Worth Getting Sick Over? I Don't Think So!!!!!

Remember that boat ride we took in Seward? The one I said was worth getting sick over? Well today was a boat ride that wasn't worth getting sick over -- and I did: get sick, that is.

Valdez sits on Valdez Bay which joins into Prince William Sound (home of the infamous Exxon Valdez disaster). Today we took a boat ride on the LuLu Belle, a tour boat that was actually built by the captain. It tours Prince William Sound and goes out to see Columbia Glacier (the largest tidewater glacier in Alaska) to search for wildlife.

Back when my parents lived in Pompano Beach we went out for dinner to a restaurant in Boca owned by a husband and wife team. The husband cooked and the wife sang opera. I first realized we were in trouble when the door was locked after we were seated. We were then treated(?) to a couple of hours of the most god-awful music you have ever heard.

Today was not a dissimilar experience. We got on the boat at 2:00 PM. We think it left that late because they use it for a church service on Sunday mornings. The captain was quite garrulous and described everything we saw as we left the harbor. He told us of the wildlife we could expect to see. He told us... And he didn't shut up for 7 hours!

The ride was a little choppy, but it was not too bad on the way out. We saw a lot of scenery. When the captain spied some puffins on the side of an island he took us in close while the boat bobbed up and down (and up and down and up and down). He virtually ignored several dozen seal lions who were on the shore and playing in the water next to us (while the boat bobbed up and down...). Moving on, we passed by the entrance to the bay where the Columbia Glacier sits. We would get back to it later. The crew makes sickness bags available for those who may need them. We pass.

A little later on (This is about 4 hours into the trip. We are on the verge of picking straws to see who gets the pleasure of strangling the captain.) the captain spots 2 humpback whales -- a mother and a calf -- swimming, so we caught up with them and followed for a while (45 minutes?) watching the occasional surfacing with the boat going up and down (and up and down...)

By this time there are a bunch of little kids and a few adults who are really seasick. The crew comes around again with sickness bags. This time we take a couple -- just in case.

Wondering when this ordeal will be over, we hear the captain (who has been talking this entire time) tell us we are going to head over to Columbia Glacier. Great! This is what we came to see! As we approach the glacier we see icebergs of varying sizes. As we wend our way around them the captain announces that he needs to find a "lead" or a path through the icebergs that will stay open so we can get to the glacier -- which is only 7-1/2 miles away! While he is looking he allows us a photo op (see picture above). This took another half hour. The captain then took us a little farther in but announced that there was not a good enough path so we could not get any closer (about 7 miles) and we never got to see the glacier itself.

So we started to head back. The captain announced that it would take us between 1:45 and 2 hours to get back. There were serious plans for mutiny at this point. So we headed back. The captain talked. The boat bounced up and down (and up and down...). I demonstrated the proper use of the sickness bag to everyone at my table. Although they did not appreciate it at the time, it may have been the best entertainment of the day.

After losing my lunch it became apparent that I was not alone. The boat ran out of sickness bags and starting passing out plastic supermarket-type bags in which to deposit your previously-enjoyed lunch. And the captain kept talking. And the boat kept going up and down (and up and down...)

When we finally returned to shore there was a virtual stampede to get off the boat. It wasn't so much the sea sickness. The captain still hadn't shut up!