Alaska Journal - Day 3

After dinner (sometimes before dinner and sometimes during dinner), we would get a rundown of the next day events from the Expedition Leader, Travis.  Last evening we were told that we would be going through the Seymour Narrows about 5:00 a.m.

The Seymour Narrows was described by Captain George Vancouver as “one of the vilest stretches of water in the world.”

Ripple Rock was a submerged twin-peak mountain that lay nine feet beneath the surface of Seymour Narrows.  It was a serious hazard to shipping, sinking 119 vessels and taking 114 lives.  On April 5, 1958, after twenty-seven months of tunneling and engineering work, Ripple Rock was blown up with 1,375 tons of Nitramex 2H explosive making it the largest commercial, non-nuclear blast in North America.    
                                       

Destruction of Ripple Rock

We got up early and were on the bow by 5:00.  Not surprising, there wasn’t anyone else crazy enough to get up that early.  I took a few pictures and we stood around for about an hour. 

Although the view was beautiful, we weren’t really sure if we were in the Narrows or not.  I finally asked someone on the bridge and was told that, due to swift current, we had passed through the Narrows about 4 a.m.!

Today was a travel day and we would not be getting off the boat as we made our way through Canada’s inside passage.

The crew had several activities planned so we had plenty to do.  After breakfast we watched a documentary about the Seymour Narrows.  Even though we didn’t see the Narrows, the film was very interesting.

Today was a beautiful sunny day and we sat on the deck until lunch.

Still a little chilly outside! 

We slowly passed plenty of beautiful scenery.

The bridge was keeping an eye out for animal sightings and it wasn’t long before they announced several Pacific White-sided Dolphin had been spotted.

Pacific White-sided Dolphins

After lunch the pastry chef entertained us with a baking demonstration on how to make blueberry muffins.

Back on the sun deck it wasn’t long before Humpback Whales were spotted.

Humpback Whale composite

After dinner the captain made an appearance to inform us we would be going through open water starting about 10:00 p.m. and it would be very rough for about 3 hours.  We were encouraged to take motion sickness medicine.   Mark and I decided to take our chances and not take any medicine.

A very good short film was shown after dinner called Springer - the lost Killer Whale.  Springer was a baby killer whale that lost her mother and was found in very poor condition.  She was raised back to health, returned to her family pod, and is still alive and healthy.

Up to this time we had not noticed any turbulence on the boat.  Most of the time I couldn’t even feel any movement.  By the time we headed to our cabin things were starting to rock!  We were starting to have difficulty walking without holding on to support.  We both felt fine and even though the rough water lasted about 4 hours, we didn’t have any motion sickness problems.  During the entire 12 night trip, that was the only time we had rough weather.

Next time: Another day on the boat.