Nov 10.2009 - King's Wharf, Bermuda

DKP : One day and we feel as if we have the island wired, afterall, it's just not that big. The organized scooter company has arranged for us renters to park our scooters pier side overnight, so they are waiting for us as soon as we debark... convenient! So we set out for more shots and more views. If the historic town of St. George weren't over an hour down the road at the other end of the island from the Pier, this would have been our destination.

Instead, we found our friends and Dining Room compadres, Rick and Pele shopping around the Town Center and offered them a ride on the back of our red rockets. Pele didn't hesitate and then we were off. We took her for a tour of most of Middle Road, it's colorful buildings, gardens and walls. Then to the "marina" which turned out to be a small boat launch for a myriad of row boats and such... quite a humurous scene considering the marinas of Monaco and Mallorca we had just wandered through recently.

The Captain has decided on a 12pm departure, so we head back at 11:55 in plenty of time :-), my seafaring father is no doubt pacing the top deck watching for us at this moment. Luckily we are amongst the throngs who have also decided to soak every last minute of this lovely port of call, so no worries and cool runnings mon.

This day, the Captain has invited my family to the Bridge for the last sail away of the Crossing, it's a high honor and we are thrilled. We head up to Deck 8 Forward where we settle into the comfy chairs in the lounge that the Captain has set up and wait to see the last ropes pulled right on schedule.

It's at this point that I see the Pilot, the Bermudian Captain that will take charge of The Dream as she navigate through the narrow channel of his country. In all of my years of sailing and being on the bridge, I have never met a Pilot, let along, introduced myself and chatted with one. I couldn't help myself, I was fascinated to learn about his job and his island. I did learn why Bermuda is not a regular stop for Carnival on any of it's ship's iteneraries despite is obvious appeal and strategic postion to both Florida and NY. Apparently some 20 year political feud between the government's dept of tourism and CCL top brass, which hopefully has been remedied with this new investment of a dedicated and larger pier.

I also got to watch the Pilot in action - WOW. This is how it works... The Pilot boards the vessel upon arrival and departure from his home port in order to "steer" the ship in and out of the channels that he knows better than our own Captain. So in this case of departure, the Pilot stands at the front and center of the bridge in front of the massive floor to ceiling windows, at his station ready with his binoculars and maps, just as one would imagine a sea Captain.

Once our Captain give the order to leave the dock using our side thrusters, the Pilot takes over and begins giving coordinates to the Wheel Man, located Midship on the Bridge. Technically, the ship can be steered from either Port or Starboard side using the side wings and floor windows, but in this case the Mid-ship wheel is the appropriate place from which to steer.

When I use the word "narrow" to describe this winding channel in the middle of what appears to be open turquoise blue waters, I mean that the red and green bouys brushed by mere feet away from the side of the ship as we passed. Coordinates were being given every 30 - 60 seconds by mere degrees. At certain points the turns were so tight that the ship listed quite substantially, making the experience all the more viseral. I stood behind the wheel man who stood behind the Captain who sat behind the Pilot in total amazement and gratitude for being invited to see this and I wondered how I ever missed this option for a career path.

I also wondered how I would ever leave... the bridge, the ship, my friends, this life... I am not exaggerating when I say that 5 days wasn't long enough at sea for me; just as I don't think a lifetime would be long enough to have taken a job at sea but a different path was chosen. So for now I just appreciate every minute I have to live vicariously through these people who did choose this life, while I return to the life that some of them envy on land with my family.

The sea is always bluer on the other side I guess ;-)