May 2 - Inertia has set in

It has been a few days since I’ve written anything and it’s not because I’ve been terribly busy. Instead I’ve become lazy. Six straight days of moving the clock forward finally got to me on April 29, the day we arrived in Dutch Harbor. I couldn’t fall asleep the night before because my internal clock told me that 11 PM was 5 PM, way too early to go to sleep.  I finally dropped off at 6 AM on the 29th.  Unfortunately at 8:30 the cruise director John came over the public address system to tell us that the US Immigration and Customs people were ready for us to have a face-to-face with each of us to clear us for entry into the US. Everyone had to appear with passport and, if not a US citizen, a visa or  ESTA in hand. (It may be just me but I see a little irony here.) We went deck by deck and when I finished I went back to my cabin and back to bed.  I slept until 12:30 PM.  Half the day was shot already.  There were no tours offered and there truly is nothing in Dutch Harbor.  I thought I’d at least get off the ship just to set foot on dry land after nearly a week.  About the time I stepped on to the gangway it began sleeting.  I made a u-turn and went back inside and did not much of anything for the rest of the day.  One thing I did hear was there were lots of eagles around and one of the ship's dance troupe got this great video of an eagle perched on a railing of the ship.

I should mention a little about Dutch Harbor.  The community is on Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands.  In June 1942 it was the target of Japanese bombers, thus making it one of the few US places attacked during WWII.  During the war there were close to 20,000 sailors and soldiers based here. The military facilities have been decommissioned for a long time and the principal activity on the island now is commercial fishing.  Dutch Harbor is the home of a large fishing fleet through which more than a billion dollars of mainly cod and pollock are transferred every year.

When I looked at the photos I'd taken as we sailed from Dutch Harbor, I realized that the scenery was very pretty albeit desolate.  The first one I took as we moved away from the dock.  When we left Japanese ports there were always bands and people waving goodbye and thanks for coming.  Do you notice anything missing in this one?

Not a single, solitary soul saying goodbye

This was some very pretty scenery though.

April 30th we were back at sea on our way to Kodiak, Alaska.  We had the usual full slate of activities including lectures, classes and trivia. I went to a couple of lectures, played trivia (we’re tied for 1st place), and took a nap.  A really productive day!  It was cold and blustery outside so except for stepping outside to take a look around I stayed in where it’s warm all day.  In the evening John, the cruise director, did a show called John &Friends in which he included members of the ship's entertainment staff and at the end the guest entertainers who were leaving us the next day.  It was a great show which I think all of us enjoyed.

That's Manic John on the left and Madcap Melody on the right

Yesterday May 1st we docked in Kodiak, the principal town on Kodiak Island with a population of close to 6,000 people.  Kodiak is the home of a lot of the Alaskan king crab and snow crab industry.  Kodiak suffered greatly back in 1964 when there was a 9.2 earthquake in Alaska and before the earth had even stopped shaking a massive tsunami struck Kodiak and other parts of the state.  The town and its entire industry were essentially wiped out. Alongside our dock there were hundreds of huge crab pots waiting for the season to begin.  Once again we had a cold rain falling, not at all conducive to walking around.  One of my friends and I got a cab and went to – are you ready for this – Walmart.  That’s right, Kodiak has a Walmart and a Safeway. I needed to buy an extra suitcase because I have bought some things along the way and I’m not sure they will all fit in my bags.  Seabourn will pay for shipping two suitcases so I figured I’d get another one just to be safe. We passed through downtown Kodiak and we saw a MacDonald’s, a couple of Filipino food trucks (evidently there are quite a few people from the Philippines living here and working in the fishing industry), a Mexican restaurant and a Chinese one.  Aside from that there wasn’t a whole lot.  From what we saw of the island it is pretty mountainous with lots of fir trees a little higher up and deciduous trees on the lower slopes. The latter showed not a sign of budding yet.  Another of my friends who took a tour of a crab business told me that the guide told her that the weather that day was like a January day in Kodiak, not really springlike. When we got back to the ship it was afternoon and we stayed on board. 

Lots of big crab pots waiting for the season to start and to be filled with crabs to go to your local Costco

Kodiak not at its very best

I forgot to mention that in the Walmart there was a very large and impressive stuffed Kodiak bear.  Kodiaks are one of the two largest types of bears (the other is the polar bear) and they average standing heights of 8 feet.  Physically Kodiaks are similar to grizzlies but they are 1.5 to 2 times larger and males can weigh as much as 1400 pounds.  This guy was really impressive!

Now this is one BIG bear!

  

In the evening there was a dance party in the club after dinner.  A friend and I went down and got a table near the dance floor. The ship was doing a lot of rocking and rolling so we decided dancing would be dangerous.  Instead we had a very entertaining evening watching some of the people who had had a little more to drink than perhaps they should have dance.  It was a little like watching a flock of birds as they fly in unison this way and that with the wind or air currents.  As the ship rolled the dancers would lurch across the floor.  Nobody fell which was a good thing and I suppose it might sound bad that we were entertained watching this but we were.  Oh well, what can I say. We had a good night.

The ship rolled a lot all night and this morning we arrived in Homer, Alaska.  Once again it was raining intermittently and extremely windy.  All the tours for the day had been canceled because the tour operator didn’t have the proper insurance.  Somehow it seems that someone would have figured that out long before today, doesn’t it?  The Chamber of Commerce of Homer was evidently so happy that a cruise ship came here that it made a shuttle bus available to take people into the town.  It seems I’m not the only one caught in the grips of inertia.  My friends and I sat around in Seabourn Square and contemplated making the long walk down the pier in the wind and rain to get to the bus. Another friend came along and said she’d gone to town and there wasn’t much to see.  Finally we’d thought about it enough that it was lunch time. After lunch it was just too late to even think about going ashore.  Do you get the picture?  We’ve all gotten just a little lazy.  In fairness to Homer I have to say that another friend told me in the evening that she took the shuttle bus and stopped someplace where she took a tour of a workshop where they made mesh fishing nets.  She said it was fascinating; really, I kid you not.

This was Homer.  Maybe I should have gotten off my rear end and gone ashore, but you know what they say about a body at rest. It's inertia.

At dinner I dined with a new guest entertainer, a Russian violinist.  She was a delightful dinner companion.  She lives in Los Angeles now which must make it easier for her to travel because of what’s going on in Ukraine.  After dinner there was a comedian in the Grand Salon.  He wasn’t as funny as one we had earlier in the cruise but he did get some laughs.  As many comedians do he picked a foil in the front row and unbeknownst to him he picked the man who we know as “bathrobe man.”  I can’t remember if I’ve written about this man before but he has shown up at very inappropriate times wearing only his bathrobe plus he’s a strange  guy.  A few nights ago he dined at a table with a couple of my friends and a guest speaker who is a former ambassador.  He started the conversation by asking the ambassador how much it would cost him to buy an ambassadorship (is that a word?) for himself or his son.  Not the most appropriate way to make small talk at  dinner.

After the show I went to the Club but once again we were doing quite a bit of rocking and rolling.  There were only a few of us there and we talked for a while and then called it a night.  I think for those of us who have been on for a couple of months we’re winding down and getting into time-to-go home mode.  Only a week left!