To say that conditions on the boat were cramped would be an understatement. At one point, I'm pretty sure I saw a school of sardines swim by and laugh at the stupid humans. Not only were we seated should to shoulder, knee to knee, but many of us had luggage as well. Granted, it was mostly of the backpack or purse variety, but there was no place to put any of it, save at our feet or on our laps. This meant finding the one configuration that worked, then sitting in that position for the entire 2 hours.
Even though this wasn't the whale watching portion of the tour, the captain of the boat did his best to point out things along the way. "If you look out the port side of the boat, you'll see Orcas Island, the largest in this archipelago. For those of you having a hard time making it out, it's the dark mass along the horizon, just behind that low-lying cloud cover..." But the poor visibility wasn't that much of a problem, since he'd point out that same island 4 more times before reaching Friday Harbor.
He told other stories of local color and commented on various points of interest, but we missed much of it, thanks to his competition. I'm talking about a couple of German women seated next to us. Of course, I don't speak the language, so I can't say definitively that they were German, but I'm sure I heard the words "David Hasselhoff" more than once, so I have my suspicions. From the time we left Bellingham until we reached Friday Harbor, these two talked incessantly. And loudly. More often than not, they completely drowned out the PA system. My girlfriend and I both tried firing annoyed glances in an effort to turn down the volume, but eventually had to "shush" them like 4-year olds. That did the trick... for about 3 minutes.
Sigh.
Time practically slowed to a crawl as we strained our eyes, hoping to catch any glimpse of civilization that would signal the end of this Torture-Cruise. And then, just as I was beginning to think I was trapped in some cruel Twilight Zone episode, there it was... Friday Harbor. At long last! A chance to stretch our aching legs by wandering through the local shops, museums, and restaurants promised in the pamphlets. An hour and a half of blessed freedom!
And then the announcement from the captain... "Folks, since we are running a bit behind today, we going to have to cut our stay at Friday harbor short. We'll be setting sail to see the whales in about 45 minutes."
Perfect. How did I not see that coming?
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Summer Vacation 2005Part I: It's All in the Planning
If any of you are masochistic enough to have been reading this blog since last summer, you'll already know what an awesome time my girlfriend and I had when we took our very first whale watching tour out of Victoria, BC. And for all you new readers, my girlfriend and I had an awesome time when we took our very first whale watching tour out of Victoria, BC last year.
How's that for "setting the stage"? Pretty good? Cool.
Well, for this year's trip, we had decided it was time to take a nice, romantic Caribbean cruise. Sadly, those plans got quickly tossed away as soon as we discovered that, "Hey! These things cost money!" So, it was back to the coast for a second round with the Killer Whales... How could we go wrong?
Read on.
In order to save a few bucks, I convinced my girlfriend that it would be much better to slip down to Bellingham, Washington to do our tour, as opposed to going all the way to Vancouver Island and spending a fortune on the ferries. I figured the idea was brilliant, like all my ideas, because we could get some shopping done while we were down there. She wasn't as keen, but eventually gave in after much whining (not hers, mine). I think what won her over in the end was that I had found a company that offered 7 hour guaranteed killer whale watching tours on a luxurious 110 ft boat that would make last year's jaunt on the Zodiac seem like "slumming it".
In hindsight, it probably would have been smart of me to make sure the tour company was operating on the day we went down. Which it wasn't. Nor the next day either.
As it turned out, we were lead to believe that there was only one company offering whale watching excursions on a daily basis, but you had to take a 2 hour cruise on a 45 ft boat out to Friday Harbor first. Not what we had in mind, but what the heck... So we decided to take the lemons that had been handed to us and make lemonade by signing up. At least we'd see whales and spend some nice time out on the water.
Here is a picture that I took from inside the boat:
And the fun was just beginning...
How's that for "setting the stage"? Pretty good? Cool.
Well, for this year's trip, we had decided it was time to take a nice, romantic Caribbean cruise. Sadly, those plans got quickly tossed away as soon as we discovered that, "Hey! These things cost money!" So, it was back to the coast for a second round with the Killer Whales... How could we go wrong?
Read on.
In order to save a few bucks, I convinced my girlfriend that it would be much better to slip down to Bellingham, Washington to do our tour, as opposed to going all the way to Vancouver Island and spending a fortune on the ferries. I figured the idea was brilliant, like all my ideas, because we could get some shopping done while we were down there. She wasn't as keen, but eventually gave in after much whining (not hers, mine). I think what won her over in the end was that I had found a company that offered 7 hour guaranteed killer whale watching tours on a luxurious 110 ft boat that would make last year's jaunt on the Zodiac seem like "slumming it".
