Deck Chairs

Where is everyone?

Deck chairs are one of the biggest problems on many cruise ships. Going to Alaska - not as much of a problem, but going south, passengers want to get out into the sun. To hell with the health warnings about the deadly “SUN”; by the time that February rolls around and you have shoveled several tons of snow, you want nothing more than to spend some time allowing your body to absorb some vitamin D. On some of the cruise ships, you have to get up early in the morning, take out your special “deck Chair Saving” equipment (A bag from another ship containing cheap flip-flops and a book) and put it on a good deck chair to save it for later when the sun comes out. If you do not do this the only deck chairs available are those with broken supports, and sitting in the shade. It is so bad on some ships that I have heard of fist fights ensuing when someone removed the material from an unoccupied chair and heaven forbid, actually used it. The problem has an inherent catch 22. If you do not reserve a chair, you cannot get one and because of this procedure, there are many chairs sitting unused for most of the say, just waiting for the time that the person wants to sit in the sun. During prime sunshine hours, the chairs are pretty much full, but other times most sit with cheap flip-flops and unread books gently simmering in the heat.

The ship crew do what they can to help alleviate the problem, by clearing chairs containing just a towel, and they cover as much surface area as possible with as many deck chairs as they can. It is difficult however to remove someone's bag, flip-flops and comfortably dog-eared book. Of course if they actually picked up the book and flip-flops they might notice that the day-glo pink of the unworn sandals does not really match the “Woodworking Tips for Retired Plumbers” published in 1956. Both items are “throw-aways” just in case someone is bold enough to remove them after they have sat there for four hours from 6:30 am to 10:30. Signs go up advising passengers that items will be removed from unoccupied chairs after 20 minutes, but I have yet to see any crew actually do this. Most ships have not figured out the fine line between annoying one person who reserved the chair or the 20 people searching for a chair.

Lots of chairs here

My favorite was once when I found a couple of chairs both unoccupied and in a nice quiet section of the deck. The only problem was that the good chairs were in the sun, and Regis wanted a chair in the shade, although I wanted to catch a few rays. I was able to move things around so we were comfortable with one in the shade and one on the sun, but I had to move a set of four chairs all with the usual assortment of “Chair Saving” items. Those chairs sat for two hours unused but occupied by someone's “things”. As the day progressed and the sun moved I had to move those four chairs a number of times to preserve our nice Sun/Shade combination. When the chairs “Owners” finally arrived their precious chairs were all in the shade, and I was occupying the sun such that it was really not easy for them to move them. They knew their chairs should have been in the sun, and they knew I had probably moved them, but I just sat there ignoring them through my “Gangsta” sunglasses (Regis hates these glasses, but they have their uses). They stood, fumed, looked around, stared at me with no result, discussed things among themselves, and finally picked up their “stuff” and moved on terribly annoyed that the system had failed them. Me, did I feel guilty? No, I just felt I was doing my part to free up some deck chairs, and someone came along a few minutes later and were overjoyed to find four nice shady unoccupied chairs.

Now on this Holland America ship, this is never a problem. The most popular deck chairs are the nice teak “Titanic” styled chairs down on deck three on the walk-around deck which is always in shade. There are always lots of chairs anywhere on the upper decks. If you want a chair in the sun, there are lots of them. The 80+ crowd is not as much into suntanning as the younger demographic is, and the tropical heat drives most of them into the AC equipped library or card room.

BAJA 1000 . . . well 10 at least . . .

Lets GO!

One way that we save a bit of money on our cruise travel is to avoid taking all of the shore excursions. There are an amazing variety of things you can do at every port, but they all cost quite a lot. We have got into the habit of looking at them all, and choosing one organized tour on each cruise. People tell me that if you go ashore and bargain with some of the crowd of locals who greet you as soon as you get off the boat, you can get a better tour for a fraction of the money. We have usually stuck with the tours organized by the ship however, because if something ever happened, we know the ship would wait for us, where you are on your own if you go with the independent tours.

Tell us about the Baja 1000

On this cruise, we selected a tour out of the Mexican port of Cabo San Lucas; a mini 4 X 4 tour of the Baja region. Actually Regis found it, and thought I would like it because I would actually get to drive the vehicle. She had read the reviews and they were almost all very positive. It sounded like fun. We decided not to book early, because it was a long cruise and we doubted things would be sold out quickly. Once we were on board we put in our request, but were a bit disappointed when the original time was full, but a new tour had been added at 2:00 PM. This wasn't a serious problem, although since the ship was leaving at 6:00, and it was a 3.5 hour tour, we were cutting it a bit close. Let's hope that last tender waits for us . . . .

