Multnomah Falls, Oregon – One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been

Being here made me want to jump ship and take my bike and explore the rest of the Pacific Northwest

Inside Passage photo gallery

Here are some pictures of the bubble-net feeding. I haven’t had a chance to put the pics of the orcas on my computer yet, but I will soon, hopefully. We’ll have a lot more time in port, which means I’ll have better access to high speed internet. I also posted the e-mail I sent out a few days ago in case I forget anyone who would like to know what I’m up to.  Also, I forget to mention that one of my photos I uploaded on JPG Magazine (www.jpgmag.com) was chosen to be in their print magazine. I got $100 and a free 1-year subscription! The image was “Nature’s Freckles” and the category was geometry. Click here to see it.

I know this isn’t as personal as many of you would have liked, but I feel like I haven’t kept in touch as well as I did on my last rotation and I’d like to get everyone updated in one shot. So… as of today we’re totally finished with our Alaska season. We did three last trips between Sitka and Juneau and a two-week photo trip from Sitka down to Seattle, which we finished today. We had a few hours off the ship, so a few of us – the hotel manager, bartender, purser, and I – met up with our old head chef and walked around Pike Place, then almost missed all aboard because we couldn’t find the right pier.

Our last few weeks in Alaska were amazing, especially the photo trip. We saw bubble-net feeders several times (humpbacks that work together to corral fish into their open mouths as they come up and out of the water) and a huge pod of orcas that surrounded our ship and came within reach to several kayakers. When I was on the bow they swam right in front of us and I had to lean over the side to see them. It was incredible. We saw bears fishing for salmon in shallow rivers, took the zodiacs through a grotto and watched the water turn black as salmon swam beneath us, and watched a sea lion toss a salmon through the air and catch it again as it tried to break pieces off to eat. Everything revolves around salmon up here.

On our way down to Seattle we stopped at several ports, including Alert Bay and Friday Harbor. In Alert Bay we watched kids perform traditional Tlingit dances and in Friday Harbor we fed a blind harbor seal fish and listened to some great live music (Kubatana – I burned the cd from a guest). When we came up from Baja at the beginning of the Alaska season, I said that I was falling in love with the Pacific Northwest and it’s still true. It’s so beautiful here – all the greenery, the ocean, the mountains. I’m going to do the massage school in Vancouver, which starts in February. I get off the ship in January and I’m hoping to spend that month travelling around the islands and towns – If mom and dad want to join me and help me look for a place, that would be awesome . After that, I have to decide if I want to stay put for a little while and grow some roots, or apply for the wellness specialist with Lindblad. I guess I don’t have to decide that for awhile though…

BUT for now, I just got my tickets to Thailand!!!! I’m so excited! I fly out from Oakland on the 13th (I have to spend the night) and I get to Thailand on the 14th. 20 hours of flight time – I can’t wait… But it will be worth it! I’m not sure what we’re doing yet, but I’m sure Tim will be a great tour guide. I know we’re spending some time (most of the time?) in Northern Thailand at Pun Pun farm and I’d like to see Chiang Mai. I’ll defininately keep up my blog if I can and post some pictures. Then, when I come back (if I do…) I’ll spend three weeks at shipyard in Alameda (near San Francisco), do the the positioning trip down to baja (10 days), sit in La Paz for eight days because a trip got cancelled, then do two baja trips. Not bad. Most of my rotation is talking about going down to Costa Rica for the next break and staying at our pantry chef’s house right on the beach, so I might join them for that. We’ll see.

For now, I’m enjoying not having any guests on board as we make our way down to Portland to do two Columbia River trips (and sit at cascade locks – right outside of Portland – for eight days because another trip got cancelled). It could get rough for a few hours, but I’m hoping that it won’t.

I hope everyone is doing well and I’d love to hear from you! I’ll try to be better about writing on my blog.

Bears, Bears, Bears