March 24, 2006
Suzie The Oyster Farmer
From time to time, we will be releasing stories submitted by our staff that recount their personal experiences while traveling aboard.
Submitted by Jeff Krida, Cruise West President and COO. This photo of Jeff was taken on our Voyage to the Bering Sea.
It was a crisp but sunny evening in July, 2001 when the “Spirit of Glacier Bay”, our smallest and our original overnight cruise vessel, carrying all 49 of our guests, sailed into Mueller Cove near the center of Prince William Sound. We were in the home stretch of a long and serenely beautiful summer day of watching humpback whales feed and rafts of sea otters happily frolic through their seemingly endless play and dining on shellfish. What a life! We were all feeling just about as calm, happy and privileged as they by this time and were getting ready to gather in the ship’s lounge for pre-dinner snacks, libations and a re-cap with each other and our Exploration Leader of what we had actually observed and experienced in this remote and pristine place today. We had no idea the surprise our Captain had in store for us.
Mueller Cove is about 50 miles from anything that resembles civilization or modern conveniences: house, 
store, phone – not near anything but open water, secluded coves, glaciers, forest, mountains, whales, bears. Except, in this wild and seldom visited cove, there resides a true Alaska pioneer, making a life and a living on the edge of our world, and having a life she loves deeply in the midst of unimaginable beauty and extremes of weather only a bi-seasonal dweller switching between Minneapolis and South Florida might conjure. Here, on a small houseboat, with her husband and a teenage nephew summer helper; lives, loves and breathes, Suzie the Oyster Farmer. Twice a week now, all summer long ever since that special July night five years ago, the 78 guest "Spirit of Columbia” (since our “Spirit of Glacier Bay” retired three years ago) sails into Mueller Cove, drops anchor in these cold and deep waters, and Suzie comes out in her skiff to spend an evening onboard with our crew and guests. There are many hugs from familiar crew as Suzie makes her way to the front of the lounge and proceeds to win every heart and mind in the room for the next hour or so, sharing the stories of her life raising oysters commercially here and living year round in this solitary place. We soon realize, this is not a lecture – it is an evening we’re sharing in Suzie’s life. Questions start flowing and don’t stop for a good while. “Suzie, how can you tell a male from a female oyster?” someone asks. “Well, you see, sometimes it’s the same thing!” Suzie proceeds to explain why and nearly all in the room have learned something they never, ever, even thought about. “What do you do out here all winter?” Of course this question had to come from someone in our city folk flock. I’ll let you join us on the “Spirit of Columbia” in Prince William Sound to hear her answer for yourself and to spend an evening with us and Suzie.
When the evening came to an end and Suzie headed off in her skiff for her floating home a hundred 
yards from our anchorage, my fellow travelers were smiling to each other and to themselves – they had met “the real thing”, and they had all made a new friend, and collected a very special memory. We stayed at anchor here, keeping Suzie company the night, and slipped out of Mueller Cove at breakfast time, headed for another day of exploring Prince William Sound and these unspoiled reaches of The Great Land. But we were changed, and we knew we were.
Posted by Jeff on March 24, 2006 10:52 AM
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