The Ferry – part 1 – July 13 – Mirczak's Magical Year

OK – this is not exactly what I expected. It’s smaller than I thought and the solarium deck is lacking those comfortable lounge chairs for sleeping. I claim a little patch of floor in front of some hard plastic blue seats. I’m a little angsty as I walk around the boat…”This is to be my home for 5 days?” running through my head. “How’s that gonna be?”

And then the boat pulls away and the next thing I see is Sea Otters. Pods of them – it’s like a sea otter convention. Some are on thier backs with flippers in the air, some are playing and pouncing on each other (yes in the water pouncing!) and rolling around. It’s comical, fun, entertaining and tells me it’s OK – this trip will be fun. Before we get too far along I spot 2 whales in the distance. Indeed – this is going to be good.

The next 5 hours are spent adjusting my stuff, figuring out how to get my hot water needs met, and paying close attention to my stomach… “do I feel sea sick?”, “was that the start of sea sickness or just normal boat stomach…” Afterall I’m going to be 5 days on this vessel. If I need to pop on a scopalame patch I want to get on it before sickness can take hold. Like my planning nature?….I always want to be in control! It turns out I seem to be fine on the boat so far. Even sleeping. We were rocking in some BIG swells. I kept imagining myself on he earth’s largest waterbed. Did I mention I had a queen size waterbed in college? Yeah – that’s another story – but it prepared me well because it did not have baffels.

So the first day is awesome… some sun, some rain, me lying out on the deck napping…. views of Kodiak Island as we motor down the western side. Clouds cover the tips of the land, some places have steep sides that drop straight down into the water. Mysterious and majestic. I see my first tufted puffin! They are black with a big bright orange beak. Those little guys are quite the flyers! Wings beating like mad. They remind me of myself – ever moving!

And then we move out to bigger water. It could be that the clouds or fog have obscured the views – but as far as I can tell – there is nothing to look at. Just open water. yup. Me, the boat, the other 100 passengers, and the Ocean. F-a-s-c-i-n-a-ting. (do you hear my slight sarcasm here…) I wasn’t expecting this. Crazy you say since you are on a boat headed to the Aleutian Islands – an Archipelago of 1,000 miles that juts out into the open ocean.. “You weren’t expecting this?” Nope. I thought we would be hugging the shore. Oh well – live and learn! You know it’s fine. I’ve got books, my journal and I’m ripe for unwinding from the backlog of stress that I’ve been carrying for the last few years. THIS is what it means to slow down and be present. (I mentioned that before right… each place and present moment is home) So here I am, on this ferry and I am loving every minute of it. (thank you Def Leapord).