Wait 5 Minutes...

You know what they say about the weather in the mountains: if you don't like it, wait 5 minutes. The past few days, that has certainly been the case. We've had cold, warm, sun, rain, thunderstorms, choppy water, flat calm water. Our passenger load in the boat varies according to the weather. Here's a look at yesterday morning...


And the breakfast cruises. It worked out that I had 4 of them this week, and the weather was pretty nice for most...


The sunshine brings out "the happy" in our guests. One gentleman and his son rode with me twice this week. We had the opportunity to visit on both trips and discovered we have a friend in common: the guy who hired him used to be my next door neighbor... small world.

And the weather? Yep, variable. That same afternoon, I left on one trip with blue sky and calm water and within 15 minutes a rainstorm came through the valleys with amazing speed...

Seeing some lightning, I varied my route to avoid the cell and make for a more pleasant ride; got a nice round of applause from the passengers when we returned to the marina. Next trip: more sunshine and another cell. The wind went from calm to about 25... it helps to have been a sailor as I watched the wind pattern on the water as it came right at us. I tucked in closer to the far shoreline; a bit more rain, but less wind and waves.

The last cruise of the day was supposed to be a sunset cruise... and it was pretty obvious that there wouldn't be any sun for that. A small crowd and they all wanted to set out on the back deck. No point in my first mate doing narration to an empty cabin, so I let him take the helm for a good portion of the trip... good experience for him...

The first mates work hard. Besides their boat duties, they do narration on the trips. They have to be sharp and personable. The two I work with the most are 23 and 21. They have to know the history, geology, biology, and folklore of the area. They have a general script, but have plenty of leeway to vary it based on passenger questions and what comes up along the way.

On this particular trip, I saw a thunderstorm coming up behind us. I took the helm back and headed in. The timing was such that we had plenty of wind coming back to the dock, but just beat the heavy rain and lightning. It had been another long day and seeing Joan waiting for me at the marina was a welcome sight. Mikey is a real outdoors kinda guy, but he was grateful for a ride to his dorm instead of a walk in the rain.

Another interesting week... and now a couple days off, and more rain predicted. I'm looking forward to some motorcycle riding and hiking if Mother Nature will cut us some slack.