Bijaboji: North to Alaska by Oar

Monika Rohlmann is an environmental consultant in Victoria, B.C.

Betty Lowman Carey was 23 years old in 1937 when she rowed from Puget
Sound to Alaska in a dugout canoe. A journalist by training, she had a
keen ear for details and despite losing all her notes in a capsize, she
was able to reconstruct the specifics of her varied conversations,
weather and water conditions, and progress north along the Inside
Passage. In later years, she shared her adventures with American
students while on contract to the National School Assemblies. It was her
lifelong wish to publish a book about her journey. Now in her 90th year,
she has accomplished this goal with editing assistance from Neil Carey,
her husband.

Bijaboji, named for her brothers Bill, Jack, Bob, and Jimmy, was an
orphaned dugout that floated to shore in the Juan de Fuca Strait near
Carey’s home in Anacortes. Her father wrangled for the craft’s
ownership from the coast guard and on her 18th birthday Carey assumed
the captain’s role. Almost from the start, she dreamed of rowing from
her home in Anacortes to Ketchikan, Alaska, where her father fished for
salmon in the summer. Born into a fishing family, she was 10 years old
when she rowed solo for two miles. Rowing the Inside Passage at age 23
seemed a natural progression for this athletic and independent young
woman.

For Carey, rowing those 1,300 miles was the means to an inside glimpse
at the varied lives of fishers and shore dwellers. She took many side
trips to visit lighthouse keepers and small logging and fishing
settlements. Sometimes she tied up against larger vessels to share food
and conversation. Rarely did she have to spend a night alone for it
seemed there was always an available bunk at a nearby cabin or boat. She
ate well, receiving numerous invitations for a meal from people who had
anticipated her arrival from radio broadcasts.

Carey’s successful trip was a defining moment in her life. Her
well-written travelogue is jam-packed with descriptions of the people
she encountered and places she visited on her journey.