Hobart Bay

I don't know how much more joy I can stand, but am willing to try. After a breakfast of an egg and cheese omelet, bacon and cranberry juice, we began our day. When we went back to our cabin after breakfast, we found a red tag to wear around our neck that had three different activities and times for us to do them. The passengers were divided into groups in order to make this happen. We three were in the red group. Actually, Aspen went with a few others at 6 AM to kayak. It was raining lightly at that time and I opted out. Our first adventure was on the Zegos(outboard driven run-abouts). We three agreed those would be great to have on our lake back home. Aspen and Nora were on one Zego with Aspen driving. Cody and I rode together with Cody driving so I could take pictures. Our Zego was very slow as were most, but one had 20 hp whereas ours had 9.9. It was still fun to zip around the small islands and look for wildlife. After an hour of that, we took RTVs (rough-terrain vehicles) and rode through the temperate rain forest for an hour and a half. We saw bear scat, Western Hemlock trees and Sitka Spruce trees. The Alder trees were very prominent. Macy and Suzanne were our guides with the RTVs. This was a day that the crew got to get out and do the activities with us. Suzanne told us about her experiences helping with sled dogs and the Iditarod. Hank went with us on the Zegos. We had a special treat for lunch about 11:45 We had B-B-Q ribs(I told the chef they were as good, if not better, than any I had ever eaten and I am from Texas, home of the BBQ.) He said he had cooked 30 pounds and this was the first time he had ever run out. There was also slaw, potato salad and another salad, bean soup, veggies and halibut. At 1:30, it was time for the Red group to kayak. There were two people in each kayak. I sat in front of ours and Cody in the back. At first, everyone went off and left us as we could not get our kayak to go anywhere. Jess said our rudder was messed up and once he fixed it, we did just fine except for the fact that Cody kept shifting his weight from side to side and rocked the kayak. Amy also went on the kayaks with us. We saw two black bears and an eagle's nest. When we got back to the ship, there was a black bear about one hundred yards from the ship. He stayed in sight for almost an hour, just grazing very nonchalantly. The water was pristine. Seems we spent a lot of time eating. It was cookie time at 3 and though I usually don't eat cookies, Lamech's butterscotch cookies were too good to resist. We left Hobart Bay at 6:30 and were on our way to Petersburg. On the way, we saw a lighthouse and the ship stayed in one place for a long time so we could watch for whales. There was something other worldly about that evening. We saw whales all around the ship although most did not breach and we all were on deck hoping to see that magnificent fluke. The sounds they made gave me cold chills. Whale watching had been on my bucket list and here I was straining my eyes through binoculars trying to see them. I took about 30 pictures and got mostly dorsal fins and water, but I did mange to get one picture of a whale's fluke.We also saw a couple of porpoises swimming back and forth beneath the ship. Someone on deck would yell,''one o'clock'' or ''10 o'clock'' and all would strain to see. We continued on to Petersburg.