The Fleet Report and Daily for Monday February 5th, 2024

[kazu]

6 minutes ago, superoma said:

@kazui think you would be ok down here, west of London, the forgotten part of Ontario. I hate the highways after London, especially beyond Kitchener and then Toronto and beyond. Those roads scare me skinny. 

 

You are not alone on those roads.  I can’t believe I drove them decades ago into Toronto to meet with my HR department.  the next time I reminded they were due for a visit to my branch and I wasn’t doing it.

 

And it’s big time busier than those days.  OMG.

 

When I considered moving back to Ontario - that was actually the area I would have chosen.  It’s a pretty spot IMO.  I admire you doing the drive to paces unknown and like you, I hate trusting GPS 😉 

[Cruzin Terri]

We have decided to stay on the ship tomorrow.  I really look a mess and want to see if I can nurse these bruises and make myself feel better.

We also received notice that we are not calling at Gustavia, St. Barths, instead we I’ll call at Philipsburg, St. Maarten instead.  Ship was advised  by local authorities that tendering operations in Gustavia would be inadvisable due to swells and high wind.

Just as well, I like St. Maarten better.

Maybe I will feel like getting off the ship by Thursday.

We had dinner in our room.  Antipasto and Pizza.  Really did not feel like a big dinner after a wonderful lunch on the catamaran.

Probably going to bed soon.  Feel completely worn out.

Terri

 

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

We are slowly getting further from the Napali Coast after the port side had their turn.  The clouds are moving over the island, but we were lucky there was sun shining on the coast which made it easy to see the terrain.  As the ship sailed from Nawiliwili, it followed the coast around the top of the island.  Those on the starboard side had a good view of the different towns.

 

We're now sailing along the part of the Napali Coast we saw on our 2007 tour.  It looks a little different this far out and from a big ship.

 

During trivia, there was an announcement that a whale had been spotted off the starboard side.  So many wanted to see it, trivia was paused for five minutes while people rushed to windows on the other side of the ship.  I don't think any of them saw the whale.  Today was not a good day in trivia.  I was by myself, and he asked the wrong questions.  😂

 

3 hours ago, rafinmd said:

My Montreal photos won’t be about the city itself but more like background and I’ll close with a bit of a story.  As indicated I’ve been there many times by ship (but no BHB), train, car and even bicycle.  My parents were both born just South of Montreal and my mother’s family still owns the original homestead.  

 

I have referred before to Blount Small Ship Adventures, a niche family run cruise line that sadly did not survive Pandemic.  In 2011 I did a circle, starting with Blount in New York through the Erie Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway to Montreal, spending a couple days with family, and returning to New York on the Crystal Symphony.  My first photo is a bit of a size comparison from Montreal, Blount’s Grande Mariner on the left, and an Aida ship about the size of the Zaandam on the right.

Next is the family homestead.  My mother was born here (the brick structure, the addition with siding was added many years later).

 

Now the little story.  While Montreal is a largely bi-lingual there are many who speak only French.   I visited the Expo-67 World’s Fair, and before arriving I had purchased a little tote bag with the Expo logo.  A woman approached me, I had some French in high school but really didn’t remember much:

Pardon, Monsieur, Ou avez vous achete le sac?

In desperation I started to try to come up with an answer, perhaps “Je le achtet avant que je suis ici venue”

I was stopped mid sentence: “Ah, Avant.  Merci, Monseur:”

 

Sometimes a little effort can help even without much confidence.

 

Roy

 

 

 

Roy, thanaks for the picture of your family's homestead.

 

1 hour ago, Sharon in AZ said:

Good afternoon and Happy Monday from the beautiful Koningsdam. Of course we are disappointed that we missed our port but the benefit of seeing the Napali Coast are special. Unfortunately, we are on the port side so can’t view land right now but the Captain has promised to turn the ship around when we get there. Narration starts at 1:45. We will go to lunch and possibly trivia. I hear Debbie and Lenda are quite the team. I did see Dixie the other day in the elevator but haven’t seen her since. Our meal last night at Rudi’s was delightful and we really enjoyed the company more. Debbie and Sue are great dining companions. 

 

Have a great day everyone!
 

 

 

Sharon, I've only seen Dixie once since the first night.  She, Debbie, and I had a drink together the next afternoon.

 

 

1 hour ago, superoma said:

Our trip to sarnia today was eventful and had good results. The plastic surgeon/ hand specialist we saw today has a simple solution for most issues of dupytrins contracture. He no longer does a full operation where they scrap the crystal from the tendons. He simply freezes the finger, then makes a couple of small incisions into the offending tendon and voila we have range of movement again. DH said he could feel when the tendon released. He is very happy and the recovery time is minimal-just keep the hand clean until the little cuts heal. The first time he had another finger released it was a major operation with full anesthesia, sutures, bandages etc. DH even drove home today.

 

now, the drive is a story. I hate the gps, much prefer a paper map but didn’t have a detailed one of the area we were driving thru, countryside not city. So I set up the gps and it gave us a route to the highway we needed by bypassing a city using country roads. It worked, we got there, but some of them were unpaved. But no traffic! Then, on the way home the gps kept trying to route us to the international bridge to port Huron since it is shorter but has its own issues for us because of not having out of country insurance. Inset the gps to avoid tolls and it finally sent us on our way thru Canada.

 

This was the first time we have ever been to sarnia. I have lived in Essex county for 71 of my 73 years and sarnia is less than 100 miles away but never visited. And I don’t need to go back. Sarnia is our chemical valley. Esso (imperial oil) has refineries here as do other entities. Coming in on the west side of the city you pass one plant after another. I knew we refined oil up there but I truly had no idea  of the extent. 
 

it was a very interesting day today to say the least.

 

Eva, the new peocedure sounds like a great improvement.  I'm glad it worked so well.

 

Lenda

[superoma]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

You are not alone on those roads.  I can’t believe I drove them decades ago into Toronto to meet with my HR department.  the next time I reminded they were due for a visit to my branch and I wasn’t doing it.

 

And it’s big time busier than those days.  OMG.

 

When I considered moving back to Ontario - that was actually the area I would have chosen.  It’s a pretty spot IMO.  I admire you doing the drive to paces unknown and like you, I hate trusting GPS 😉 

We have driven thousands of miles in both Canada and the USA with me navigating with paper maps and never, ever getting lost once, not even in Los Angeles but every gps route I have input has been a problem. Too bad southern Ontario didn’t win out. We could have been neighbours.

Edited February 6 by superoma
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