22 July 2015; Kodiak, Alaska.

Kodiak is for South West Alaska, what Ketchikan is for South East Alaska. The rainy City; it can rain a lot here. However we did not see any rain at all. They have dry days and those days are in the summer.  We had one of those dry days with even a ray of sunshine coming through. During the night the ship sailed from Homer into the southern part of Cook Inlet and then curved around Elizabeth Island back into the Gulf of Alaska. From there it was a more or less straight southerly course to Kodiak Island.

The town Kodiak is located on the east side of Kodiak Island which gives it shelter from the nasty Winter weather.  As it is an island everything has to go and come by either plane or ship and the island has its own container terminal. As there is a lively fishing industry the island has several other docks as well. A second source of income is tourism, with the emphasis on Eco tourism and fishing. Visiting cruise ships help of course as well.

Kodiak harbour. In the front the Ferry dock, then dock 2 with the Statendam and the Container dock in the far distance.

Thus we docked this morning at dock nbr 2. While dock nbr 1 is the container dock and then further up the port is a 3^rd dock for the Alaska State Ferry which is one of the connections with the main land. Because the port of Kodiak is directly connected to the open Ocean, the water is not pushed up a fjord as is the case with Cook Inlet. The tidal range is not as extreme as in Anchorage; where 20+ feet is not unusual. Here in Kodiak today it was a more modest 6.5 feet.  It made life a lot easier for the ship as it did not have to move the gangway around so often.

For the crew it was a busy day as there was a General Boat drill for everybody. This is a three stage alarm but with me on board giving separate fire fighting training and drills, the first stage was omitted and we started with the Crew Alert Alarm. This alarm indicates that everybody has to assemble (in an emergency Guests will be asked to return to their cabins and prepare for abandoning ship) at the location related to their emergency function. Then the General Emergency Alarm (GEA) will sound and everybody, Guests and Crew alike, will make their way to their muster stations at the lifeboats.

I normally pick one item to review during such a drill and will check something which the captain on the bridge may not see or monitor. So today I was a passenger with a broken leg; sitting in the cabin waiting to be rescued.  As soon as the (GEA) sounds the cabin stewards will start to help the guests to go to their lifeboat stations and then check all cabins if they are empty. So eventually they will also find a guest who has fallen out of bed, or whatever. It took only about 5 minutes before they came to my cabin and after some high-drama from my side, they fetched a wheelchair and rolled me to the Atrium.

There is a Medical Officer stationed at this location to be on hand if a guest would fall down the stairs, or would have issues while at the muster stations. So I was delivered into the capable hands of the ships medical department. Because I was injured I could not go to my own life raft but was taken to one of the Tenders which also acts as a sort of ambulance in the water.  We have four tenders and as we have four medical staff, each tender has one medical person on board. In case of a real emergency these tenders would be topped up with medical materials so that they could sail around all the lifeboats and life rafts in the water and provide care where needed. If there would have been patients in the ships Infirmary, like me with my broken leg, then those patients go with a medical person in one of the tenders, even if they officially belong in another lifeboat. We always have extra space in our lifeboats as we normally do not sell all the bunk beds in the cabins and there are quite a few cabins on board with a single occupancy.  So I was saved and am therefore able to tell the tale.

Crew BBQ on the forward observation deck. In two hours most of the crew were able to rotate through with free soda’s included.

Once the drill was over, something was arranged that also had the full attention of the crew. The Hotel Director had organized a crew BBQ on the observation deck on the bow. As it was dry, and as it was sort of sunny, it was a great happening and a good time was had by all.

By 2 pm. we were on our way again, heading for the Yakutat, where tomorrow afternoon we will do some scenic cruising in Yakutat Bay and hopefully see some spectacular ice falls at Hubbard Glacier. The weather is going to be chilly of course with all the ice around but hopefully the sun will make it pleasant and boost the temperatures up to a balmy 45oF. (12oC)