JEEBUS FRIES!

I went out on the boat yesterday. I took so many pictures I don't know which ones to post!

Well, we did see orcas, and I've been wanting to see them all year, so to start, I'll give you this little video.


These guys were members of the resident AE pod, which actually has about 20 animals. They're the ones we see most often out there. Usually they're pretty friendly and will come up to the boat and swim underneath, but they were being pretty elusive yesterday. The one with the tall, straight dorsal fin is one of the biggest males in the pod. The others with him were all females or young ones.



( We also saw a bear... )

And here are a few of the mountains and scenery around town. It's been rainy and foggy for the past 2 weeks straight, but a few days ago it started clearing up in bits and pieces. ( Bits and pieces... )

I went on the boats today, on the Meares trip. Got some neat video of the glacier calving, and some photos, which will be coming to an LJ post near you in the near future. There were whales, and sea lions, and puffins, and all sorts of goodness.

The purpose of THIS post, however, is to discuss the little girl who was on the boat today. She was about 6, I think, and let me say this: "NOTE TO PARENTS: THE JOB OF THE BOAT CREW IS TO CREW, NOT TO KEEP YOUR KID OCCUPIED."

Are we clear?

Good.

I like to think that, if I ever have kids, and I thought my child was pestering someone, I would do something about it. Like, make that child stay with me the rest of the day.

I didn't mind it the first time she came up to the galley (10 minutes after we started out) and asked when we would serve the meal. I didn't mind the 2nd or 3rd time, even though they happened within 20 minutes of the first time. But after that, it started to get sort of annoying. Then she asked me if she could have lemonade. I told her she had to ask her mom.

Demon Spawn: "You're my mom."
Busy Nelli: "Uh...no I'm not."
Demon Spawn: "Yes you are."
Busy Nelli: "Nope, I'm no one's mom."
Demon Spawn: "Yuh huh."
Busy Nelli: "Uh, no. Go ask your mom."
Demon Spawn: "Who's Noah?"
Busy Nelli: "Noah?"
Demon Spawn: "You said you were Noah's mom."
Busy Nelli: "Oh, yeah. Uh...*points to Collin, who is minding his own business* That's my son, Noah."
Demon Spawn: "HUH UH! Moms and husbands don't work together!"

Okay.

Finally we served lunch, and all was quiet...for about an hour. Then when I got to sit down to eat my lunch, she came and sat across from me, asking if we had any more.

Eating Nelli: "Nope."
Demon Spawn: "YOU ATE IT ALL?"
Eating Nelli: "No, everyone ate it all."
Demon Spawn: "NUH UH, YOU ATE IT ALL! Y'ALL ARE GONNA BE FAT!"
Eating Nelli: "Oh, I ate it all? Did I eat yours? I'm pretty sure you ate your own."
Demon Spawn: "NO, Y'ALL ATE IT ALL! Y'ALL ARE GONNA BE FAT!"

At least she didn't point out that I'm already fat.

Peter and Collin finally got tired of her spending every spare second back at the galley, asking the same questions over and over, and whining when she learned soup wouldn't be served for another 3 hours. They told her we were having a coloring contest and gave her some crayons and coloring pages. She churned out about 10 during the rest of the trip, then spend about 15 minutes pestering Chris (the captain) up in the bridge to judge the pictures.

When she finally got off the boat (her humpback whale won the contest), she grabbed Collin around the middle for a hug that lasted about a minute and a half, even as he kept saying "Okay, I have to get back to work now. Okay, I have to get back to work now." Her mother was halfway up the ramp and started half-hearted calling, "Catherine, come on now. Catherine, let's go. Catherine, come on."

As they disembarked, her mom said, "Thanks for a wonderful day! And thanks for entertaining her!"

Yeah. Not our job, lady. And thanks for the NO TIP you left for putting up with your annoying daughter. Honestly, we don't expect tips, but it's nice when we basically babysat for 9 hours.

Anyway, it probably doesn't sound as bad as it was, and it wasn't really bad, just annoying.

I USED TO LOVE ALL CHILDREN, WHAT'S HAPPENED TO ME??

Mom and I went out on the boat today. It was a great day for it, sunny and a tad breezy. The boat folks seemed happy to see me and I was happy to see them. I like working at the radio (and there is a minimal chance of someone puking on me) but I do miss having a nice day on the water now and then.

