This last port was a logistical nightmare. Actually, the transit to the last port was kind of rocky. It started out awesome, when we were given permission to go aloof to go under the Golden Gate Bridge. I was on the lower topsail yard (this was actually really cool, since every time I've go under the GGB I've been aloof-though the last two times I was on the course yard). The point though, is that that part rocked.
Sadly, the sea state was kind of crazy and just bouncy. I threw up. We cruised into the port-that-shall-not-be-named, proceeded to dock (which was exciting) and then got the boat ready for the night. Finally, I was able to call my mom. After talking a bit, she asked me if I had been off the boat yet or if I'd go to the blue harbor office. Confused, I said that I had not left the boat. The next thing Mom said is what finally made it click.
She said, "You should come to the top of the dock so you can give us all hugs."
Huh?
I ran off the boat (still talking to my mom) until I saw them (them being Mom, Dad and Tucker) on the other side of the locked gate. Many hugs resulted. Needless to say, I was thrilled and quite surprised. Therefore, I did not stay on the boat, but-since we were stood down-promptly went back to the hotel with them to hang out.
It was great! In fact, I spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night with the three of them, had breakfast at the hotel resturant and then went back to the boat. On Wednesdy, there was a bit of downtime in the afternoon when we got to hang out some more. They left on Thursday, and that was very sad. Also sad was that my sister was being responsible and couldn't make it.
Anyway, my family is very close and I hadn't seen any of them in 5 months, since they drove me to Spokane International Airport, bound for Sacramento to being the Ed Co on some tall ship. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but I miss my family. So hanging out with them was awesome. I'd missed them a lot.
So, that's the "best" part of the title. Other good stuff...there was some good interpersonal stuff going on; the boat met some wonderful people who brought us to their house and made us a delicious dinner; and we had a birthday party for a crew mate that was fun.
And now, we've come to the "worst" part of this post.
The people at this port were lovely, don't get me wrong. But. But but but. There were issues. Beginning with the fact that several local papers had our hours of operation wrong, the fact that there was so much demand to see us (normally awesome) that we ended up working from 8am to 8pm what felt like most of the nights (at least 3 in a row), that because of this demand we were unable to do any maintenence and people were angry because the harbor only allowed 15 people on the dock at a time (for safety) making tours move slowly and meaning that we had to turn people away. In addition, the crew got tired and mixed up our days, giving out incorrect information about the day's events.
Honestly, I forgot it was going to be Sunday. It was a long week. I just thought it was a day with extented tours.
At the risk of complaining too much, I will simply say that this port was exhausting. The fact that I saw Mom, Dad and Tucker made it bearable, and hanging out with them kept my sanity intact. It was great to see them, and while I'm not counting down my time left on the boat (because I truly love my job), it'll be nice to see them again.
That week really hammered home to me that great and awful things can and often do happen at the same times. I am going to try my damnest to remember hanging out with my family and all the good things that happened in this port, to put all the crappy, hair-pullling, grumpy people, tired and achy stuff in the back of my mind.
Because I want to always look on the bright side of life. See what I did there?
No comments:
Post a Comment