Today we would’ve have arrived in Bellingham around 8 am by Alaska State Ferry, caught the train back to Edmonds, and be home by now … at the end of our dream 19-day tour of SE Alaska. After Glacier Bay we planned to hit Haines for a few days of hiking and car touring, then return to Juneau for a boat tour into Tracy Arm, then over to Sitka for a day and onto Wrangell where we were going to spend 4 days, 2 of which would’ve been taking photos and shooting video of the bears feeding on one of Alaska’s largest pink salmon runs up Anan Creek. Then to Ketchikan to visit a long time friend, and finishing up with 2 days more days on the ferry traveling back to Washington via the Inside Passage. Unfortunately, as some of you may already know, on our 5th day (July 11) Robert had a heart attack and our trip ended. On that last day we had planned to rent a kayak and tour the bay, either on our own or with a group, but it was pretty wet, and we decided that we wanted our first time sea kayaking to be a little drier. So, instead we quickly booked an afternoon whale watching tour in Icy Strait. Well, it looked pretty nice when we started (the forecast was for showers). Plus the boat had a tarp over the deck so from the onset we chose to stay outside the whole time. The skipper headed over to Chichagof Island just off Point Adolphus where the humpbacks had been very active. It took awhile to get there, but we were hopeful about seeing a bunch. Plus the island is remote and gorgeous. We did spot some along the coast, but, then it started to pour. So much so, that the tarp really didn’t do much good. In spite of our rain gear, we were still getting really soaked. Finally, the skip decided he’d had enough of the rain and headed back, everyone watching for whales along the way. And then, voila! About a mile from port, we scored! The rain had subsided, and we found ourselves in the midst of several pods feeding. It was amazing to see so many. There were even some breaching. We were running late getting back, but no on was complaining. We were in awe. Anyhow, finally we had to head back to Gustavus. We walked the long ramp out to the parking area in the drizzle, where we had to wait another 30 min for the next shuttle back to Glacier Bay. I ran off to take some pix and Robert followed, but he immediately said that he was going back to wait because he didn’t feel so great. When I returned, he was huddled in a ball on the ground … disoriented and saying that he felt a heaviness in his chest and couldn’t catch his breath. I immediately thought he had hypothermia. Others from the tour came over and asked if they could help … some offered food, one gave him two aspirin to take (l8r we found out that this was the best thing we could have done at the time, beside calling 911, which we didn’t). When we got back to Glacier Bay, we took refuge in the lounge at the Glacier Bay Lodge. He still wasn’t feeling good, and someone alerted 3 park rangers who just happened to be outside. They ended up being EMTs as well, and we all decided that they should at least take his vitals. They weren’t bad, but he was still feeling pressure in his chest, so they called the Gustavus aid car which was equipped to run a heart monitoring test. They sent the readout to the Park’s medical director, who said, get him to the ER now. That meant an airlift to Juneau where they did more tests and told him he’d had a heart attack and needed to be evaced again to Anchorage which had the nearest cardiac care facility. By 4 pm on the 12th he was getting an angioplasty and then 2 stents in a clogged artery. Next day, he was pretty weak and tired, but they got him up in the afternoon to walk, took more tests, and said he was good to fly home commercially, which we did on the 14th. We didn’t get home till well past midnight. He’s doing pretty good now … even walking daily. Yesterday we did almost 2 miles and 300′ of gain. Monday he meets with a cardiologist to check in and to find out how soon and how much he can do to get back out to the mountains.

Anyhow, Robert got some great video on that day (I will post it when he’s edited it), but I got crapola … my lens just couldn’t handle it. As I said, it was raining hard, the boat was rockin and rollin, and every time a whale dove or breached we got even more turbulence. Plus, it was pretty difficult to capture these guys just at the right time … my fingers (or brain) didn’t work fast enough. But, did I really care? Nope! It was just too awesome being there in the moment. Besides, I still have my memories which will be with me for the rest of my life. But regardless, I did decide to process and post a few of my blurry shots …

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/wtc6sm