- [Narrator] The next 84 hours of my life will look like this. I'm kind of nervous because
of just how remote it is. Sailing 1000 miles west
off the coast of Alaska towards one of the most remote
islands in North America. Mind blowing, it's so beautiful. No cabin, no comfy bed,
just a tent for shelter. It is freezing out there. Over the next several days,
I'll be taking this ferry to Dutch Harbor, a remote
port in the Aleutian Islands. There is no entertainment and no internet. So what do you do on a journey like this for four and a half days? How boring does it get
and why am I even here? (dramatic music) Okay here we go. That's the ship. The last moments on dry
land for the next four days. No idea what to expect. I'm pretty sure it's going
to be spectacular and wild but a little bit uncomfortable too. (peaceful music) That's it. Onboard. Yep. I'm calling this the anti cruise. So this is home for the next four days. (peaceful music continues) This it, the solarium deck. Solarium deck sounds really
nice when it's sunny, but I'm feeling like
tonight it's gonna be cold and not so much Solarium as a rain-arium. (peaceful music continues) There's a shower. I did not expect the shower. I for one, was really excited, but not so much about the
wildlife and the ocean and all the wild Alaska things. I mean, yeah, that's great too but I think I was just
really excited to be bored. (peaceful music continues) You know, everyday life gets so busy, there's always so much to take care of. And often when I get bored
or have nothing to do I just default to scrolling social media. So here on this bare
bones ferry with no wifi I'm just excited to dive into boredom. Is that weird? It's very, very loud here on deck because of the engines
kind of constantly humming. So let's see how that's gonna
go in terms of sleeping. But as you can see the land is slowly disappearing behind us which is kind of surreal to see and know that I'm gonna be on this ship for the next four days
doing this crazy thing where I'm sleeping in a tent
on deck rather than in a cabin. But that's fine. So, well, the next thing to do, I suppose, is to put up my tent
and try and get to sleep because it's already 10:00 PM. I know it doesn't look like
it, but it is 10:00 PM, that's Alaska for you. I've camped in a lot of crazy places from the desert to Antarctica, but I gotta say this is my first time camping on top of a moving boat. My main concern was that the tent might get blown away by
the wind without me in it, which is why I brought
extra strength duct tape just in case. But this spot here actually
felt quite sheltered. I think it looks great. Okay, time to make it cozy in here. (relaxing music) Okay, I am all set up and I'm basically ready to go to bed soon. But you know what, I'm gonna
tell you a little secret. 'cause the funniest thing is
that I could have taken a plane to Dutch Harbor and it would've taken me four hours from Anchorage as opposed to basically five full days
of travel on a boat, sleeping in my tent on the deck
of a very rudimentary ferry I could have flown. But where's the fun in that, you know? (relaxing music continues) (relaxing music continues) The MV Tustumena or the Rusty Tussy as she's affectionately known, and yes, that's a little bit worrying, is part of Alaska's marine highway system. The route I'm taking starts in Homer on the southwestern coast of Alaska and leads about 1000 miles further west into the little known Ellucian Islands further west than Hawaii. But unlike tropical Hawaii these islands are
desolate and wind beaten. In fact, they've been
nicknamed the cradle of storms for their extreme climate. The ferry only runs four
or five times a year and only at the height of summer because this is what it can
look like out here in winter. (alarm ringing) I just woke up because the captain was
making an announcement on the loudspeakers here on the ship. Apparently we've just arrived
at a port and an island but it's not the final
destination just yet. Anyway, I had a great night of sleep. The air plugs work wonders. So good. Very excited to go get myself
a nice hot coffee right now because it is freezing out there. (peaceful music) So more good news, this is my tent, and this here is the
shower and the toilet. It's right there, it's
basically like an en suite. If you just, you know, put
your imagination for good use. (somber guitar music) (water splashing) There are some coffee machines down here, with I believe free coffee. Oh, no, it's not free. It's $3, but I can't buy any
anyway since I have no coins. But the good news is that we have just stopped here in Kodiak which you might recognize 'cause it's like the wildlife preserve and is part of Alaska. So what I might do is I
might just go into town and see if I can get a coffee there. When I boarded the ferry, I had no idea whether I would be able to disembark and check out the various ports of call. So this was actually a
really nice surprise. Kodiak is a sleepy fishing
community, and the locals tell me that in order to live here you have to make your peace with the rain. If it says anything, I scuttled straight into a cozy local cafe
to get my morning fix and back on the ferry I had a surprise waiting for me. I am no longer the only
one camping on deck. There's now an entire campsite which is kind of nice 'cause
I no longer feel alone. Leaving Kodiak and seeing
all these new people join me on deck started to feel like the true beginning of our journey west. The routine came quickly. The boredom did too.
