Quito- Day 1!

I am happy to report (if you don't already know) that I am Ecuador, on my way to the Galápagos Islands tomorrow! I am chaperoning a group of 10 MSD students for the next week as we sightsee and island hop. 

Things got off to a bumpy start- I couldn't check in at the airport, because my last name was spelled wrong on the reservation (which I did not make, since I DO know how to correctly spell my name). I had to wait In line for a gate agent, and the line took nearly an hour. I told the kids to go on without me (so stoic, I know) thru security, and then one comes back to me saying the TSA agent wouldn't let her through because her bag is too big. By an inch.  By the time I finally explain my name situation with an agent, he says "well there's normally a fee to change it..." I convinced him that I did, indeed, know how to spell my name, and someone else had messed it up. I was very concerned about getting it right, because I don't want to deal with it all again when I leave Ecuador next week! In the end, everything got fixed, and then when I was in the scanning machine at security, some crazy person got in the machine with me 😳 That was fun.  We all reconvened at the gate, and our departure had been pushed back by about 30 minutes, nbd. Dark clouds are rolling in. I glance at the screen and see the time is now delayed by 3+ hours!!  When we did eventually take off, we were about 1.5 hours late, but finally on our way to Ecuador! 

After getting everyone & everything (they did pack surprisingly light) through immigration and customs, we met another tour group and our tour director, got on the bus, and drove to the Hotel Real Audiencia. It was past 1 am by the time we settled into our rooms, and we had to be up by 8 today. 

We spent today touring around Quito, looking at cathedrals, plazas, monuments and such. 

Then we boarded the bus to head about an hour out of central Quito to get to the equator. We stopped for lunch at a great empanada place- they were delicious & cheap, what more can you ask for? 

Once at the Equatorial line, we spent some time taking pictures and doing some "games" showing the Coriolis effect in both hemispheres. 

Of course they had a sink out to demonstrate how the water spins clockwise in the north and counterclockwise in the south. Which btw is totally not true, because the Coriolis effect only acts on large things, like bodies of air or water (like an ocean basin). But whatever, many of the kids in my group know what the real deal is, so we all just took the explanation with a grain of salt. 

We are having an early night, because we leave Quito at 0645 tomorrow, to go back to the airport to fly to the GALÁPAGOS!  We spend the next week there, going from island to island. There's so many things I want to see there!! I can't wait!! 

 

Ice Ice Baby!

Since I'm surrounded by them every day, no matter if I'm working on the boats or have a day off, let's talk glaciers. My title is a little misleading, since a glacier ISN'T just ice- compacted snow,,gas bubbles, eroded sediment, huge rocks, little pebbles...(thinking of Lauren who collected pebbles from glacial ice)

FIRST, some pictures. 

Aialik Glacier, which I went to my first day working on the boats. Haven't been back since! 

Northwestern Glacier, which I've been to 50-60 times. It never gets old!! 

So, what IS a glacier? It's a large, dense, compact accumulation of ice that is able to move under its own weight. As snow accumulates over the years, it gets compacted under its own weight, and develops into something called firn. Eventually, this firn compacts even further and becomes glacial ice. 

Both the Aialik and Northwestern Glaciers are tidewater glaciers, which means their terminus is in the ocean water (kinda self-explanatory!) These types of glaciers are obviously good for a boat tour :) 

One of the most frequently asked questions we get on the boat is, "why is the glacier blue?" Clearly, the ice in your freezer at home isn't blue (OR IS IT??) First of all, there's A LOT of very dense/compact ice there. Look at the small pieces floating inmthe fjord in the pic above- they look like normal ice, but the glacier is blue ish. The blue color results from the blue wavelengths of the visible light spectrum being reflected & transmitted out of the ice. The blue end of the spectrum is made up of short, active wavelengths that are not absorbed easily, whereas the reds/oranges are absorbed quickly. The deep cracks in the ice are even bluer, because the light bounces around even more. 

A top portion of the NW Glacier, showing BLUE color!! 

A cool phenomenon we've only seen a few times this summer is called an ice fall. It occurs when small pieces of ice fall down, and eventually encounter a chute that they slide down and pour off the glacier, looking like a waterfall. In the pic above, the chute (which has been there pretty much all summer) is between the two rock exposures in the middle of the glacier. It's whiter than the rest of the glacier, since there's been a lot of little ice falls, and like I mentioned earlier, little pieces don't look so blue.  We saw a 2-3 minute ice fall the other day (8/17)- check it out below.

The beginning- see how the little pieces of ice & snow look like water going over a waterfall? 

When it first hit the water!

Still going...

And some black & whites of the fall as it started to slow down...

 

Ice falls are pretty spectacular- not something that we get to see every day, although I'm sure they occur in the other 23 hours a day that we're not at the glacier :) 

The snow in this rock exposure reminds me of Gizmo from "The Gremlins" Do you see it??

