(More journal entries from my winter in Alaska)
Saturday, November 12, 2011
We spent yesterday in Prince Rupert, Canada. I wasn’t awake when we arrived in the early morning, but they called me out at 0200 to help unlash. Then on my watch we offloaded the barge and by 6 I was too cold to stand around any longer. I went down to the boat and stayed busy for the rest of the morning and at 8 when I got off work, I passed out and slept hard until 1500. We lashed the cars after dinner and had to wait for the tide to come in before we could leave. Prince Rupert looks like a really pretty town – I wish I could have gotten a better look at it but maybe I’ll get the chance some other time.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Last night we arrived at Stikine Strait and this was our first full day near Wrangell, AK. We are hiding from the storm that is raging in the gulf and we might be here til Thursday if the weather doesn’t lie down before then. We can’t even go around Cape Decision because weather reports are calling for 30-foot seas there.
Ok so I can’t help it; I’m lonely tonight. You can hardly see the town in the distance for all the snow that’s coming down. When you turn on the floodlights, it illuminates the wall of snowflakes in front of us and you can’t see a thing. It’s like being in a snowglobe.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
We didn’t actually stay in Wrangell after all. We went around Cape Decision this morning and we might start across the gulf tomorrow. I’m glad not to be turning circles anymore, although Stikine Strait really was beautiful. When I was on watch last night, I could see the lights of Wrangell a few miles away and in the clear air, the sprawling town looked like a jeweled necklace, with lights of all colors glinting like gems along the shore.