There’s no place like Nome.

There’s no place like Nome.

July 20-21, 2019

Through the Bering Sea to Nome, Alaska

It’s 600+ nautical miles between Dutch Harbor and Nome, so we’re cruising at a constant 18 knots to get there by 8 am on the 21st.

Lots of shipboard activities to keep the troops occupied. Movies, lectures and cooking demonstrations or for the kids, basketball and pickleball up on the sports deck. Plus the usual bridge, casino, trivia and food, wine and cocktail tasting. It seems like a smooth ride, but there is enough movement to get the pool water cresting like a wave pool so the surface net is on to try to contain the splashing which means no pool time today. It’s been very popular with the teens. The boys are trying to impress the girls and they, of course, are ignoring and flirting at the same time as only teenage girls can. 

As an “Exc in-Depth voyage” there are seven experts on board who give talks on everything from Japanese cooking to Alaska native culture to geosciences and oceanography. They all have credentials out the ying yang and have the ability to make everything seem fascinating. The Showroom is SRO for most of the presentations. Jim couldn’t tear himself away from his book, but having heard good things about Gloeta, a biologist and science communicator, I went to hear about “The Amazing Nature of the Tundra.” That sounds tedious, but she was quite animated and funny especially when she chose two octogenarians in the audience, John and Mark, to demonstrate the differences in rutting between bull moose, caribou and musk ox. Trust me, you had to be there. 

Jim and I both went to watch the guest chef, Naomi Kakiuchi, demonstrate marinated salmon and Somen, a type of Japanese noodles. Naomi said Somen in on the menu at McDonalds in Japan. It’s always fun to pop into a Mickey-D’s in a foreign country just to see what native dishes are available along with the Quarter Pounders. Remember John, our driver in Sitka? He said everything on the Dollar Menu there costs $1.50. Chef Naomi is preparing a special dinner next week in the Pinnacle Grill. Just one sitting at 6 pm, so we’re assuming the timing and service will be on point. 

Believe it or not, showering and changing into “Smart Casual” for dinner in the dining room every night gets old so tonight we schlepped up to the Lido Buffet for dinner in our daytime clothes. So many selections. Jim has discovered that the salad guy will top his Caesar salad with a pile of anchovies so he was a happy camper. I had beef bourguignon with chocolate panacotta and strawberry pavlova for dessert. Don’t judge. Small portions of each. Each stateroom has a DVD player and the ship has over 1,000 movies available from classics to current, action, drama, comedy and family titles. We passed on the Showroom and watched Network instead. I don’t think I’ve seen it since it’s release in 1976. I know I couldn’t imagine how prescient it was.

Sunday, July 21

8:30 am

It’s grey and foggy and we haven’t anchored yet. The tenders have been launched and are milling about. The fog suddenly lifts and there is the breakwater and channel that leads to Nome. We still haven’t anchored yet. This is not a good sign.

About 9 o’clock the captain announces that the swells are coming straight into shore and that he is trying to maneuver the Maasdam so it won’t be so bumpy transferring passengers to tenders. Keep in mind that to board a tender, you walk down a metal stairway on the outside of the ship’s hull to a small platform and from there onto the tender. In calm waters this is a piece of cake; with a rolling swell, not so much. As we were having breakfast we could look down and watch the operation. Uh oh. The process is going very slowly. The passenger waits on the little platform until the ship and the tender are even and then crew members on the platform hand the passenger over to crew members on the tender. It does get the pulse rate up. We’ve done this before and survived so decided to wait until the inevitable line gets shorter, This is our last port for US$, there are two fabric stores and don’t forget the Blueberry Festival. 

The tenders load just below our stateroom so we went back to watch and wait. Uh oh. One tender of crew to set up the dockside station has left and one tender of passengers but now the other boats are just circling around. 

And then the captain comes onto to the loudspeakers again to break the news that the weather is getting worse, tender operations have been canceled and passengers and crew on shore will be coming back to the ship immediately. Needless to say, this is not a decision they make lightly. The passengers are disappointed and the town is going to take an economic hit. Our son and daughter-in-law went to a Blueberry Festival in New Jersey only to discover that they had run out of blueberries. I texted Claire our sad news and she replied, “Fishers are now 0 for 2 on blueberry festivals this year.” 

Now the passengers and crew are back on board and the tenders have been pulled up. The entertainers that are arriving in Nome midday to join the ship will be brought out on the Pilot boat. Now THAT’S going to be a maneuver to watch. Those boats come alongside the ship as it’s moving and the pilot jumps from the deck of his moving boat to the ladder on the side of the Maasdam. So we’re waiting for this and then we’ll head towards our next stop, Petropavlovsk, Russia. It’s at least two sea days plus we cross the International Date Line so it could be three days.

To quote Tina Fey as Sarah Palen on SNL, “I can see Russia from my porch!”