Skagway's Floating Ferry Dock Sinks

The Associated Press reports:

SKAGWAY, Alaska — Ferry service has been suspended to the Southeast Alaska community of Skagway after the dock sank overnight.

This photo released by The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) shows the Alaska DOT&PF Alaska Marine Highway System floating dock submerged in Skagway, Alaska, on Thursday, April 24, 2014.

[snip]
People on their way to work saw the partially submerged floating dock about 6 a.m. Thursday, and the dock was completely under water within 90 minutes.

The 160-foot by 120-foot dock is comprised of 24 individual, airtight concrete chambers, each 12 feet deep.

Woodrow said every individual chamber has been inspected by the state in the last two years.

There was "no visible sign of wear or indication that would lead to this submersion," he said.

The 24 chambers are supposed to provide a redundancy backup, he said, meaning if one fails, the other airtight boxes keep the dock afloat. "To have the dock submerged like this, there has to be multiple failures or some other issue," he said.

Read the whole story at the link.

A Couple of Things We've Discussed Here

Moose in the Roadway Dept: 

A woman driving alone on the Richardson Highway Wednesday evening was killed when her vehicle crashed into a moose, Alaska State Troopers said.

The entire top of her vehicle, a blue 2006 Acura, was ripped off, the trooper report said.

Sad, but not uncommon in car/moose collisions.


Love, Exciting and New Old and Busted Dept:  The Associated Press reports...

JUNEAU, Alaska — A Celebrity Cruises spokeswoman says the ship that returned to port in Ketchikan last weekend after experiencing mechanical problems is scheduled to depart on Thursday.

Cynthia Martinez says the Millennium will head to a shipyard in the Bahamas for repairs. She says it will sail using its other propulsion motor.

Needless to say, there won't be any passengers aboard.

Passengers on Troubled Cruise Ship Near Rioting

according to some who called the Ketchikan police.

Ketchikan police responded Tuesday night to several emergency calls from passengers on board the stranded Celebrity ship Millennium. Apparently, the callers thought there was going to be a riot.

Here’s police chief Alan Bengaard: “We, the police department, received three 911 calls from passengers on the MV Millennium who stated that people were getting unruly on board the ship, and they believed  a riot was about to begin. Officers responded to the ship, met with ship security and advised them of the 911 calls. Ship security and officers contacted approximately 500 guests on the third floor of the vessel, and subsequently peace was restored and officers left.”

from www.krbd.org

Bengaard says those 500 people were upset about Celebrity Cruise’s plans for where they would go when flown out of Ketchikan.

“The officers … were given the information that some of the passengers were unhappy with the miscommunication between them and the cruise line, and ultimately where their final destination was going to be,” he said. “Initially, evidentially, they were told they were going to be flown to Anchorage, and plans had changed and some were upset with that.”

Bengaard says he believes the passengers will instead be flown to Vancouver.

So ... passengers had to learn in a round-about way that they're flying to Canada instead of staying in Alaska. Any wonder why they're upset?

Vampires in Alaska

From www.adn.com:

JUNEAU -- A weeklong vampire convention on a cruise ship is planned for Southeast Alaska next summer. 

Holland America's cruise ship Zuiderdam will be the setting for the event scheduled for late June. 

~ snip ~

Scheduled to join the cruise is Dacre Stoker, a great-grandnephew of "Dracula" author Bram Stoker. Dacre Stoker is a co-author of a sequel, "Dracula: The Un-Dead." 

Vampire scholar John Edgar Browning is scheduled to host a vampire movie festival. Other planned events include a vampire ball and costume contest.

It's only a matter of time before zombies come ashore. Ammo up*, Alaskans!




* Of course it's a whimsical admonition to be prepared for a zombie invasion. If you don't think it's a joke, you're on the wrong page. Go 'way.