The tour started at a ranch out in the country, and each couple were assigned a bright red Honda “Big Red” two person ATV. After a brief tour, safety drill, and operation instructions, I chose a shiny red machine, passing up a couple that were starting to show the fading effects of the hot Mexican sun, so were probably a bit older. There were seven couples along for the tour, and one couple were returning, having done it three years ago (A good sign for sure).

Looking out on the Pacific

Once we set out, the tour proved to be very well organized and thoughtfully designed. The route was challenging with narrow sandy trails, tight switchback turns, gullies, and steep climbs. We had a guide in front, who encouraged the faster more adventurous of us to keep up with him, while a guide followed behind to ensure that those who were not as comfortable felt included and kept on track. This has to be difficult, for a guide; to go fast enough to satisfy us Baja 1000 wanna-be's as well as keeping those slower drivers with the group. They really did an excellent job, blasting ahead on some twisty sections, leading us back and forth across the road and around the Baja vegetation and allowing the others to follow the straight but boring roadway. It really made for a fun ride. The ATV's were powerful enough to make it fun, yet seemed safe and reliable even in difficult terrain. I had fun. Bounced off a few berms, clipped a few bushes, kicked up lots of dust, and slid through a few tight sandy turns.

We stopped twice, once on a hilltop overlooking the spectacular Baja countryside, and again on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. I think the three of us asking the guide for stories about when the Baja 1000 used to run through here encouraged him to pick up the pace a bit after this stop.

We had a great afternoon, and arrived back at the port in time to catch the last tender back to the ship. We were a little tired, and very dusty and dirty, but completely thrilled with this tour. We did miss our dinner in the dining room, and had to eat at the Lido buffet though. Shorts, flip-flops, out on the aft pool deck under the warm setting Mexican sun . . . . . . life is tough!

Lost In Portugal

 

Although our hosts here in Portugal left us a lovely 'welcome pack' of fruit, wine, bread and other useful items, we wanted to pick up some groceries to be ready for supper and breakfast, so we went for as walk to find a grocery store and wine bodega. Sue and Colin, the owners of the apartment have written a wonderful guide to Olhao and have everything you might need located on a handy tourist map.

Portuguese Street Sign

A map is useful however only if you can find where you are and are able to follow the map to where you want to go. The apartment was easy to locate on the map, and the shopping centre with a nice modern grocery store looked easy to find. Off we went hiking up the road, but quickly found a problem. The map lists all the street names . . . . . the actual streets however do not actually seem to have names. I'm sure someone named them, but no one put street signs up. The older area of town has lovely ceramic tile street name plates on the buildings, but there was no such thing here. We kept going hoping to find a sign to find our way, but nothing appeared. We weren’t actually lost, because we knew how to retrace our steps back home, but the shopping centre was certainly lost.

Finally we asked a 'local' sitting in one of the sidewalk 'snack' bars.

“Sorry”, she said “I'm not from here.” She however did ask her friend who although he could not locate where we were on the map (He probably did not know his street actually had a name . . .), but he was able to point us in the direction of the shopping centre and his directions got us there.

Wonder Where Linda & Pete are?

Linda and Pete (Sister & Brother in law), had much the same experience. They flew into Lisbon, stayed overnight and took the train down to Olhao the next day to arrive the same day as Regis and I. When they arrived at the train station in Olhao, they discovered that the one paper that they could not find was the one containing the actual address of the apartment. They had seen pictures of the apartment but did not know if they could actually recognize it. They knew it was called “Number 24” but had no idea what street it was “number 24” on. After wandering a bit they gave up and Linda left Pete back at the Train station while she went to find an internet cafe to try to find the apartment through the website or her e-mail where Regis had sent her the information earlier.

No luck. . . . . no address, no idea what to do . . . . not quite to the point of panic, Linda decided she would have to get a hotel room, and perhaps contact us via e-mail to find out where we were.

Look Pete made it to Portugal

They luck and good fortune took over and a friendly Russian/latvian couple recognizing Linda's “Lost in Portugal” looks asked if they could help. Using broken English and inadequate Portuguese the situation was investigated slowly. As Linda tried to explain her brother here already and not knowing where the apartment was, they mentioned Colin and Suzanne. Somehow, Linda the Canadian had found someone from Russia who knew our English hosts living in Portugal. How's that for international intrigue? After a couple of phone calls they found Colin & Suzanne's phone number, made contact and were finally, tired and hungry from travelling, able to find us.

Oh, BTW, the apartment is two blocks from the train station, and had Regis and I been relaxing with a glass of wine on the front balcony rather than enjoying the sunset on the back balcony we probably would have noticed Pete sitting forlornly guarding a pile of suitcases outside the train station; we can see it from the balcony.

