Drama!

Yesterday we left Sitka for Yakutat Bay. The wind was high and the sea rough. To follow the planned route, the Captain had to put the ship sideways to the wind. We were now living in one of those carnival houses with the floors severely tilted.

There wasn’t much to do except hold on to whatever you were sitting on and try not to look out the window.

Once we made into Yakutat Bay, the sea calmed to a still and the ship returned to its normal attitude. We enjoyed spinning in place slowly so that each side of the ship could get a good view of everything.

Then we headed back out to sea, hoping it wouldn’t be as bad as had been earlier in the day. The Captain came on the PA at 4, just before we left the protected waters to let us know that things would start to get choppy again soon and the bad weather would last for at least a couple of hours. By 4:30 I was riding out the storm from under the covers. Judy and Eliza went to dinner at 6 and Mom went to the buffet at 7:30. I, semiconscious, had no interest in food.

Overnight, after we made it back to sheltered inlets, the boat stopped bucking and the morning I awoke at 5:15 feeling very well rested . After breakfast I went over to Eliza and Judy’s room to see when they planned to leave the ship to get into Juneau and I was surprised to find that they were still in bed.

Apparently, someone had to be taken off the ship last night with a life threatening condition. It was too windy for the helicopter to land and so it hovered over the ship and dropped a basket. There was some risk that the helicopter would lose control and crash into the ship. As a precaution they evacuated the nearby rooms. So, Eliza and Judy spent a couple of hours in Club Fusion, while the airlift proceeded.

I really can’t imagine the stress of being taken off a cruise ship in a basket tied to a helicopter in the middle of a storm.