One Hand for the Boat

One Hand for the Boat

At sea

July 21-22, 2019

We had dinner with a man who was on the tender that went into Nome this morning. He said they never even got off the boat, rather they were held until a decision was made whether to continue transferring passengers or not. Dozens of people were on the dock waiting for us plus he said they could see the tents and flags set up for the Blueberry Festival. it makes it even sadder that we couldn’t go ashore.

The ship waited around for the entertainers to arrive. The stairway and platform on the side of the ship were left out for them but it was very rocky. Suddenly a grey boat, maybe 30’ long with a small cabin and completely open area behind. No benches, just a partial railing and six passengers in life preservers hanging on for dear life plus at least a dozen pieces of luggage. Someone at the helm and one deck hand. This was all happening just below us. The boat guy wasn’t too thrilled about tying up to the platform because with every swell, his boat hit the platform. Big boat wins so he tied up while the Maasdam captain is using every engine and thruster to keep the ship as steady as possible and at the same time the captain of the grey boat was working hard to keep his vessel parallel to the Maasdam. First the luggage. Piece after piece was handed from deck hand to deck hand until it was all transferred and then it was time to move the people.

As more than one person remarked, last year a passenger on the Maasdam died when she slipped between ship and tender into the water. This just heightened the drama. By now the Maasdam passengers are along the railings on the balconies and promenade deck. It took a good ten minutes to get the six entertainers from boat to ship. Then, it was time to move the two departing entertainers and their luggage from ship to boat. It was an impressive show of seamanship all around. When the grey boat untied and pulled away, big toots from the ship’s horn and applause from the audience. I wouldn’t be surprised if the entertainers had to change their pants!

Now it was time for the cruise director and his team to scramble and put together an on board program for everyone who thought they were going to spend the day and evening in Nome. Lots of talks, movies, games, rum tasting, wine sipping and as we pulled away, the shops and casinos normally closed while in port were open for business. We sat with a couple from Surprise, AZ named Susan and Jim at lunch and then later another Susan and Jim from Maui at dinner. What are the odds?!

Lots of apologies from the captain and warnings that we would be traveling through some weather for the next day and maybe longer so, “one hand for the ship.” There are railings everywhere in the hallways, dining rooms, public spaces, stairways, elevators so when it’s rocky you have something to hang on to thus “one hand for the ship.”

The sky is grey, the water is grey.

July 22

Normally Jim is up early so grabs his go cup and book and goes up to the Lido on 11 for coffee and then down to the Explorers Lounge on 8 to read, sip and look out the windows with the other early risers. The barista opens her coffee bar in the lounge at 7 just about when Jim is ready for another cup. I do my best to be down there by 9 when we go back up to the Lido for breakfast, an orgy of anything you could ever imagine to break the fast. So far we’re both sticking to cereal or poached eggs and fruit and maybe toast or bagel. Eyes averted from the trays of pastries, sausage and bacon.

This morning I woke up and Jim was sitting on the sofa in our sitting room in the dark. He said he didn’t have enough hands to carry book and cup and hang on. It was definitely a lot rougher. Normally we take the stairs up, down and all around, but that gets a bit tricky when the bow of the boat goes up while you’re trying to go up, too, so we played it safe and took the elevator up the three floors for breakfast. Afterwards I went up another floor to the Crow’s Nest to see if any knitters were there. Oh, boy. Deck 12, forward. Up high, up front. Not only do you feel the motion more, but looking out the windows the horizon is bouncing up and down, too. And the wind was whistling outside. A few people showed up and the game of who was in the roughest weather on a cruise. The winner was Reena from Ft Worth. On an Atlantic crossing the captain came on over the loudspeakers and said, “Wherever you are, sit down on the floor now!” She said they were all so startled they did and then were very glad they had. A rogue wave had been spotted and those things are big, sudden and steep.

And what was the presentation by the oceanographer this morning? “Big Waves.” We’d hit a bigger than normal one early in the morning (good thing Jim stayed put) and then while he was talking, the bow went up and then big splash down. Real life illustration of the text. Gloeta, the entertaining biologist and naturalist was up next with more volcano talk. There have been some eruptions in Alaska of late. The beautiful sunset beyond Kodiak the other evening was enhanced by volcanic ash that was still in the atmosphere. I’m going to try to attach the picture to this posting but I can’t guarantee success. Sometimes the Wifi just isn’t strong enough to download photos.

Another Gala Night so it’s ties and coats and sparkly frocks all around.