Wednesday | June 22

Wrangell is a good day for us guides. Our usual 12 to 14-hour day is cut down to only 10 or so hours. We work on projects and accompany guests on walking tours. We enjoy two hours of our own time in town to visit a coffee shop or a trip to the library.

My favorite spot is a toss-up between Chief Shakes Tribal House or the Nolan Center Museum. I get great vibes from the totem poles and absolutely love the performance by singers and dancers at the tribal house.

The Nolan Center is where I can duck my head into the bookstore and peruse good books and interact with visitors and staff.

Just after lunch, Luis and Justin, our chefs, have a fine time cleaning two garbage cans worth of Dungeness Crab on the dock below the main pier in Wrangell. We are excited about our dinner later tonight!

Kids in town sell garnets that come from a local spot in the mountains. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts benefit from the proceeds. It’s fun interacting with the kids that are hawking the garnets at the base of the pier.

Tonight it is Bar Trivia Quiz night w/ guides Kim and Megan. Most of the questions concern natural history facts. Some pertain to ship statistics such as: “How long is the vessel?” Answer: 170 feet.

“Geez”, I say to a fellow guest, “that sure is a small area to live in for 60 some odd passenger-guests and 26 crew.” That is 57 yards, the equivalent of a long field-goal in American football. We are 38 feet wide or almost 13 yards.

I start thinking of the size of my home. The crew quarters cabin I live in is 4 steps long by two steps wide. The bathroom or “head” is a place where if you put your arms akimbo, they hit walls no matter which way you turn. Sitting on the “royal throne”, shaving and showering can be done all at once…that way you don’t miss any wildlife or scenery highlights out on the decks!

Our maximum speed is not much more than 9 knots or 10mph…the speed of a bicyclist at a leisurely pace. We are anchored more than half the week, i.e. we are motoring about 10 hours or 100 miles a day. That’s less than 2 miles per day per passenger. The large cruise ships travel at least 18 hours a day and cover a much longer distance, from Seattle, Washington to Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Glacier Bay and/or Skagway and all the way back down in 7 days. That’s close to 2000 nautical miles and at least 4 full days out of the week motoring 24/7.

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