Day 45 - Changing Crew; Rod

This marks the half way point - in time at least. We will be going a little farther north between here and Glacier Bay. The park has a process for entry permits that, like many trail permit systems, awards them to people who apply early, while leaving some for people who arrive without them. Leaving nothing to chance, I filled out our permit application several months ahead of time and then hit the send key to email it ten seconds after it was eligible to be submitted. Then I waited. I expected to hear at least an acknowledgement that they had received the permit, but when a couple of weeks went by without hearing anything, I sent them another email with a copy of the application and asked them if I should have heard a response. They said yes, but that they didn't get the first one and now the permits are all taken. Sigh.

Call me cynical, but I have to wonder if something is amiss at their end. Did they really not get it or did they just not want to use up a permit on a boat coming from Seattle with any number of things that could delay our arrival. We'll never know. Whatever the case, we now find ourselves having to get one on arrival and we have no idea how that's going to go.

In any case, I'm glad we saw Tracy Arm and navigated through all the ice bergs there. Talking to other boaters along the way we found out that the end of the arm is essentially frozen over. No one but steel hulled tour boats are getting much further in and very few are going as far as we did. It will be interesting to talk to the park rangers and find out what kind of a state Glacier Bay is in. With so much ice in the bays, we might find ourselves looking for an alternative itinerary, even if we can get a permit.

This is the end of the line for Marta, Frederic, Lavanya and Jason. It has been such a pleasure having them on board these last couple of weeks. We have really eaten well with their combined culinary prowess. Marta and Frederic are so outgoing, they seem to meet everyone on every boat and pass along their stories afterward. It's really a gift. Yesterday, Marta met a fisherman - a very hansom fisherman, she noted. He passed her his phone number as they parted ways. Wow! Making connections in Juneau the old fashioned way. She and Frederic had a good laugh over that.

Vi will be joining us for the last two weeks before we take a short break in Petersburg to fly home for ten days. We're looking forward to the next chapter and are already reminiscing on our time enjoyed so far. Six weeks down and six weeks to go.

Photos by Frederic