A 3 Hour Tour

It was a Saturday afternoon and the sun was shining bright when Becky and I boarded the Lady Washington for our "3 hour tour" of Humboldt Bay...the significance of being named "Gil" as in Gilligan combined with a "3 hour tour" had indeed crossed my mind (click here). We had visited the Lady Washington several times during its week stay in Humboldt Bay. We even had picked up some of the crew so they could come by our house to do their laundry, eat some barbecue and watch part of the A&E "Hornblower" series (click here) that they had yet to see and we had taped the week before (unless that's against the law in which case we watched it live). Becky had learned from her e-mailing and from the Lady Washington website that the crew sometimes has trouble getting around while in port and she had volunteered our services while they were here. This turned out to not be much of a problem for the crew while in Eureka...here their main problem was trying to spread themselves around to take advantage of all the friendly offers of meals and help!

We cast off from the dock around 4 bells in the afternoon watch and motored north up the bay into the wind and then brought the ship about. The hands were sent aloft to the delight of the passengers and we set fore and main topgallants and topsails and sailed merrily away for about a 1/2 hours down the length of the bay to its mouth. Here we got a little feel for the ocean's swell as it came rolling up over the bar. I looked at Becky and cocked an eyebrow..."bah, that ain't so bad" I said. Good Ryan (two of the crew are named "Ryan"...they have become "Good Ryan" and "Dr. Evil"), our gun captain, could not resist firing our cannons (a pair of 3 pounders and a pair of swivel guns)at the Coast Guard Station as we passed by headquarters on the north spit. "Take that ya lubbers!"

There were probably 25 or so fellow passengers on our bay trip and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. The sun was out, the weather warm with a light breeze and the birds were singing. The crew were efficient and friendly, the ship behaved beautifully. Life was good!

Foolish lubbers that we were Becky and I had no idea that this little excursion had in no way prepared us for the reality of the "life on the high seas" we would be facing the very next day! Oh yeah!

...click the anchor to "SAIL ON!"