(relaxing music) (engine roaring) I promised myself that on this trip I would pursue the ultimate modern luxury, staring out into the ocean, being unproductive, reading several books,
writing and being bored. Those moments when you just
let your mind roam with no goal no direction, no specific
problem to solve. I think that's one of the cradles
of creativity right there. I was loving it.
(upbeat electronic music) It's pretty amazing just how quickly your body falls into a
simple routine of sleeping, waking, eating, observing. You end up following the same motions and eventually one day
becomes two, then three, then four all running
at the same slow pace, and then it's almost time to leave again. While I was having my breakfast and slowly coming to my
senses, we arrived in Cold Bay, and this is what Cold Bay
looks like from the ship. So does anybody actually
live all the way out here in the most isolated islands
of the most remote state? Yeah, and they have been
for over 8,000 years. The history of the Unangan, the native population
of the Aleutian Islands, makes this one of the oldest
continuously inhabited places in the world. A whole new chapter began
for the Aleutian Islands when the ships of the Russian empire arrived and conquered in the 18th century. And then there was World War II when the islands became a
critical strategic point on the map in the battle between Japan and the United States. Of course, all these events served to decimate the local population even more. Today, most of the people who live here are temporary workers who come here from all
around the world every year to work in the local canneries. They help process all the fish caught around the North Pacific
and the Bearing Sea. These canneries are strewn
across the archipelago. (peaceful music) So just as we leave Cold Bay the clouds are dissipating
and a mountain emerges. I thought this was just a flat island with no major geological features but there's a huge mountain
in the middle of it, mind blowing. So beautiful. Since we have a lot of time here I thought I'd give you a
quick tour of the ferry. So here is the main hallway, and then if you kind of walk
ahead down this corridor this is obviously all inside and I'm not staying here,
but some people are. So if you keep walking, then eventually you get
to the observation lounge, which is where a lot
of people are sleeping, have been sleeping. It's a lot more quiet than upstairs, maybe I should have stayed here. (relaxing music) And then there is the
lounge and dining room which have vending machines and all kinds of tools to
help you make your meals on the boat like microwaves
and hot water, coffee machines, things like that. A few tables to sit at if you wish, and over there is the dining room. We're not gonna go in and disturb all the nice people
dining in there right now but you can probably imagine
it's just 20 tables or so. So not everybody on the
ferry sleeps, you know, in like the public areas. There's actually some cabins on the ship. They do exist, but because
there's only a few of them and there's, you know quite a
bit of demand for this ferry because it only does the
crossing once a month they sell out real quick. So even though I booked my
ferry like three months ago I was still too late for a cabin. But you know what, that's fine because I've been having
quite the adventure up there on the deck, so no complaints. (peaceful music) I spent these few days on the ferry somewhere between a
state of total relaxation and anxious boredom, knowing that the upcoming
days in the Aleutians will be the complete opposite. For now just breathe and enjoy. (peaceful music continues) I can't believe it's been five days. It went by so fast. We're just about to arrive in Dutch Harbor and in a few hours the
ferry will turn around with most of the people still on board and head back to Homer in Alaska. I'm staying. I'm staying in the Aleutians
for a little while. I'm kind of nervous because
of just how remote it is and how rugged it is out here but also really, really excited. (peaceful music continues) It was just a trip on a ferry, right? I just camped for a few days. It wasn't anything grand but sometimes you don't
need to do grand things. I think sometimes maybe you just need to allow yourself to daydream. As the ship arrived at
its final port of call in Dutch Harbor on the island of Analaska, I was just really grateful to have spent those peaceful slow days on the ferry. Welcome to Dutch Harbor.
(dog barking) If you wanna see what happens next, as I stay out here on one
of the most remote islands in North America, you'll have to wait until next week. As always, I promise it's
going to get adventurous. See you soon.
(relaxing music)
