Catalina Island

Friday, September 26, 2014

We were late arriving in San Francisco yesterday, noon instead of 8am.  Some passengers are quite angry about it, even though they must know that no one controls the weather.

The group we are with, about two dozen of Colleen's co-workers, got together in a lounge last night and made plans for more get togethers.  There will be a group meal at a new venue up on the Horizon Court which is the buffet area on the 14th floor.  It is called the Crab Shack and it is new, being tested on this cruise.  Hors d'oeuvres on yet another evening.  John is totally lost in new names and faces and who did what, etc.

We have done a fair amount of walking in San Francisco.  Yesterday we walked over five miles and today was about 3.5 miles.

The cruise ships now have a new terminal in San Francisco, Pier 27 and it is sparkling new.  We were the first ship to use it and while we were getting off there was a dedication with city fathers and such speaking.  The new terminal is such an upgrade from the old one.

Tomorrow we will be in a new port for us, Santa Barbara.  The group of co-workers has chartered a bus to take us around and see the sights and do some wine tasting.  It is a tender port which means that the ship anchors in the ocean and we are shuttled ashore on the lifeboats.  Hopefully the ocean will be calm.

Saturday, September 27,2014

The ocean was calm and we got to Santa Barbara on time, but it was an adventure.  We went ashore as a group of about 25 on the first tender boat.  But....we were not the first boat ashore.  Once underway, thetender boat lost power from the left engine.  They would get it started and then it would die again.  Finally a decision seems to have been made to continue on with just the one engine.  However, these boats use the engines to steer.  One forward and other in reverse will radically change the direction of the boat.  It was a difficult job for the pilot to come alongside the pier in a manner that allowed the shore crew to tie up the boat.

We were late getting to our charted bus and needed to shorten our tour.  We went to a small town that had a Danish theme, Solvang.  But we weren't there for long.  The only stop of the scheduled three that got the time allotted was the winery stop.  Of course!  Then we went to the Santa Barbara Mission for a short stop, then back to the pier.

On the tender trip back to the ship, we were rammed by another lifeboat that was just leaving the ship.  Quite a day.

The Internet has been almost impossible to get onto to.  We have only been able to get on once in the last three days.  We plan to take the laptop into Catalina Island tomorrow to see if we can find a Wi-Fi hotspot.  Maybe a Starbucks? WOO-HOO, got on Sunday morning.  Hopefully it will stay available.

Colleen and John