Riding out Storms...

In case you didn't know...there is a lot of rain in Ketchikan. It is located right in the middle of the Tongass National Forest which happens to be the largest rainforest in North America...making Ketchikan one of the rainiest cities in North America. In fact they get an average of 160 inches of rain each year.

Tree down on Creek Street

Well on Tuesday morning we had some driving rain...we also had a little wind. And by a little wind, I mean winds around 100 mph. The largest gust was actually clocked at 104 mph. Lets just say this wasn't in the forecast...and not really anything that I was expecting in AK. I mean I managed to live on islands on the east coast for 6 1/2 years and never have winds that high.

Thankfully did managed to sleep through most of the storm. I woke up around 5:30 (which is around the time the power went out) to the house swaying and the trees moving back and forth...then I just went back to sleep.

View from my living room window

Now I can live without power most places...but it's still pretty cold here in Ketchikan, especially with winds and rain! So our house got a little chilly. Thankfully the power company got all the power back on by mid-afternoon, and there wasn't too much damage! There was a tree that went down just up the road.

Today was my first day of work, where I learned that the winds hadn't been that string here in over 15 years...go figure. We had a great orientation and I really enjoyed getting to know some of the captains and other crew members. I am looking forward to all of the new skills that I am going to be able to learn from everyone else!

While at training I saw a couple harbor seals playing around the boats. And I can't count the number of eagles I saw. They are everywhere! This afternoon I sat on my couch with my binoculars and watched 2 different eagles move from the top of one boat mast to the other. I don't think I will ever get over walking down the street and having 4 eagles fly over your head like it is nothing!

Soon cruises will start coming in, and it will be non-stop. And I'm sure there will be many more storms and exciting wildlife to come! So for the next few days I will enjoy the slow training schedule! And after that...I'll just ride out the rest of the storms as they come!