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Good Coffee Hunting Part II,
Day 5 continued
Bartlett Cove
Our good luck does not continue...one engine quits at the end of the
day. The boat can run on one engine, but it is a rather dicey matter
when the seas are rough. My parents suffered a similar experience
earlier in their boating career, both of their engines quit as they were
exciting the locks, but that is another story. David is not pleased when
I helpfully diagnose the engine problem for him. He is not convinced of
my abilities as a prognosticator of boat problems. I firmly let him know
that there is air in the lines, which will clear when he primes the
pumps. This is not as simple as it seems, loud mutters begin to emanate
from the very hot engine room. I put my earplugs back in and begin to
meditate. Dad motors over in his tender to help David solve the engine
problem, I witness them drinking beer and discussing the merits of
working engines. Eventually, David did manage to get the engine running
and I am extremely impressed with his abilities as a boat mechanic.
At the end of the day, David drives the girls over to the mother ship as
their high-pitched squeals are driving us mad. David pulls the tender up
to the boat and Kylie promptly steps off the tender and into the harbor.
She did not grab onto anything as her arms were laden with stuffed
animals, books and of course her pajamas. Thankfully, she is wearing her
lifejacket, which ensures that she pops to the surface like a cork. Her
shoes are lost, as she has neglected to tie them; according to Kylie,
they are; "too small anyway". Somehow, this seems an appropriate end to
the day.
Day 6
At the end of our run of our run today, the boys repair to the upper
deck to procure the mop and the long pole that has a net on the end. In
their imaginary world, these everyday tools become the swords of Samari
and they commence with a deadly battle. There is quite a bit of talk of
stabbing and killing as the boys jab at one another. I expect one of
them will go overboard but they are skilled at their footwork and no one
takes a misstep into the water.
Once anchored for the night, Shan finds a deserted small island and
drops the kids off for a few hours of exploring. I am not sure if the
boys took the mop and net but it would seem a perfect opportunity. The
last island that Shan and David left the kids on had the skull and bones
of a bear; naturally, my sister and brother in law are now a bit more
cautious about where they leave the children
Day 7
We awake at 6:00 a.m for our final ride into Juneau, Alaska; happily, it
is smooth going on the open seas. At the end of our run on the open sea,
we have an unfortunate docking experience. This type of incident makes
captains run for the head or throw their crew overboard. There are no
winds or rough seas, only inept crewmembers, actually just one inept
crewmember. As we slowly motor in to the dock, one of the children let
out a terrible scream from inside the cabin. I am not sure if he is
injured, I am torn about whether to desert my docking post on the stern
of the boat and help little Kevin, or stand my ground as a crew member
and bring the dingy up along side the boat. I decide on helping Kevin
and purposely throw a loose line around the cleat. I see Kevin is in no
danger and run back outside to find the dingy dangerously floating
between our giant vessel and the dock, apparently my line did not hold.
Poor little 9 year old Sean is trying to secure the dingy, which is
going to be crushed between our boat and the dock. Sean and I run
around in a dither trying to secure the boat while Captain David shouts
at us from the upper deck. The dingy floats about precariously but
remains upright. Fortunately, Captain Shan comes to our aide and secures
the main line of the dingy, thus getting it out of harms way. I assume
after this episode I will defiantly not be invited back.
Once my heart starts beating at a more normal pace, we head out in the
uncrushed dingy to pick up Lexi and Kylie from their grandparents boat.
At first, we inadvertently drive up to the wrong boat and shout for Lexi
and Kylie, fortunately for us, there is no one home on this boat. After
this blunder, we head back out to the harbor while keeping a keen look
out for the mother ship. As we search for the boat, we inadvertently
drive in the path of a descending seaplane. I scream for my life and
throw myself on to the bottom of the boat. Shan opens up the throttle as
the seaplane noisily skims overhead, at this point; we realize that we
are nearly out of gas.
The boat quits at several inopportune times on the way to the gas dock,
fortunately not in front of the seaplane. Conveniently, we find the
girls waiting at the gas dock. As we are leaving the docks, I let Shan
know that she tied us to the dock in a most inefficient manner. She
calmly states that she did not tie the line, "why don't you show the
attendant the appropriate way to tie a line?" luckily; the attendant has
a good sense of humor and laughs it off.
I question Kylie about her earlier impromptu swim as she boarded mom and
dads boat. She said her dad did not maneuver the dingy properly. This
is not a satisfactory conversation for me; I decide I will discuss it
with her later.
During this conversation with Kylie, Shan is merrily skipping along the
seas on the tender. With virtually no warning at all, I hear an "uh oh",
this cannot be a good thing. Shan crashes over several giant ferry waves
and soaks all of us while swamping the boat. She is not able to contain
her laughter, which makes all of us more furious with her. It is a bad
luck day all around and I figure it is most likely time for Lexi and me
to leave.
The taxi picks us up on time but the plane is late in arriving and it is
raining. The local barista has a "closed" sign on her window.
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