Bear Glacier, which we pass by every day on our way out to explore. 

Some harbor seals hauled out on large ice floes in Northwestern Fjord. 

Dense ice cover in the fjord. All of this ice had calved off of the glacier, and will be melted in the next 24 hours or so. This means that the ice we see floating in the fjord one day probably isn't the same ice we see the next day. 

So you want to be a deckhand...

On the nice, sunny days, lots of passengers ask, "how do you get a job like this?" (They're too busy puking on rough sea days) Clearly, I had no prior experience working on boats, but I do have a sense of adventure and a love for all things Alaska. I also had the wonderful Gary LaPay telling me to apply for a job up here...So, I filled out an online application in January, and had a Skype interview in February or March, and got a job as a deckhand at Kenai Fjords Tours! Seriously, it was that simple. But I'm also pretty awesome, so I'm sure that helped land me the job :) 

As a deckhand, we're responsible for the safety and well-being of the passengers, we maintain the safety/integrity of the boat, we respond to emergency situations, handle lines while docking...we keep busy! I've worked almost exclusively on the 9-hour Northwestern Fjord Tour, so things may be a little different on other tours, but the general gist is the same. Here goes. 

We get to the boat at 7am, and begin putting away the stock that has (hopefully) been delivered to the boat. Our boat can have 140 passengers, so we can go through a lot of supplies in one day. 

Now, let me remind you that all this stock has to fit into the very small galley you see there. We have two smallish refrigerators, and a dorm-size freezer, and it's always a challenge to make things fit in there. On the NWFT, we serve a free breakfast of cinnamon rolls, fruit juice, and fruit cups, so the cinnamon rolls have to be baked and iced, and the fruit stuff needs to be arranged on the counter. We're usually icing the rolls as the passengers are boarding at 830, and I cannot tell you how many times I've heard people say "oh that smells so good" etc etc. I've run out of funny things to say back to them. 

The boat leaves the dock at 9- I handle either the bow or stern lines when we go. that part is pretty easy, just releasing the line from the cleat that they're tied around. Here's what a cleat looks like:

(I found the pic online)

We then head out to Fox Island, which takes anywhere from 30-60 minutes to get there. Again, I handle either the bow or stern line to tie up, making sure the lines are secure, and making sure I don't get my fingers wrapped in the lines. I'd like to come back to Florida with all 10 digits on my hands:) Once we leave Fox Island, we're on the open water until 6pm. We pretty much immediately start putting lunch together- chicken Caesar wraps or veggie wraps. I cannot eat chicken Caesar for a LONG time after this. 

Our assembly line for lunch. 

One of us will fill/stuff the chicken wraps, and another will roll/wrap them up. The third deckhand (there's only 3 of us total) is working on the veggie wraps, and assisting passengers. We also pass out water for lunch, so the cups need to be filled.

Chicken wraps and a lonely leftover cinnamon roll. 

Lunch baskets and water, the stuff of champions!

Anytime there's a wildlife sighting, we stop what we're doing and head outside- not just to see the animals, but mainly to ensure no passengers are doing stupid things like standing on seats or climbing on the railing. People do stupid things, what?!?!? Who'd of thunk??? What do you mean, it's a bad idea for me to SIT ON THE RAILING??

On the bow, on "foot patrol."

We get to Northwestern Glacier around noonish and hang out there for about 30 minutes. We relax a bit, then head to my favorite place, Cataract Cove. We relax a bit. 

Selfie in the fjord! 

Someone miscalculated the number of wraps we'd need this day...

In the late afternoon, we bake chocolate chip cookies. Another annoyance- "what smells so good?" "When can I get a cookie?" I hate cookie time. It makes me unreasonably angry. We walk through the boat and pass them out, and I've had a passenger follow me down the aisle, coughing on my neck and tray of cookies. I've had people reach onto the tray and grab for cookies, and I slap their hand. Cookie time is the worst. Aside from puke. 

We get back to the dock around 6, and again, we have to handle lines and tie up. Once all the passengers are off, we clean the boat, take out the trash, and our day is finally over. It's usually 630 at this time, and we're pooped. But not too pooped for a drink at Chinooks or the Breeze. 

So that's the basic idea of my day. Keep in mind we're constantly interacting with the passengers, ringing things up in the galley, driving the boat sometimes...and checking the heads as much as possible. We have 3 heads on board and they clog easily, so we have to be vigilant. Why do people put brown paper towels in a marine toilet?? Can someone please answer that question for me? Paper towels = death of the toilet. 

Now don't get me wrong- a deckhand job is a lot of work, but it's also awesome. I've been super lucky to work with a steady crew from early on in the season, and we all get along really well and have fun with each other. Regardless, your job is what you make of it- if you have a poor attitude about who you're working with/what you have to do for the job, etc, then YES your days are going to suck. It's up to you to make the best of your situation. And the crew on the Alaskan Explorer certainly makes the best of any situation! 

