Cruising the Inside Passage

Friday, June 26, 2009
It’s dinner time of the first day aboard ship and we’re having dinner with two couples: Rich and Pat, from Charleston, SC; and Pat and Esther, from Vancouver. Pat and Esther were the last ones on the ship today. They were on the waitlist and got the call about forty minutes before the ship was to sail. Pat works for the Port Authority. Esther is a nurse. She had to drive home and pack when they got the call. Pat just walked across the street from his office. He decided to be packed and ready to go. She said she wasn’t packing until she was sure she was going. They were rushed a little bit, but having a daughter that worked there in the Customs office, helped them to speed through the process and get on the ship just in time for the lifeboat drill. What was nice about dining with Pat and Esther was hearing about the area in detail as we cruised through islands along the inside passage. We saw barges of wood chips being towed by a tugboat. They looked like they were just floating along without a power source, until you saw the tugboat. They also told us of a tragic story of a family who was forever changed when the father , who was piloting their yacht, decided to go between the tugboat and the barges. What he didn’t realize was that there was a substantial cable tying them all together. He lost a couple of family members when the cable sliced through the yacht and the result of that incident is that every boat operator now has to have a license. This lead to stories of houseboats, real estate, the local economy, ferry commuters and the cruise industry.
The other couple had some interesting conversation, too. Rich is a retired superintendent of schools. Pat was a manager of small utility company, both in northeastern Ohio. They now live on an island off of the coast of South Carolina. It was interesting listening to their story of having alligators, snakes and other critters in their back yard and the tourists who don’t heed the signs about them. In fact, Pat said she never goes into her back yard. They also told a story about being on vacation and meeting a professional basketball coach [Scott _ _ _ _] who coached Pete Marevich, and the Pistons, Bulls and Jazz teams. Coach Scott had a lot of unique stories to tell and they laughed continuously throughout the whole trip along with two other couples. The rest of the folks on the trip weren’t very happy with this boisterous group. Pat shared the story of the downsizing of her company and being offered the job of shutting down each of the offices around Ohio. She told Rich what she was going to be doing and he told her she didn’t have to do that! As a result she took a buy out from the company and has been enjoying life every since. They shared many other stories about students, S.Carolina’s real estate and local economy.
This commentary wouldn’t be complete without letting you know what dinner entailed: Baked Rockfish, potatoes, asparagus and baked apples. It was finished off with Gold Rush Baked Alaska that was on a fudge brownie base and topped with hot fudge sauce!
Needless to say, the views of the mountains and countryside are tremendous, even though it is a little cloudy today.