Karl’s Korner

Good afternoon, friends and family,
Yes, as Kirk Douglas sang to the Walrus named]
Esperanza, (remember that, it’s on a trivia question on the ship), we have a whale of a tale to tell.
Sometimes, you make the right decision - today was another one of those times. We almost slept in and said, “to heck with it”, when we heard Icy Strait Point was a small village of only 900 souls. I was worried about Carol being able to get on the tender if the water was choppy or the weather bad.
Then we awoke and looked outside to see the most perfect day we’ve had so far, (and we’ve had our share of beautiful ones). It was bright sunshine, almost 65 early, and a cloudless sky. The scenery is fantastic - lots of small islands around us, and snow capped moutains showing their glorious heads through passes between smaller mountains in the foreground that are covered with tall, tall evergreens and pines.
The bay was as smooth as that proverbial baby’s butt, so no problem with the tenders…
So, it was no contest. We got out of bed, ate and headed belowdecks, (see how nautical we can be), to catch the tender.
We got off at an old cannery about 2 miles from town whiich has been converted into a shopping center, welcoming center, theater, etc, and decided to walk into town with our friends, Tom and Nancy Saga, from the saga of Kodiak and the looonnngg walk through the forest.
When we arrived there, we met three local men, (actually one local and two friends), all vets, one a Navy seal, the others Viet Nam vets. David, the local, was cleaning a huge pile of salmon on a plywood table connected to the side of a restaurant he and his wife own. He was preparing to “smoke” the fish in a homemade cabinet, also attached to the restaurant, that looked like an out house.
Nels, (short for Nelson), and Herman, two of his friends and the crew members of his boat, were standing around BS’ing, (their words, not mine). We inquired about whale watching, and after talking another couple into going with us, David gave us a deal for $110 per person for a three hour trip, (which turned out to be longer), and guaranteed we would see whales.
Sorry to say, I can’t recall the name of their boat, but it was a beautiful, modern craft seating six inside a nice warm cabin, (although we didn’t need it much, as the temp got up in the 70s).
We headed out and went about 20 miles from Hoonan. And, our guides did not mislead us.
We saw at least 40 whales, maybe as many as 50, they were all around us. Most would come close and then “tail”, which meant they would dive, waving their barnacle crusted tails high in the air as they dove under. “Spouting” was all around us. We grew tired of yelling, “Thar she blows!” and just said, “There’s another one off the port/starbord/aft/bow.
Two of them came very close and must have been “resting”, as they stayed on top of the water for several minutes and gave us lovely views. Nels said they seldom saw any do that, so it was a rare treat.
Seals and sea lions played all around the boat. We met a pod of several sea lions who really put on a show for us, cavorting, diving and playing like trained ones in a sea show, but this was in the wild and just for us. What a treat!
All around us was scenery you can only dream of, wilderness at its best. No, we didn’t see any bears, (”bars” up here), but we really didn’t care. Believe me, the views would have been worth the fare, even without the whales.
Finally, we headed back to the ship with many wonderful memories to add to our memory banks.
So, now we’re back on the ship, full of good soup and a sandwich and a couple small slices of watermelon and enough iced tea to sink the Titanic.
Last night’s Captain’s Circle party was nice. Since it was June 6th, I reminded the Cruise Director about it being D-day, and she did a very nice salute to the WWII vets we have on board - yes, we have several - isn’t that wonderful?
The show was great - a humorist and piano player par excellent. Carol and I even got in a dance before the rocking of the ship made it difficult to accomplish.
Carol is sitting by my side in the sun, I think she could use a nap, so we’ll head down to the cabin. Since we ate so late (3 pm), I doubt we will do dinner in the dining room at 6).
Before I leave, I will tell you Nels and Herman had so many stories I’d love to publish sometime, and they said David could fill another book with his tales, so a fact finding trip to Alaska might be in the near future.
What a trip this is turning out to be.
Until next time, thanks for dropping by.
Via con Dias, my friends,
Karl & Carol