of course). Granted I will give it to her that all the stuff was not hers and she was packing things south for the Port Alexander Museum as well as her food provisions for the whole summer. I was tempted to hop aboard however I would have been hard pressed to make it back to Juneau in time to get back to work.

Joel is now on his way north and likely getting deep into the wilds of BC Canada. I am very excited for him to experience the beauty that SE Alaska offers and I believe he will fall in love with Alaska as I have. Joel often describes his dream place as all mountains and ocean- which is precisely what SE Alaska is. There were places we passed along the way where the channel is >1000 ft deep and the mountain top a mere 1/4 mile from the shore is >4000 feet tall- yep Joel will love it. The Alaskan Song will likely be arriving in Sitka May 17th or so and then Joel's charter season will be off and running. For the time being he and i will continue to be ship's passing in the night on opposite schedules- however come July we will be cruising together once again- can't wait! So our Blog for the time being is each of our stories- however sooner than we know it it will be stories of us on our adventures together.

Well I best get started on the list of chores mom left for me:)... Joel welcome to Sitka my Love.