Alaska
Day 9 - Thursday, 14 September 2001
About 8 AM we finally saw a couple of Orca whales. One breached but it happened too quickly to get a picture.
Just before 11 AM, after clearing the southern tip of Quadra Island, we turned east across the Strait of Georgia, headed for Desolation Sound where we would have lunch on the top deck. About 12:30 PM delicious hot dogs, hamburgers and grilled salmon started flowing from the portable grills the galley crew had set up. The weather was perfect for an outdoor lunch.
As we continue sailing toward Seattle we try to will the ship to slow down, maybe even turn around, so we won't have to head for home tomorrow morning. It has been a truly memorable experience.
At 7 PM we sat down to our last cruise dinner with three people who had become our regular meal buddies: Tony Chan and his daughter Vanessa and Michael Taylor. Tony and Vanessa traveled all the way from Australia to take the cruise. Vanessa had arranged the trip as a birthday present for her father.
This is a lousy picture
of a beautiful sight. It was taken from our dinner table.
Another passenger, Michael, had come from Missouri. Wanting more than one week of cruising he had taken the northbound cruise so he got to spend two weeks on the Endeavor. According to him the weather on the northbound tip was not good. He was astonished to learn that another passenger on our southbound cruise had served with him on a submarine out of San Diego 30-40 years ago.
After dinner the thoughts of each cruise member surely turned to how to get home. The attack on the World Trade Center had occurred only three days ago and flight schedules were very uncertain. International flights had not resumed so the several folks who had come from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom would have to spend a few more days in the US.
We cruised by a paper making plant.
We weren't scheduled to fly from Seattle until 6 PM. By then the terminal no longer had long lines snaking around. Our Alaska Airlines flight departed on time and the flight home was uneventful.
Our progress as tracked by Jim's GPS unit:
5:30 AM Kelsey Bay
7:45 AM Rock Bay
8:00 AM Orca sighting
10:20 AM Campbell River
10:45 AM Turn east toward Desolation Sound
11:15 AM Nothern tip of Hernando Island
12:00 PM Lunch topside in
Desolation Sound
2:00 PM Bliss Landing
3:30 PM Powell River
6:00 PM
Southern tip of Texada Island
8:00 PM Nanaimo off starboard side
10:50
PM Enter US waters north of Patos Island
- End of Journal -