About an hour out, we saw a small humpback, who was acting rather...odd. He was swimming in circles, with his nose sticking out of the water. He sorta looked like he was dogpaddling. He'd straighten out and swim regular for a couple breaths, then take a sudden sharp turn and swim for a while with his nose (or sometimes his entire head) out of the water. We watched him for probably about a half hour. It was strange.

Here is a list of everything we saw, animal-wise.

Black-legged kittiwakes (I know, they look like seagulls. Shut up.)
Marbled Murrelet - Alcid family of birds, which also includes puffins.
Pigeon Guillemot - Also alcid family. They have a very musical cry.
Common Murre - Again, alcids.
Tufted puffins - We actually only saw these briefly...a pair flying in front of the boat. A tad early for puffins yet.
Bald eagle - Not much to say about these guys. There are tons of them here.
Surf scoters - These hang out in huge groups along the shoreline.
Pelagic cormorants - Hanging out on icebergs and flying all around.
Arctic terns - They migrate thousands of miles. I love them...they're so delicate.
Pacific loon - I love their neck color.
Longtail jaeger - Never seen a longtail before. Smaller than the other jaegers I've seen.
Harlequin ducks - So beautiful. I love the markings.
Snow geese - We saw a flock of at least 50. They were gorgeous as they took flight. I'd never seen them before, either.
Stellar sea lions - Loud, smelly, rude, boisterous. I love them.
Humpback whale - This looks kind of like what our whale was doing today.
Sea otter - Always a pleasure.
Dall's porpoise - Had several small groups riding our bow for a while. Always fun to see.
Mountain goats - Saw two of them, down fairly low (as goats go).
Black bear - Okay, so we didn't actually see it during the trip. Mom and I saw one on the duck flats on the way into town, as we were going to the dock. But I snuck it in anyway, because it's the first I've seen this season (aside from the one I saw halfway up the mountainside the other day, which doesn't count because it just looked like a tiny black speck).

Anyway, that was our day. Always a pleasure to go out on the boat, even moreso when it's a nice day with not many people. The count today was 80, which is just about perfect. Sucks when there are, like, less than 50 and more than 100.

I'm tired and going to bed. Talk to y'all later!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...

For some reason, they were thinking that there would be like 150 passengers tonight, when the capacity for the boat is MAX 148 WITH CREW, but I think there were only like 87 people, so it was nice. It was the Rotary Club.

We didn't have to do anything with the food, it was all catered. Hors d'oeuvres and booze, really. The thing is, the catering people were told to provide "heavy hors d'oeuvres" and yet ALL the food they provided was GONE by the time we sailed. Literally. We boarded at 6, and by 6:10 the lady who organized the stuff was freaking out because she thought the food would be gone, so she ran to the store and got back at exactly 6:30 (our scheduled departure) with bags of chips, salsa, cookies, rolls, meat, and cheese. So that was okay.

Amanda and I were the only crew, but the catering service provided 3 waitstaff so Amanda and I didn't really have to do anything except talk to people, keep the heads clean and check the trash cans now and then. We saw a mother bear and cub, and a mountain goat...about 50 feet from the bears. Actually, the bears were really hard to see because they were hidden in the brush on the mountainside above us. I had actually seen them before the captain pointed them out, but I didn't have binocs so I thought I was looking at a rock. They weren't moving.

Anyway, good trip. Cloudy, drizzly at times, but the water was like glass. So tired. So hungry. On the boat I had like...two grapes, a slice of cheese, and half a glass of peppermint tea.

EDIT: I thought this was amusing...there were three caterers on board, two women and one gay man. Near the end of the cruise, one of the women (slightly heavier than I) asked if I thought one of the passengers (the youngest man on the boat...late 20s, maybe) was gay. Apparently, the caterers had been discussing it in the galley. I told her I have basically no gaydar, and asked if she was thinking about going for it. Her reply was "GOD no. I'd break him like a twig."

Then she convinced the male caterer, a friend of my friend Ni and very nice guy, to do a "walk-by" and see if Gay-or-Not-Gay checked him out. He walked too fast I don't even think GoNG noticed him going by, but apparently the whole discussion had arisen because GoNG had "reached way over the bar" when Male Caterer was serving him. "He was practically caressing you!" Ha.