Cartography School Dropout

When I chose the University of Colorado, it was because it was one of the few places to get a degree in Cartography. Life, love, skiing, and my mother’s terminal illness conspired to cause a change in plan. I transferred back to the University of Missouri and ended up with a degree in Psychology. Road not taken.

Nevertheless, my interest in maps and charts persisted and at one time I had an astonishing collection of topographical maps of areas in Colorado, California and even Central Oregon. The “tubes” are long gone, and even my interest moved to the back burner over the last few years. Imagine my surprise to be introduced…on my recent trip to Canada and Alaska…to GPS (Global Positioning System) computer software. Even though it has been advertised and available for awhile, I was not aware of its real-time capabilities and ease of use. Wow! This is awesome! I am once again entranced and fascinated and captivated.

So I was able to track my route to Ketchikan with accurate Latitude and Longitude readings easily obtained from the handy computer screen on board the Delphinus. How good are you with meridians? As you know, all ship’s logs start with the maritime location. Here are the headings for my Canada/Alaska Journal:

05/30 Lat 48°37′N Long 123°07′W Friday Harbor
05/31 Lat 48°58′N Long 123°41′W Preedy Harbor
06/01 Lat 50°05′N Long 125°14′W Quadra Island
06/02 Lat 50°37′N Long 126°34′W Village Island
06/03 Lat 50°49′N Long 127°31′W Bell Island
06/04 Lat 52°03′N Long 128°03′W Ada Cove
06/05 Lat 53°05′N Long 128°30′W Khutze Inlet
06/06 Lat 53°33′N Long 129°34′W Lowe Inlet
06/07 Lat 54°58′N Long 130°56′W Foggy Bay
06/08 Lat 55°20′N Long 131°39′W Ketchikan