In hindsight, it probably would have been smart of me to make sure the tour company was operating on the day we went down. Which it wasn't. Nor the next day either.
As it turned out, we were lead to believe that there was only one company offering whale watching excursions on a daily basis, but you had to take a 2 hour cruise on a 45 ft boat out to Friday Harbor first. Not what we had in mind, but what the heck... So we decided to take the lemons that had been handed to us and make lemonade by signing up. At least we'd see whales and spend some nice time out on the water.
Here is a picture that I took from inside the boat:
And the fun was just beginning...
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Blog Van Winkle
I'm going to have to assume there's a problem with Blogger's timestamps on my blog... There no way two months have gone by since my last post. Seriously... A dedicated blogger, such as myself, completely ignoring his blog for that length of time? It's unthinkable! Remember how long summer holidays lasted when you were a kid? It was a veritable lifetime between Grade 5 and Grade 6! Well, that's apparently how long this little ol' site of mine has lain dormant.
Perhaps I could tell you that I've been deeply involved with a corporate merger that will soon see me writing about bigger and better scenes from bigger and better forklifts... Or that my recent battle with flesh-eating disease had me at death's door and it was all I could do to hold onto this mortal coil. Maybe you'd believe that I did, indeed, pull a Rip Van Winkle by voluntarily participating in a cryogenics experiment conducted by the University of Calgary and, as far as I'm concerned, not more than a couple of days have passed since I last posted so you can all just get off my back! And somebody get me a blanket... I'm freezing!
Of course, my tendency to blog my inner machinations, coupled with a total lack of ambition when it comes to thinking up believable lies, pretty much eliminates any chance I have of fooling even my most gullible of readers. Oh! Which reminds me... Hi, Jack!
Alright, so there isn't really some great, earth-shattering event that has kept me away from the blog-world, but I suppose there's a fair-sized backlog of stories that I could tell... With my daughter finishing Kindergarten, my recent summer vacation, the Calgary Stampede, the return of the NHL (thanks for the reminder, Catt...), and a whack of so-called blockbuster movies currently showing, I think I can come up with a couple things to say.
Okay, grab yourself a coffee, put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on your office door, and get comfortable... This won't be a short ride.
Just kidding.
I know what it's like to read a blog post that's just way too long. Actually... No I don't, because I usually give up after a couple scrolls unless the thing is really interesting. And, since I can't guarantee that I'll be really interesting, I think I'll cut it off here, for today, and start a 4- or 5-part series that is sure to get you all up to speed on the fascinating life of Cuppojoe without putting you to sleep. There's nothing worse than having your boss find you drooling away on your keyboard... Unless he finds you drooling away on his keyboard, I suppose...
Perhaps I could tell you that I've been deeply involved with a corporate merger that will soon see me writing about bigger and better scenes from bigger and better forklifts... Or that my recent battle with flesh-eating disease had me at death's door and it was all I could do to hold onto this mortal coil. Maybe you'd believe that I did, indeed, pull a Rip Van Winkle by voluntarily participating in a cryogenics experiment conducted by the University of Calgary and, as far as I'm concerned, not more than a couple of days have passed since I last posted so you can all just get off my back! And somebody get me a blanket... I'm freezing!
Of course, my tendency to blog my inner machinations, coupled with a total lack of ambition when it comes to thinking up believable lies, pretty much eliminates any chance I have of fooling even my most gullible of readers. Oh! Which reminds me... Hi, Jack!
Alright, so there isn't really some great, earth-shattering event that has kept me away from the blog-world, but I suppose there's a fair-sized backlog of stories that I could tell... With my daughter finishing Kindergarten, my recent summer vacation, the Calgary Stampede, the return of the NHL (thanks for the reminder, Catt...), and a whack of so-called blockbuster movies currently showing, I think I can come up with a couple things to say.
Okay, grab yourself a coffee, put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on your office door, and get comfortable... This won't be a short ride.
Just kidding.
I know what it's like to read a blog post that's just way too long. Actually... No I don't, because I usually give up after a couple scrolls unless the thing is really interesting. And, since I can't guarantee that I'll be really interesting, I think I'll cut it off here, for today, and start a 4- or 5-part series that is sure to get you all up to speed on the fascinating life of Cuppojoe without putting you to sleep. There's nothing worse than having your boss find you drooling away on your keyboard... Unless he finds you drooling away on his keyboard, I suppose...
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