Silversea sail away

And so we bade a fond farewell to little Seward today, home of the Iditarod, to good-hearted Shelley who cooked and served our breakfasts, to helpful Wes, Alaska’s sharpest fisherman, to the ladies at Nellie’s who serve the best-ever seafood chowder… But first, Wes’s attempts to get me out on a trail ride on this perfect day sadly (oh, so sadly) coming to nothing, he took us to see the salmon weir out of town, where clusters of sockeye salmon were hanging in the water until the urge took them to head further upstream.

There, waiting for them, was a sneaky mesh fence and a fish ladder with a girl poised above it to count them as they passed. The lucky 3000, paired-off, would get to wait in the pond to be inoculated – yes, injected individually – against a kidney disease, before heading up to spawn, their eggs to be collected and raised in the fishery. The others would meet their maker, one way or another (including via bear), quick smart.


Did I think of that when I tucked into a share of a whole roast salmon in the Panorama restaurant tonight? Er, no. I was just enjoying being back aboard a Silversea ship, our clothes unpacked by our butler, our cupboard stocked with our own choice of drinks (all included), our toiletries selected, ditto the pillows… And here I am in our little sitting room, the sky outside fading from pale pink to silver, the sea from pale turquoise to silver, the motion restful, the wake breaking rhythmically outside the veranda, the room creaking quietly, a faint hum from the engines barely perceptible, more of a vibration. I expect to sleep very well tonight.