Stormy Day...

Another 13 hour day today... we started with first mate training on each of the cruiseboats. It's required monthly, man-overboard and fire drills. We upped it a bit, when I became incapacitated and the first mates had to get the boats back to the dock. They also got to fire off a flare and deal with an electrical fire, an engine fire, a cabin fire, and a child not breathing. If it wasn't all practice, they would have been having a very bad day.

By mid-afternoon, the first of the thunderstorms rolled in. I checked radar and delayed the 3:30 cruise by a few minutes to let an ugly cell move through. The passengers had to walk to the boat in a light rain, but it was clear blue sky by the time we got out of Colter Bay.

Back to the marina in time to load up for the 5:30 dinner cruise. Another check of radar showed a large cell coming our way from the southwest... if the timing was good, we would have time to get our guests to the island, get dinner, and get back on the boats. It was close. When I could see the wind waves coming at us from a couple miles out, I told the passengers to bring their dessert with them and get back on the boats. We loaded up and got out just as the first gusts hit. Within a minute, the waves were pounding, the wind howling, and the rain pouring. It was an "interesting" ride back with one very cool sight: a black bear swimming across the lake to the island where we had just had supper! The rain let up when we were a couple miles out, and the wind eased. And then another rainbow. We had to cut the time on the island a little short, but the passengers all understood the circumstances.

Before leaving the island, one little girl and her Mother came up to me; the Mom said, "Olivia is very concerned. Can she talk to you?" Tears welled up in her eyes and she told me how she was scared of the thunder and lightning and was afraid the boat ride was going to be scary. I told her, "Sweetie, I am not going to let anything bad happen to you. I can stop the rain and lightning, but I am always very careful with how I drive the boat. If you are worried about anything, you can come sit right behind me on the boat and watch how I do it. It will be more like a fun ride at the carnival than anything scary. OK, let's get on the boat, now."

While the boat was rockin' and rollin' I said to her, "See? Isn't this fun?" She flashed a tentative smile. It was not long after that when we saw the bear swimming to the island. I swung the boat around so all the guests could see. "That was pretty cool, wasn't it, Olivia?" The smile was now very big.

I matched the boat speed to the following waves as we turned east, and the ride got more comfortable... we rode that all the way back in to the marina. And that view I love when I pull up to the dock: the Blonde waiting to grab lines for the cruiseboat... in her raincoat tonight.

A very interesting day.