That's a Thing?

I felt lucky not to experience any sea sicknesses whatsoever aboard the cruise ship we spent 7 nights on last week. Sure, I felt the motion of the ship, but it seemed like a relatively calm passage. A day and a half into our journey, we disembarked at the first port of call, Icy Strait Point. It would be the worst weather of the trip, rainy and in the low 50s. We were only there for a few hours, and most of what there was to see was built on the pier where the tenders dropped us. As we made our way through the cannery-turned-museum-and-gift shops, I felt the floor swaying. This place must be a floating pier, I assumed, although it didn't really look like it.

In Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, I felt a bit of dizziness, but soon I was on a cable car, train, and tour bus, respectively. I mentioned the feeling of vertigo in passing to my traveling companions, but it was mild and we let it drop. Last night? Heidi was complaining of bed spins, and I was still reeling. Google to the rescue: we seem to have mal de debarquement, also known as "land sickness," although thankfully ours seem to be mild cases.

According to Web MD:

Mal de debarquement syndrome (MdDS) is a rare and little understood disorder of the body's balance system (vestibular system) and refers to the rocking sensation and/or sense of imbalance that persists for an excessive length of time after an ocean cruise, plane flight or other motion experience. Most people after exposure to an ocean trip or long airplane ride will experience "motion" after the event is over and for a short period of time, with two days being the upper limit of normal. But for persons with MdDS, these sensations may last for 1 month or a year or even many years. Symptoms may diminish in time or periodically disappear and reappear after days, months, or years, sometimes after another motion experience or sometimes spontaneously. This syndrome is probably more common than the literature might lead us to believe, as the level of awareness in the general population as well as among health personnel is very low.

The disproportionate length of time over which the discomfort persists is normally unaccompanied by nausea, nor is it responsive to motion-sickness drugs.

For reasons that are not understood, middle aged women are overwhelmingly more likely to come down with MdDS than are men. However, most studies so far have disavowed hormones as a cause.

Coincidentally, Heidi ran into one of our neighbors this afternoon and as they discussed our trip the topic of this pesky rocking sensation came up, too. "Oh, you have mal de debarquement!" our neighbor, who is also a middle-aged woman, exclaimed. "Mine lasted 12 days-- I staggered around work for two whole weeks!"

Ours seem to be a mild cases and I have confidence they will be gone soon. If not? I guess it's just kind of a neurological souvenir of our great vacation. 

Scammed

Yes, that was us last evening standing in the busy Vancouver Sea Bus terminal trying to figure out how to use the fare machines. Perhaps our confusion was further compounded by the unfamiliar currency; certainly I've seen tableaus like ours many times in our public transit stations. There we were, a five CAD bill in hand when a gaunt woman with filthy teeth, lank grayish-brown hair, and wild blue eyes approached us with a handful of coins. Adding to our confusion, she offered to trade us her money for ours. There was a moment of wondering whether that would make it easier to use the machine, and then it all went downhill so fast. She took the five and before she handed over the change she dropped some pennies on the ground. Everyone's attention was diverted-- "Get that one!" she pointed and then turned on her heel and took off for the door without ever handing over the coins. I felt foolish and angry, but I also felt pity-- all that trouble for what amounted to three US dollars and 85 cents? She obviously needs it more than we do.

Sorry Vancouver

Sure, you have ocean and mountains. You have several cute neighborhoods, an Olympic stadium, lots of coffee shops, breweries, markets, sea buses, and an awesome public park with gardens, beaches, and totem poles. After a week at sea, I also very much appreciate your city water and flushing toilets. You seem to be a really nice city, but you're just not... Alaska. 

A Dolphin Never Forgets

As our ship cruised through the narrows of Queen Charlotte Strait on the last leg of our journey, the 6 o'clock evening sun blazed full on the water behind us. Squinting off our balcony into the nearly blinding copper light I thought I saw sleek figures leaping and surfing our wake. Sure enough, at least a dozen dolphins were having a little fun cutting across the current our cruiser created.

For many years, we took our sixth graders to Lewes, Delaware for the end of the year trip. There we would spend the morning on the beach and take a dolphin-watching cruise on the bay in the afternoon. It was a great trip, especially because we were the Dolphin Team, and in general, we saw quite a few dolphins, although some years were better than others. Unfortunately, the year my nephew, Treat, was in my class, it was cool and rainy on the beach, and we may have spotted three Dolphins all told.

A few summers later we went kayaking in Maine, and Treat and I shared a tandem. Not five minutes in, we were surrounded by harbor porpoises. They swam alongside of us silently gliding in and out of eastern Bay. 

"Wow!" Treat said simply. 

"I know!" I answered. 

"I just saw more Dolphins in 5 minutes than I did on that whole sixth grade field trip!"

Proverbial

We spent a little time shopping in Ketchikan before our tour to Saxman Village this afternoon. After two days in Anchorage, and stops in Denali, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, and Skagway, all the shops have started running together.  

"I can't look at another tshirt or sweatshirt," I told Heidi, "I just can't!" But of course I did. In each port the trick became to find the store that was different. 

One such place we saw today was a confectioners with all sorts of sweets made on the premises. It was called "Ketchi-candy" which I found kind of  ketchi, har har har. Right outside three little girls were fussing at their mom.

"How can you take a kid into a candy store and not buy anything?" one demanded. I looked at their mother; unfazed, she winked at me, and the two of us laughed. 

"You are just mean!" another of the girls pronounced, and then she flounced her hair over her shoulder and stalked away toward their, ahem, cruise ship. 

Exciting and New

The first thing I do every morning on this cruise is step out onto the balcony to see what amazement lies beyond the railing. We made port in Skagway before I woke up today, so this morning I was greeted by the green waters of Taiya Inlet surrounded by incredible mountains. 

A seal poked its head up across the way, where another cruise ship was docked. The deep water port of Skagway makes it a popular stop on the Alaskan cruise circuit, and this restored gold stampede town of 750 was about to expand by a factor of 10 as the tourist stampede in the form of four ocean liners arrived for the day. 

Truth be told, we've seen quite a few other cruisers on this trip, but I did a double take when I saw the name of the ship off my deck this morning. Pacific Princess... Why wasn't that? Surely it couldn't be? The Love Boat! It didn't look quite as I remembered it, but it's been 20 years or more since I saw an episode. 

Luckily, there was good phone service there in Skagway, so a quick internet search turned up the sad fact that the original Pacific Princess had gone to a scrap yard in Turkey last year. This imposter was nothing more than her replacement. I sighed in disappointment. 

Fortunately, there was still Skagway and a trip up to the Yukon on the White Pass Railway to look forward to.

Come aboard, we're expecting you!

So Lucky

This is one of the rainiest places on earth, but we have sailed under blue skies and puffy white clouds today, warm sun on our faces and cool breezes on our backs. After a whirlwind visit to Juneau this morning, they had a barbecue on the the outdoor deck for lunch, and so as the crew prepared the ship for departure we found ourselves lounging poolside, looking for bald eagles on Mt. Rogers, and watching the sea planes swoop over us to land on the Gastineau Channel.

A little while later, we spent over an hour hanging out on our balcony watching whales spout off in the distance and catching our breath at the dramatic glacier-carved scenery as we cruised the Tracey Arm on our way to view the Sawyer Glacier. Exquisite aquamarine ice bergs floated beneath 7,000 foot mountains laced with narrow waterfalls that plunged steeply into the narrow fjord on either side of us. Surrounded by wilderness as far as we could see, it was impossibly beautiful-- one of those rare moments in life when there's no doubt just how lucky you are.