Photo Journal - Mary B. visits Alaska (pt 2.)

View from Ship

Horsetail Falls outside of Valdez

Alaskan Wilderness

Wildflowers

Kettle Lakes (formed by Glaciers)

Alaskan Pipeline outside of Valdez

Beaver Lodge and pond between Denali & Mt. McKinley Lodge

wild Lupine

Wood Carving in Valdez

Birch Trees in Copper River

Dog Sled Team in Copper River

Future Dog Sled Member

Fireweed (wildflower)

White-crowned Sparrow

Sunset from the Ship leaving Vancouver, BC

Photo Journal - Mary B. visits Alaska (pt. 1)

View from ship - small islands

Harbor Seals in Ketchikan

Mendenhall Glacier

Glacier Calving in Glacier Bay

Iceberg

Humpback Whale in Juneau

Icebergs in Prince William Sound on the way to Valdez

Seagull on Floating Iceberg

"It matters to this one"

There's an old story about a little boy who was out on the beach after a big storm had washed up scores of starfish. He was throwing them back into the water, saving them from drying out and dying.

A passer-by stopped him. "Son, stop wasting your time. There are more starfish out here than you can ever throw back. You're not going to make a difference."

The boy looked back at the starfish in his hand, then looked the walker in the eye. He said, "It makes a difference to this one," turned, and went back to his work.

In a similar vein, allow me to present the first good news I've heard come out of the gulf region since the deep-water oil well ruptured: a chap with the YouTube handle of "guitarest" is doing what he can - all on his own - to save a few of the gulf's marine natives. On June 30, 2010 he wrote:

I originally set this tank up approx 3 months ago and since then the tank was slowly converted to a salt/fresh water tank so I would be able to catch local fish and keep them in a tank safe from the oil spill.

The tank now includes loads of fish I rescued from areas that might be hit by oil from the BP spill. I have wild shortfin molly's , mosquito fish (or known as guppies), pin fish, speckled trout, crawfish, hermit crab, blue crabs, a rock crab, shrimp, needle fish, and a huge bull frog tadpole.....

I am running a brackish tank and in a month I will have a larger 100 gal tank so these guys can live in a better and not so crowded environment.

Guitarest followed up on July 11 with a video, some pictures and these comments:

Ok its been a few months (since before February) when I started this project. I have gone through three different sized tanks. Sadly a few fish have died in the process of getting this tank up and running and doing what it was purchased for; a attempt to safe a few of our native fish from a death of mans mistake with the Deep Water Oil Rig...

I have let a estimated 30 fish go, and 6 larger blue crabs and the tank finally appears stabilized. I have had to do a estimated 500gal of water changes mostly due to over-crowding in the tank. As you can see the tank does appear to be...stabilized.

A tank to be proud of, indeed. My hat's off to you, sir.