I'm Holly The Tour Guide

My morning started early, 4 a.m. or more like 6 a.m. for those in Mountain Time, but I'm starting to adapt to the time change. I was informed yesterday with the four groups we had coming to the lodge today I would be narrating my first tour to the third group of the day. My co-workers, Nick and Sara quizzed me through the facts and helped me get all prepared for the day. I tagged a long with Nick and Capt. Ryan Sinkey (our boat captain) in the morning out 5 miles into the Inlet where we drop crab pots with bait so we can show the crabs to the people that we take on a tour. We re-baited the pots and pulled out whatever remained inside. This big guy below, a star fish and a few crabs were found in the pots. This, if you don't know is a sun star. I held him in both my hands coz he was about 6 pounds!

After we re-baited the pots and came back in we prepped and got ready for the first tour at 8:15. This one was Nick's so I was able to tag along and observe his technique, the second was Evie, but hers was at the same time as Nick's on our second boat. The next tour  I tagged along on was Sara's (it was her first tour by herself also). Then it was my turn. On the tour we stand on the boat in front of everyone and tell them(over a mic system)  about Alaska, Ketchikan, the wildlife and area around us. We take them out to our crab pots, pull them up and tell them about the crab, letting them handle them and ask questions. The whole tour is about 90 minutes. You all know I can talk a lot, but the tours can be tough when you breeze through things quickly or don't have all the facts you think you have. The first two tours were lucky to have a sighting of a whale, seals and eagles. My tour had one eagle sighting, but Sara had a rough time with no real wildlife to stop and look at.  After the tours we cleaned the boats and the dining rooms. After the groups go on the tour they go to our dining rooms and eat crab and cheesecake. I am also a server, but today my job was just narrator. My serving time will come later.  My tour went well for the first time. No one died and we got tips! Yay! Everyone seemed to enjoy their day on the boat. We had people from Australia, U.K. Texas, Washington and Canada. 

On our way back this morning we checked Nick's pot near the lodge in which he caught 6 shrimp. While I've been here he has shared his flounder with us and planning on getting more. I'm going on the next fishing trip for sure. Just don't plan on leaving it hanging in the water because he did that and a seal came and ate it up! Gotta love living off the ocean! I know I do :) 

Life has been good the past few days. We went into town to watch Iron Man 3 last night and just been cleaning up the lodge for guests. Blueberry Festival is coming up soon and we will get to go enjoy pie eating contests and more! Can't always say this can't get better because it has. The next two days I have off but there's always adventure.