As soon as it was decided that Granny HAD to go to the hospital, I packed up all our things and got ready to leave. Unfortunately, there wasn't room on the helicopter for me and our luggage. The captain tried to get me onto one of the other cruise ships in the area that was going to Juneau. That didn't materialize either. It was a good try but unfortunately the other ships didn't have space.
The next morning, a float plane arrived to take me into Juneau and then on to the Bartlett Regional Hospital. Granny had been examined and scanned the night before. They used 6 staples to close the wound so nothing further would leak out. Then she was discharged from the hospital. They must be used to treating tourists because they have the equivalent of motel rooms for discharged patients.
Granny was cleared to return to the cruise so we just loaded her into the car and back we went to the airport. Fortunately, the air taxi service was able to fly us right back to the ship without any delay.
We still had about 1 day before we would get to Petersburg. Our captain took us to "The Brothers". This is a small group of islands that seem to be a favorite place for sea lions. Off we went in the DIB to see for ourselves.
There appears to be no shortage of sea lions on The Brothers. However, they seem to have an affinity to just one area. Why is it that with all that space available, they choose to crowd into a small space and lie on top of each other?
As we approached Petersburg, we saw more sea lions. This time they were lolling around on channel marker buoys.
Here we are in Petersburg - end of the cruise portion of the trip. We arrived in Petersburg on Monday, eight days after our departure from Sitka. After a short walk around town, a visit to the library and some lunch, we returned to the ship so we could pack for the next days departure.
