After a two-day journey from Maine to Glaicer Bay, Whale Articulation Specialist, Dan DenDanto, finally meets "Snow" in person.
Thursday, September 20
Sometimes the weather just doesn't cooperate in Southeast, AK. Our contractor, Dan, had the opportunity to experience this first hand! After traveling for two days from Maine, he quickly had to slow things down upon arriving to Juneau. He had finally reached the end of jet service and had to wait for a small prop plane to fly him to the small "bush" community of Gustavus. Fortunately, the weather cleared just in time for him to make it to Glacier Bay by early afternoon. We were all so happy when he landed! His first words when he arrived were, "Wow! That was quite a commute!"
Today began the first step in packing and moving Snow's bones. Dan presented a plan of action to inventory, move, and pack all the bones into an 8 ft. x 20 ft. U-Haul truck. Next, he spent some time collaborating with the maintenance staff to secure the equipment that would be needed to move Snow's massive skull from its storage shed to the truck. With a plan in place, it would be much easier to move it when the time came.
Much of the afternoon was spent getting Dan orientated to Bartlett Cove and the community of Gustavus. He will begin his initial inventory of the skeleton this evening and early tomorrow morning. Dan will leave on Friday and return next week with all the necessary packing materials, wood, and U-Haul truck to carefully pack Snow's bones for transport to Maine. Once in Maine, the big job of degreasing, repairing, and fabricating new bones will begin. Stay tuned as we load Snow's skull and pack up all her bones next week.