Ice Ice Baby!!!
After a well deserved break catching up with friends back home I start my third contract. It’s now approaching one year since I started this new game and it’s difficult to fathom how time has passed by so quickly!!!
Shortly after landing on Alaskan soil I am welcomed by heavy showers and cold gusts of wind which I can expect on most days according to the locals. A far cry from the pictures outlined in every promotional brochure advertising whale watching and glacier trekking.
I arrive at my hotel with the primary intention of collapsing in my bed after many exhausting hours of travel. Unfortunately, the stuffed moose head on the wall stifles my ability to get any shut eye as I am sure he’s still alive as his eyes seem to follow me around the room!
A short time later I embark my new home, the Coral Princess. This being the biggest ship I have been on so far with 2000+ passengers and 1000+ crew onboard. Within a few days it is obvious that I will be kept a lot busier with clinics and more out of hour call outs.
Shortly after introducing myself to the medical team I see a familiar face in the midsts. Lennie, the senior doctor from my first contract! After catching up over coffee and exchanging stories about time away from the ships, I am quick to remember how in the short one month working together on our first contract we managed three heart attacks, performed two blood transfusions, and dealt with two cardiac arrests!!! Was this a bad omen?
Alaska consists of one week cruises running back and forth between Vancouver and Anchorage. Many of the ports seem to look the same, and so do the shops for that matter. In Liverpool every other shop is a hairdressers or a Sayers. In Alaska every other shop is either a jewelers or a salmon shop.
Unfortunately weather is key when it comes to traveling around Alaska. If it’s raining, every port and glacier run looks completely different to when it is sunny! Regardless of weather though it’s always nice to venture out onto the crew deck at the front of the ship, for hot chocolate and cookies while the glacier’s carve in the distance.
After five weeks onboard I have already enjoyed whale watching, glacier trekking, husky dog sledding and most importantly Burger Queen!!! Undoubtably the best burgers in Alaska!!!
With crew tours organised every week onboard ship, I’m looking forward to what next week has in store!!!
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