Saturday, July 30, 2011

Rescue me...

Blue shirt day. I spent part of the morning going over engine-out procedures in the cruise boats, establishing a workable solution for docking. Some boat work in the afternoon, then a storm started to brew. With nothing showing on radar, nothing on the weather sites, a look out the window showed that something was up. The assistant manager and I took the rescue boat out to check on the rental kayaks, canoes, and boats we had out, and have them start heading in. By the time we were heading in ourselves, the wind really churned up. We wound up pulling in three people who had swamped a canoe out, checking on two other parties who ran their canoes up on shore, and towing in a boat whose electrical system had quit... it was a busy hour!

Then, time to change into my captain's uniform and take a cruise boat out for the dinner cruise... with some wind and rain. I could see the look in the guests' eyes when I told them that this would pass quickly. Fortunately, it did... turned out to be a very pleasant evening on the island.

No photos; kinda had my hands full.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Morning at the marina...

Another morning view...


And the beginning of a new work week.

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On edit: just finished my work day, driving the cruise boats. It was a beautiful day here in the Tetons. On one cruise today, we had a seriously grumpy guy who obviously didn't want to be here; from what I could tell, this was his wife's idea. To show her he wasn't going to enjoy the cruise, he spent the entire time reading the newspaper...


Now, I'm not posting this photo to embarrass the guy... I just thought this was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. We've had kids sit on the cruise boat and play video games... but, they're kids. This grown-up guy missed some of the most beautiful scenery in the lower 48, just to prove he wasn't going to enjoy this. Go figure.

A few years ago, I met a nice couple while we were cruising. I had a great visit with them, and in the conversation, the question of "What would you do different?" came up.

He said, "I would have started cruising earlier. At our age, there isn't a lot that amazes us; and we've been to some pretty amazing places. Sometimes I think it's better to see the world when you are young enough to be impressed by it."

Interesting premise. I hope I never get to that point.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Here comes Don...

Tropical Storm Don is in the Gulf of Mexico, heading for south Texas. At two days out, all the computer models are showing it coming in just north of the Tropical Tip. At this point, it doesn't look like much wind (prediction is for 35-55 mph at landfall), but the entire area could use some precip.