Eurotrip 2011: If the boat's a rockin'...it's moving.

When we last left off we just finished a local wandering day in Sicily, returning to the ship with some forbidden fruit. After dinner and a couple nightcaps, we returned to our room to see a bat hanging from a clothes hanger! I took this opportunity to sleep for a long time. Turns out I didn't have the ability to sleep as long as I wanted to though; since getting to Europe I'd been waking up much earlier than normal. A night owl at home, I get up at noon on a good day, but our here I'd been waking up no later than about 9am without an alarm clock. I'm sure my internal clock was screwed up, being ahead six hours for the past five days. On this day I woke up around 10:30am which was ok, but I had went to bed around 2am so it wasn't the rejuvenating magic I expected. I was much fresher though and I went about getting some things done after morning rituals were complete.

The boat had internet access so I wanted to get on and check some balances (dollar/euro conversions sneak up on ya), check email and pay a couple bills. Maybe even upload a picture or two if I had the time. The computers in the 'internet cafe' were horribly slow as expected and after 4 minutes of getting the pages to load and 6 minutes of trying to get two emails out, I had spent $14 bucks. The fleecing I felt while on the ship was a tangible fog that was all around me, much like a storybook conceived Halloween night, with a harvest moon and scarecrows. Everywhere I looked my wallet was being a la carted and it was quite annoying. There was login credential option to use your own computer with the ships 'good enough for the open sea' internet bandwidth and I would use my own laptop going forward.

For lunch we headed to the no-frills cafe downstairs for some glorified snacks. Got a few small sandwiches and took advantage of the Italian produce from yesterday; the pears were awesome. While eating I noticed something pretty interesting with my U.S. only networked cellphone; I was roaming while on international waters. I started getting back-logged text messages and missed calls. I would've used the opportunity to text with friends, but I was worried what kind of bill was going to arrive when I got home (no fees appeared on the next bill btw).



I never got tired of shooting off the balcony.

Later that afternoon we picked out our excursion of Athens. We picked a reasonably priced trip called 'Taste of Athens'. It included a trip to the Acropolis, the Parthenon and Plaka. The rest of this day was pretty laid back as a vacation should be; wandering around the ship, and getting a little bit of sun on the deck near the pool; hanging out on our balcony, which got easier to do as the constant motion visual became more normal to see. We had a nice dinner and got to sleep. We had to be up at 7:30 the following morning.

Floating for Independence.

Independence Day weekend and I'm working Sunday and Monday. Thank goodness for Saturday ha. Long time no see, so we hooked up with our buddies Phil and Vicki, their lovely kids, and hit the water. 88 degrees, a pretty constant cool breeze off the water, no humidity, no clouds and boats as far as the eye can see.

As opposed to getting onto the highway and having cars as far as the eyes can see, which is terrible, this is quite the fortunate alternative. Organized chaos ensues on the way to our mini-beach of choice, everyone on infinitely random paths yet obliging right of way in an unspoken yet understood manner. Mind the wake.

Harsh sun slowed early progress, but things got going once we anchored for a bit. While I've had plenty cockpit hours doing so, shooting while wading or @ 25 knots is always a challenge with sweet rewards. In the end I'm glad I took the time to thoroughly clean my sensor mirror a few weeks ago...9 out of 10 ospreys agree. When natural light is this clean I feel like a kid in a candy store, if only for a couple of hours.

The previous several years of guest boating paid dividends as with all the boats and ski-doo's dartin' around, the boat was rockin'. I used to get seasick quick, but now I can simply enjoy floating along it for what it is; it's a good way to clear your head, throw off the responsibility from shore and just take in the sights and sounds. It also lets you take in some sun and time with friends and family. There is something about that perfect weather sunny day; the last 4 days or so here in Maryland have been like this. Being a little bit closer to nature and further away from civilization does a body and mind good. While I don't like to admit it, I think Phil has more of the right idea, hobby-wise.

I hope everyone had a safe Holiday weekend.

Floating through life.

Tis' the season for relaxing outside. I've been fortunate to have some good friends with things I can't afford (or care to spend my money on). Some people put money into vacation homes, nice cars or entertainment for their houses and some are incoherently drawn to the sea and put their efforts into spending time on the water; as such, going bigger and better with boats is the end game. My buddy Phil is one of the latter and has always been gracious enough to invite us out to enjoy his passion with him, along with his family. This shot was taken on the way back to dock last summer after a nice afternoon brunch on the water. I never spent much time thinking about boats or water sports as a kid, but I'm glad I got exposed to it several years ago; in coastal Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, boating is a big pastime as the Chesapeake Bay puts water and beach with easy reach of thousands of homes. There's a lot in Maryland I didn't know existed until I got to see it from the water...perspective is a wonderful thing to have more of.