17 July 2014; Sitka, Alaska.

It was a mainly dry but overcast day today, which is about Sitka standard. It is always nice to have a sunny day but it is by no means the norm. Ketchikan has 332 rainy days a year and if you catch a sunny day there, then it means it is something extra ordinary. For Sitka a dry day is not a bad thing either but as it is open to the North Pacific Ocean, the weather is more regulated by the sea. Ketchikan gets the rain drifting in from the sea and then more rain is released by clouds bouncing back from the mountains.

The Amsterdam was the only ship again and as it was a windless day, parked in the inner anchorage, reducing the tender distance to a minimal length. The Azipods kept the stern in position, the bow was held by anchor and there she sat happily for the rest of the day.

Since a number of years, the locals have been building out onto the islands around the anchorage area. I suppose the year by year influx of tourist money make it affordable to construct an island house or a chalet or cottage as it is not cheap. All the work has be done from a barge, and as some islands are nothing more than rocky outcroppings, pilings have to be installed to make a level floor possible. Most of these houses are for lease in the summer and very much in demand by people from down south who come fishing for a weekend or a week.

A number of years ago, one of the lighthouses which guarded the old approach to the harbor was converted in a luxury B&B and in the light chamber a Jacuzzi was installed. Very romantic of course but you have to climb all the steps up and then back down again. Also this B & B is currently for sale. It looks like that the generation that I knew from the 80 & 90’s are starting to retire and are cashing in on their assets.

Today my lifeboat classes were busy with learning about the inventory of the lifeboats. Basically everything is set up in such a way, that if you do not know what to do, or you have forgotten something, there are instructions for everything. It varies from how to start the engine, when to hand out food and water, to attracting attention when help is nearby. Some of the inventory is from days gone by, when the crew did not wear lifejackets and the boats were from wood. Thus having 2 axes in the lifeboat is of limited use as the lifeboat is now made of polyester. There is also the requirement to have a whistle in the boat. Nowadays every lifejacket has a whistle, which makes this one then number 151 to the total count available. But in the old days there were no lifejackets, hence the whistle requirement.

TPA or Thermal Protective Aid. They retail for about $ 15,– and no boat should be without one.

Other items are of more use, such as TPA’s, or Thermal Protective Aids.  They are a sort of silver one-sie and you use them to warm up a under cooled person. They work extremely well as they reflect all the body heat that you lose straight back. I tried it once, and it made me feel like a Baked Potato in a microwave. So even persons with advanced hypothermia can be warmed up quite quickly.  It is a very good tool to save lives.

Eating the food rations is also always of interest. Today one of them hit the nail on the head. She said it tasted like Scottish Shortbread and it does. The ingredients are similar and shortbread was also developed by the Scots as travel rations when wandering over the highlands.  I wonder how close our current rations are to the original shortbread recipe, as I know that bakeries have been tinkering with it, to make it the worldwide cookie-success it now is.

The ship left right on time and put the pedal to the metal as it is a tight run to Ketchikan for a 0700 arrival. The ship will sail in outside waters until it re-enters the Inside Passage near Cape Decision and then goes via Sumner strait and Tongass Narrows to Ketchikan.

It will be a real Ketchikan day tomorrow, so liquid sunshine for most of the day and with 4 ships in, it will be busy in the shops.