Best. Picture. Ever. 

Homer Trippin

Realizing that my time in Alaska is almost over (18 more days), I've been feeling the pressure to get out of Seward and explore. Unfortunately, without a car, my options are limited, since this is just such a huge state and it takes forever to get around by bus or train.  I have been lucky enough to go to Homer twice in the past month or so, and I absolutely LOVE it there.  

The first time I went, one of my roommates was nice enough to let me borrow her car. Homer is only 170 miles away, which in theory should take less than 2 1/2 hours to get there...if there were multi-lane highways here. In reality, it took 4 hours to get there! Besides the tiny single-lane roads, there's tons of road work and slow-moving RV's to contend with, so it's a long trip. On the plus side, the scenery was BEAUTIFUL- especially around the Kenai River area. The river is an amazing aqua color, and now it's teeming with salmon and fishermen.  

The first big "city" (I don't know if I can really call it that, but it's bigger than Seward) we came to was Soldotna- we were ridiculously excited to see that it had traffic lights! And then we spotted a Taco Bell, so of course we had to stop there. Best Taco Bell (and most expensive) I've ever had. Once we got to Homer, we walked down to some tide flats and a beach, and it was fairly warm out, so we put our feet in the water. The beach was so pretty, I wish Seward had something like that. 

This was at a spot on the drive in to Homer. I believe the mountain is Mt Redoubt, an active volcano. 

Cook Inlet, seen from a "scenic spot" driving to Homer. 

The tide flats in Homer. 

The beach!!! Oh how I miss the beach in FL. 

So many barnacles! Fun Fact: barnacles have the largest penis to body size ratio of any animal :) 

After hanging out near the tide flats, we drove down to the Homer Spit, where there's tons of charter fishing operations, little shops, restaurants, and the Salty Dawg Saloon. 

Me & Andrea on the beach!! 

KELP!!! Yay seaweed :) 

Some halibut. 

We just did a one-day trip this first time...then when I went back again, I did an overnighter, camping on the beach on the Spit. Again, I had to stop at Taco Bell in Soldotna on the way there. Had to. It was a crappy, foggy day when we left Seward, but it was sunny & warm by the time we got to Homer. I was not looking forward to camping in the rain, but that definitely wasn't a problem! We found a campsite fast (and only $8!!) and set up what might be the smallest tent in the world. But look at where we were!!! Can't beat that view, and the sound of waves at night was amazing. 

After setting up camp, we walked down the road and stopped in some of the little shops- I bought 5 pairs of earrings :) I miss shopping! Then, we headed to the Salty Dawg for some drinks, and eventually made our way back to camp. Started a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows- it was my FIRST TIME ever making s'mores! What?!?! 

So, both times that I've been to Homer, I've had a GREAT time. I really love it there. I didn't even do any hiking, fishing, kayaking, etc, but nonetheless I had a wonderful time! It probably helps that the weather was amazing both times I was there. If you ever get a chance, definitely visit Homer. 

Amazing two days!!

The past two days (7/25 & 7/26) have been RIDICULOUS. Weather has been fairly warm and sunny, but the wildlife has been AWESOME. Yesterday, I saw my first dead whale. Don't know why I'm excited about that, but I am...we were watching some humpbacks and some passengers called me over to check something out that they saw in the distance. I thought it was a rock at first, but a passenger worked at a landfill and said "I know what dead things smell like, and that's a dead whale." I looked through the binoculars and sure enough, it was a bloated & decaying humpback. Check it out. 

Later on in the day, we came across 3 humpbacks that came THISCLOSE to the boat- I swear, if we jumped off the boat we could've landed on them.  They were doing pec slapping, tail lobbing, and deep diving- two of them were synchronized a lot of the time too!! All I kept saying was, "holy shit!" 

Look at the piece missing on the right pectoral. 

A dorsal fin, pectoral fin, and a tail fluke. SO MANY ANIMALS! 

Synchronized diving. 

Notch in the tail fluke of this one. 

Tufted puffin. 

After the awesome show of humpbacks, we saw some orcas at the end of the day.  I haven't seen them in a long time and they came close to the boat too!! 

So, Thursday 7/25 was an awesome day. Passengers loved me (of course!), we made good tips, and the humpbacks were freaking awesome!! I didn't think today could beat yesterday, but it did! The passengers were pretty chill and we had an AMAZING humpback show in the Chiswells. We were in the middle of 7-10 humpbacks that were circling the boat. I am out of adjectives to describe it. 

After we were surrounded by lots o whales, we had to get going towards Seward, but only traveled about 1/4 mile before we saw a mom & calf frolicking. 

Here's the calf doing a head lob.  YOU CAN SEE IT'S EYEBALL!!!!

Mom slapping her tail. 

Baby again. 

Overall, these past two days were FREAKING AWESOME. These are the days that make me love this job!