A down-on-its-luck fishing village reinvents itself. A few years ago I went to visit a friend in a small coastal town in BC, and she described the place as “a little drinking village with a fishing problem.” That description could fit an awful lot of places on the coast, and it’s interesting to see how …
Read more “Cruising to Prosperity: Icy Strait Point, Alaska”
I never get tired of being at sea. It occurred to me today that this is probably our 35th cruise in five years. I never would have chosen cruising as a holiday style—I’ve always been an independent, off-the-beaten-path kind of explorer. But the work I do on cruise ships is so immensely satisfying, and …
They tell me I can cross an Alaskan river on the backs of salmon and not get my feet wet. Here today, I can almost believe it. Today, I’m in Ketchikan, Alaska and it’s not raining. This is not a small thing. I have seen Ketchikan in gentle drizzle and I’ve seen it under sheets …
Fragments of ice up to ten stories tall began to peel off its face and crash into the sea below. I work as a cruise ship naturalist during part of my year, giving presentations about the wildlife and geography of places like Alaska, the Baltic, and the Mediterranean. It is exciting and tremendously rewarding work, …