Houseboatin'

Houseboatin'

Now I have written a couple of blog entries about piloting the houseboat for Regis and the girls, and I hope you have enjoyed them, but it really was an interesting vacation, and for anyone interested, I will tell you something about it, in case you might want to give it a try.

Lots of Room for Everyone

The houseboat itself is large, comfortable, and easy to maneuver. I have never really driven a bpat before and I really did not have any problem. You can pilot it from inside if the weather is less than perfect, but if it is sunny and warm, there is a second bridge up on the 'hottub' deck. Although the boat is like a big RV on the water, it is outfitted with a real household refrigerator, stove and microwave. The kitchen is large and easy to work in with lots of cupboards. The bathroom is a real bathroom with an RV style toilet, but a full size shower and sink complete with vanity. There is a couch and a large dining table that both convert to LARGE beds, and as you read, the girls really did have room to line dance in the living room. There were two bedrooms and a sleeping loft, so with the beds in the living area this boat slept 10 with no problem, and sitting nine at the table worked well. We saw another boat that slept 14 that had four bedrooms and two bathrooms (Only one shower however). There was a hottob on the top deck, as well as lots of room to sit around and talk or heaven forbid, square dance. There is a large flatscreen TV and excellent sound system in the living room, and a car type stereo up stairs so your collection of music on the Ipod or Phone is easy to play. There is a slide from the top deck into the water that would have been used if the water was warmer – it looked like fun. And there is a full size barbecue on the front deck.

Come on board . . .

The boat worked well. It has a 3.0 litre inboard engine that started easily with little fuss, and pushed us along at houseboat speed. This means that nothing shifted, you could put your coffee or glass of wine on the counter and even turns did not move it. It is a dual hull pontoon boat so is amazingly stable. Even one morning steaming up river at full speed with a strong wind and whitecaps, we lost water out of the hot tob but not out of the wine glasses inside. The slow speed and stability means that even those susceptible to motion sickness forget they are on the water. The boat uses a battery and generator system and is completely automatic. Regular electric appliances work just fine, and you do not have to worry about using lights or power. When needed the generator comes on and recharges the batteries. They pull water from the river and treat it internally for cooking and showers, and it is then put back into the river so you have no holding tank filling up even with a crowd, and the septic held enough so that even with nine people for almost a week we had no problem.

Underway up the River

The Saint John River, above the Mactaquac dam is your highway, and you can go as far up river as Woodstock. There are some activities to do along the river such as Kings Landing and Trees to Go, but the main activity is the houseboat itself. The scenery up and down the river is beautiful, especially in October with the leaves changing colour when I went, but I suspect any season would have it's own unique benefits. The relaxing speed of the boat and the comfortable setting with good friends make the voyage the best part of the experience.

It is not an inexpensive vacation if you were going on your own, but probably compatible to renting an RV, but put together a group of family or good friends to share the cost and you can have a really reasonable adventure.

Writing the Blog

As I write this, I am sitting on the back deck of the boat in October. I am sitting in a lawn chair typing on my Macbook with a cold beer beside me. I pulled into a little cove at about 4:00 pm , tied up to two sturdy trees and it is now almost 7:00 pm, the sun is going down and I'm watching the river flow gently past. Life is good.

Kindness Of Strangers (New Brunswick)

 

Did you read my entry on the kindness of strangers? Well it happens in New Brunswick too.

Friendly Houseboats in Nackawic

Regis had everything carefully arranged, and she found a pub that we could have supper in when we got to Nackiwick New Brunswick, which was as far as we were going up the river. We pulled into a nice spot right in the beautiful waterfront park in the town, and soon after we got settled, another houseboat pulled in as well right beside us. We exchanged pleasantries, and discovered that they were actually from just down the road. Now one advantage of making friends with the locals is that they quickly gave an opinion about our dining choices, and suggested that since they didn't eat at the pub, suggested we give it a pass as well, and when we found out that the pub food is not prepared on site but ordered from the Pizza joint next door, their advice sounded wise. This left us with a dilemma . . . . what to do for supper?

The kindly Padre Ginny met at the grocery store suggested a couple of places across the river, and said he was willing to drive us over even though it would take a couple of trips, but he couldn't bring us back because he had a meeting. Nackawic does not have a Taxi, and since one of the members was suffering from an injury (hiking, not alcohol induced) the 20 minute walk was out of the question.

Our New Friends

As we discussed our options up on the Lido deck, our Houseboat neighbours overheard, and once more came to the rescue. Although they had come here in the houseboat, they had a vehicle at their house and were only too happy to take us to one of the 'approved' restaurants. They said that we were in New Brunswick now, and people were just willing to help out here.

