Dances with Whales - 5. Chapter 5

We spent several days alone, only having dinner with family and friends, while we did tours of the ports we stopped in. The Mendenhall Glacier helicopter and dog-sledding trip from Juneau turned out to be our favorite. Ryan and Peggy came with us and took pictures of us as we took shots of them. Logan and I snuggled together with the dog sled team was one of our best. The trip itself was nice, and it was fun to be with family, but after 14 days. Logan and I wanted to be alone. Which I had planned for. I stood on the balcony as I held Logan from behind while we passed under Lions Gate Bridge, with Stanley Park off our starboard side. I spotted the rigging sticking up over the trees and smiled as we made our last turn, entering Vancouver harbor. There was a ship. A square rigger sailing vessel at the cruise terminal in the rear position on the dockside. I pointed. Logan looked back at me with eyebrows raised.

Logan

Eric was up to something. I knew it the minute he got up this morning. Just that little smile he gets when he is thinking, and a plan is coming together. Now he is pointing at a tall ship. Reading the name on the stern before, I looked back at him with raised eyebrows.

“Hawaiian Flyer?” I asked, pausing as I thought back to the list of items he owns. There was a ship under construction. Name to be determined.

“Perhaps we could just sail back to the islands. Spend a couple of weeks alone.” He said as he waggled his eyebrows at me. Which made me laugh as I spun in his arms and kissed him. We departed the cruise ship and waited inside the terminal at baggage claim. Giving our departing wishes to everyone as they headed for customs and off to the buses that would take them to the airport and the charter flights home. Eric and I passed through customs last before he guided me over to 4 crew persons from the ship. The uniforms were snappy. The design, whoever did it, impressed me. They looked like old style navy uniforms. Eric informed me they were dress uniforms. The ship had been over in Seattle and re-provisioned for the trip back and took on passengers. Which meant they carried 10 tons of cargo for the island, too. They took our bags and all the items we purchased in Alaska towards the security checkpoint for the Hawaiian Flyer. Eric told me about the plan to use it year-round in the islands. The ship was 390 ft long, US Flagged and carried 160 passengers. With a crew of 74, predominantly, from the island of Molokai. One of Eric’s projects he fought with the locals over. Moving through to check-in, we were presented with 2 boarding passes each, because we had two cabins. The only two cabins on deck.

“We have both cabins on deck, one for storage, and room for us to work.” Eric said as the crew led us to the vessel. It was beautifully designed and looked like it had just dropped out of the days of windjammers. With modern equipment, like the satellite communications system. After we boarded, we took a fast tour before I turned to Eric.

“You know. I could get used to traveling like this,” I said as we entered our stateroom. It was not as large as our cabin on the cruise ship, but it was bigger than DSCVR’R’s cabin. With the addition of the restaurant and pool areas, plus the large deck. It would be much more comfortable than taking the trimaran across the ocean to Hawaii.

Eric

We stood on the deck as the other passengers returned from their day in Vancouver. Waiting for the tall ship to get underway. I held Logan in my arms with my chin on his shoulder as we watched the float plane take off as the seaway landing strip was just off our starboard side across the harbor. Two hours later, we were seated for dinner with the rest of the guests in the dining room. I booked a private table for us to have alone time, without revealing my identity to others. A fact the crew was still getting used to. After dinner we were walking on the deck when I leaned in and whispered.

“No peeing off the deck.”

“OK. How about peeing in the pool?” He asked with that twinkle in his eyes.

“Ah no, my beloved merman. Wait until I tell your dolphins you’re peeing in the water.” I said as I pulled him tight to me. Making him chuckle. “I think we need to go back to our cabin and see if we can rock the boat.” I didn’t even finish speaking as he turned us to return to our cabin.

I looked behind the ship and smiled. “Almost out of sight of land. Think we should wave?” I asked, and he nodded as he walked to the aft rail. People looked at us with curious looks as we waved our last goodbye to the Northwest as we sailed off into the sunset for Hawaii with 70 other passengers.