Ahoy there me maties!

7^th July

MP3 Track of the day – What a difference a day makes – Jamie Cullum

Weather – Hot, hot and hotter

I woke up a little earlier than I had planned (8:45am) and sat up; the view around me was stunning; the sun was out, the skies were blue and I had mountains on each side of the boat with glistening water all around bliss. It had been a brilliant experience sleeping outside on a boat, but it had taken it's tole on my back. When I got up I though I had broken it, it was really painful due to the fact that I had been sleeping on one of those plastic sun liners all night (top tip: If you are planning to do this journey purchase a foam mat thing to put on the sun liner … very important and worth it).

I think I've found the definition of paradise. Paradise is being on a boat that hardly moves at all, sitting on a chair with a drink and something yummy to eat, staring out into glistening blue waters with forested mountains in front of you, backed by snow-tipped mountains and all of it lying on a clear blue sky with the sun beating down … and this is where I am. The weather has been superb, too good to be inside, and so I've put sun cream on for the first time in a month or so and I've sat in the sun, on the top deck (solarium) of the ship all day … bliss.

Time just rolled by until I went down at 1pm for some lunch (chicken burger with chips) and then back onto the solarium deck. At around 4pm the ship docked at Katchikan for 5 hours and so I decided to have a walk on dry land before heading back to the ship for tea. Katchikan is a nice town that is similar to Juneau (very long and thin, hugging the coast line with large mountains as back drops) in size and design. The harbor is lovely and I had a walk all the way along it before returning to the ship 2 hours later (it was too hot to be out any longer).

I returned to the ship to have an early tea (Salmon burger with a chocolate cake for pudding … yum) as I need to be up at 3:00am as the ship docks at Prince Rupert at 3:30am. It's still really hot here and so, before bed, I might see if I can find an ice cream.

Toodle Pip!