From Their Boat

Oh, we finally decided on Chinese take-out recommended by our Houseboat neighbours and they took Regis across the river to pick it up. We did spend a very enjoyable evening sharing our take-out dinner with them, but they brought a very handy bar size liquor dispenser and chocolate bars for desert. Another example of the “Kindness of Strangers”. Way to go New Brunswick!

The Captain Does not SQUARE DANCE!

Out On The River

When I volunteered for this trip, I promised to stay out of the way and not interfere with the “Girls” fun week on the houseboat. I went so that none of them had to worry about being 'responsible' for driving the boat. Besides, I really wanted to drive the houseboat.

What is rockin the boat?

I quickly discovered that just driving was not that easy. The 'bridge', such as it is, is right in the main cabin next to the dining room, so you don't get a nice quiet 'bridge' to pilot the boat. Now there are advantages to this. Your coffee comes quickly in the morning, and when the boat starts rocking badly in perfectly calm water, you do not have to go look for the problem, you can see that it is just the line dancing going on in the living room - when all eight of them sashay one way the boat does tend to participate in the dance.

Tying up the boat

I also discovered that the captain's duties do go beyond just steering the boat (Silly me . . . ). I discovered that my 'deck hands' were actually more of the 'deck fluff' variety and it was me that had to jump ashore when we chose a spot to stop for the night and tie the boat to a couple of sturdy trees. They were willing to throw the ropes to me but balked at jumping ashore to do the actual tying. When the table wouldn't come apart at bedtime to convert to a bed, I had to do it, and of course when the hot tub sploshed out in the wind, I was on deck to fill it again and get the temperature up to the suggested 110° required by Karen.

Square Dancing on the Lido

I did draw the line in the sand (We were actually pulled up on a lovely sandy beach in Nackawic) when I was asked to take part in Sharon's impromptu Square Dance lessons that started up on the 'Lido' deck because they couldn't convince the attractive EMO guys to come back and fill in for Elayne's bruised rib they were asked to attend to.

The captain DOES NOT SQUARE DANCE!

Boating With The Girls

Boating with the Girls

Ok, now retirement is all about finally having the time to try new things, challenge yourself, take chances and test your limits. Well, my latest adventure was probably my most adventurous. Regis, always looking for interesting things to do, found an advertisement in a 'tourist' magazine for a houseboat rental on the Saint John River. Now some of her ideas don't go very far, but this one proved popular and in no time she had nine girlfriends willing to go with her.

The Captain at work

I don't know what I was thinking, but I suggested that I would go along to drive the boat so they could all 'party' without having to worry about a “Designated Driver”. If it has an engine and a throttle I want to try to drive it, and since I liked the narrow boat in England I thought this would be fun. I should have realized when no one tried to talk me out of it that I might be in trouble. After all I had been in the house during their “serious” book clubs (I didn't know that much wine was involved with reviewing novels), and I had heard about some of their “get-a-ways” in Cape Breton. This wasn't one group, it was a combination of three groups, a book club, a Monday coffee group and some family & friends thrown in for good (or bad) measure.

Line Dancing on the Boat

Now I have never piloted a boat. In England I was designated “Engineer”, and Master Mariner Brother-in-law handled the difficult piloting duties, but he did let all interested parties a chance to man the tiller, and I only hit one other boat during my turns, and Regis was assured by the company that it wasn't difficult to pilot the boat, so I figured I could handle it. It was in the wide part of the river above the dam, and it was off season so I could learn to drive the boat without endangering other mariners too much. I even went so far as to take my 'Pleasure craft boating licence'. The interesting thing was that I worried about getting the licence and didn't really think about actually piloting the boat, but once I actually passed the test and had a piece of paper in my hand that said I could actually legally drive the boat, I started to think about all they things I didn't know. Which side is starboard again, where do you get fuel, how big was the holding tank going to have to be with nine girls wanting a shower every morning, where were we supposed to tie up every night . . . . . .

Sharing the fun

No problem, the “Boat Rental Folk” gave me a 10 minute course and when he asked if I knew about piloting a boat , and I said I had only helped with a narrow boat in England, but had driven RVs and trucks, he said “No Problem, you'll be fine!”

Walking the Plank

Actually it is pretty easy, and the boat is well suited to the river. It is an aluminium pontoon boat and I was told to just run it gently ashore, tie it to two trees and all would be good. It is no speed boat and you don't need worry about fuel, oil or even water. Back out, point it where you want to go and keep it steady until you get to the next night's mooring.

Filling the Hot Tub

And the “girls” genuinely appreciated my sacrifice and I was waited on and thanked by everyone for driving them. As I write this, we are safely tied up in a little cove along the river. The boat is nosed into the shore just like I was told to do it, and as I write this, the boat is rocking to line dancing. Now it is only the first day . . . . . . .