My first two days in SE Alaska have been absolutely amazing. Once on the ground in Petersburg I was met and picked up by the Executive Officer (XO) and a Junior Officer (JO). Within two minutes of being on the ground I was asked if I would like to play softball. I told him I could be considered “a ringer”. The setting was truly surreal. There were snow capped mountains in all directions, and I spotted my first bald eagle of my trip. We played 7 innings on a gravel ballfield; with members of both the Fairweather and its sister ship The Rainier, which is being serviced currently. I smacked the ball around pretty good and almost made a sliding catch in the outfield. Once the game was over (we lost), I went to dinner with some of the ships officers. After a long night in town, I finally made it to the Fairweather. We spent most of Monday at the dock, waiting for the tide to come up.
The first stretch of the journey is a place called Wrangell Narrows. As the name implies it is a very narrow stretch of water and it is best for a ship the size of the Fairweather to pass at high tide. The first few hours of the trip were absolutely beautiful. From the time on the ship until now I must have seen over a dozen bald eagles, almost too many to count. From there we entered Sumner Strait, and then went through Snow Pass and into Clarence Strait. Next, after dark (the sun does not set until 9 p.m., and it is not dark until an hour or so after that), we cruised through Nicholls Passage and in the morning through Tongass Narrows and into the port of Ketchikan.
Dinner the first night was delicious; I had roasted eggplant ragout over polenta, with roasted broccoli on the side. Yum. I have heard people onboard say that the Fairweather has the best food in the NOAA fleet and I already agree. After a long nights sleep, our first day of work started. At 0800 there was a safety briefing on the back of the ship. The two survey teams were launched from the ship. Those who stayed onboard went into Ketchikan to get almost 30,000 gallons of marine diesel fuel. For dinner the second night I had Halibut with a curried corn sauce, mushroom risotto, and snap peas. Again it was great. In my next log I will show you some of the ships facilities.
The first stretch of the journey is a place called Wrangell Narrows. As the name implies it is a very narrow stretch of water and it is best for a ship the size of the Fairweather to pass at high tide. The first few hours of the trip were absolutely beautiful. From the time on the ship until now I must have seen over a dozen bald eagles, almost too many to count. From there we entered Sumner Strait, and then went through Snow Pass and into Clarence Strait. Next, after dark (the sun does not set until 9 p.m., and it is not dark until an hour or so after that), we cruised through Nicholls Passage and in the morning through Tongass Narrows and into the port of Ketchikan.
Dinner the first night was delicious; I had roasted eggplant ragout over polenta, with roasted broccoli on the side. Yum. I have heard people onboard say that the Fairweather has the best food in the NOAA fleet and I already agree. After a long nights sleep, our first day of work started. At 0800 there was a safety briefing on the back of the ship. The two survey teams were launched from the ship. Those who stayed onboard went into Ketchikan to get almost 30,000 gallons of marine diesel fuel. For dinner the second night I had Halibut with a curried corn sauce, mushroom risotto, and snap peas. Again it was great. In my next log I will show you some of the ships facilities.
Awesome! Waiting to hear how you had your head overboard and tossed your dinner. :-)
ReplyDeleteSoftball in Alaska. Amaaaaazing.