The Cruising Adventures of Wild Blue and crew...

JamesTXSD · Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:02 pm Post subject:

Float trip, fun, fine dining, and meeting another C-Brat...

The details: http://captnjim.blogspot.com/2010/07/float-trip.html

And a preview...

Best wishes,
Jim B.

Walldog · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 7:18 pm Post subject: Famous Folks

Willie and I were wandering around in Grand Teton National Park and look who we ran across. We got the nickel tour. Looks like they are having a blast. I have a great shot of his office which I will post later.

JamesTXSD · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 10:28 pm Post subject:

What a nice evening! Herb and Wilma came over for drinks, snacks, and lively conversation. We really enjoy these two.

I felt bad when they stopped by the marina today... it was my "blue shirt" day, which means I am "Mr. Mechanic." I had barely shown Herb and Wilma around the marina, the boats, and the shop, when one of the dock hands came to me and asked if I could fix the pump out. Poop waits for no one. Rolling Eyes

So, I had to excuse myself and go deal with a crappy situation. Wink

It took me about 15 minutes to isolate the problem with the pump at the big ol' holding tank and get it fixed. Pretty sure Herb and Wilma thought I'd be covered with poop by the time I was done, so they got out of there! Mr. Green

I didn't even need those rubber gloves I put on.

And that was my day today: dealing with a few fix-it things on the cruise boats, wiring one of our fishing boats for downriggers, the pump out situation, a bilge pump on another fishing boat, dealing with a nest of critters in the shop... ah, yes, the fast paced, fun filled life of a seasonal boat captain. Cool

And it totally doesn't suck.

Tomorrow, Herb and Wilma will be going on our breakfast cruise. They'll get to see my "real" office and a view at a "white shirt" day... and one of the prettiest views in Grand Teton National Park.

While we've made lots of new friends here, it was really nice to see our friends from home.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

JamesTXSD · Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:18 am Post subject:

Sunday, July 18th... You say it's your birthday... Note

It was a long working day today. But, a truly beautiful day: sunny, a bit of breeze, a few puffy white clouds, almost no humidity, and a high around 80º. Our friends, Herb and Wilma, from Port Isabel, were on the breakfast cruise this morning - a real treat. My first mates had the passengers on the rest of the cruises today sing "Happy Birthday" to me. When I got off the boat after my last cruise this evening, one of the guys on the dock greeted me with a cake. Everyone on the marina staff signed a card that one of the girls made... "Happy 106th Birthday, Jim!" I'm sure I look that age to a couple of my young first mates.

While it's only the second time in the past twenty years or so that I had to work on my birthday, it was a darn nice day. We did "birthday stuff" on Thursday (day off), since we knew we'd be working: a float trip on the Snake River, some motorcycling, and a very nice meal at the Mural Room at Jackson Lake Lodge (fancy-eatin' food with ritzy service).

After putting in a 13 hour day today, I'm going to have a piece of cake and go to bed.

I appreciate the nice birthday greetings.

hardee · Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:25 pm Post subject:

Jim,

Nobody, but maybe one of those young whipersnappers, would believe you are l06. Wink

Cheers,

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

Captains Cat · Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 4:35 am Post subject:

Don't look a day over 90!! Mr. Green

Charlie

JamesTXSD · Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 6:53 am Post subject:

JamesTXSD · Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:32 pm Post subject:

Wrapping up the work week...

And a surprise visit from our friends Leonard and Doris, from Port Isabel! They are our neighbors there, and Ranger Tug owners. The same ones who were spotted in Moab a while back. There are no transient slips available here, so after a couple nights, they are heading to Yellowstone. What a treat to get to see them!

The details: http://captnjim.blogspot.com/2010/07/ending-work-week.html

And, a preview...

Best wishes,
Jim B.

Walldog · Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:38 pm Post subject:

Well, when we all get back to Port Isabel, we will have to have a block party. Willie and I look forward to meeting Leonard and Doris. Sorry we missed you in Moab. See yall in Port Isabel in October or so.

JamesTXSD · Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 9:39 am Post subject:

Wednesday, July 21st. The only town we've seen since coming to the Tetons is Jackson, Wyoming. It is close (40 minutes or so, depending on traffic), has decent restaurants, and two good grocery stores. A person could go all season and get almost everything you need in Jackson. But, there is no Carino's Italian restaurant... it's one of our favorites when we're home, and I've been missing it. So, we planned a trip to the big city of Idaho Falls... with a Wal-Mart, a Sam's Club, a Best Buy, AND a Carino's.

Plugging all those into the GPS, it not only told us where, but gave us the most efficient routing and order. Heading to Idaho Falls, we took the road over Teton Pass... beautiful views of the valley, and a 10% grade up and down! Glad we weren't towing the 5th wheel and cargo trailer over this pass.

Lunch at Carino's was as satisfying as I had hoped. The food was excellent, our waiter had a good sense of humor. We had received an e-mail certificate for my birthday for a free dessert... what's not to like? Wally World and Sam's had all the toiletries and supplies we needed, and Best Buy took care of my iPad search.

The ride back was via another route, mostly along the Snake River... equally beautiful, not as steep as over Teton Pass. It's a 3 hour drive to the "big city," so this won't be a regular trek... but it was a welcome change of pace and a beautiful drive.

Mother Nature put on a lightning show both over and back. We saw one bolt strike one of the peaks on our way home. We later heard about the helicopter rescue to get climbers off the Grant Teton...

http://www.kpvi.com/story.php?id=23497&n=15206

Best wishes,
Jim B.

JamesTXSD · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:10 am Post subject:

New York in the Tetons...

It's been a few days since I've updated anything. We picked up an iPad last week, and it required an update of our Mac operating system. And that's when the problems began... Rolling Eyes

I did back up all my data on the old OS, but forgot to do anything with my extensive list of favorites for websites. As you might expect, there was a problem with installing the new OS and I had to do a full erase of the hard drive. Scary procedure, but once started, you're pretty much committed. Or, should be committed. It will take me days (not much free time right now) to rebuild/rediscover all the saved favorites. BUT, the photos and writing were all archived/saved, and that's a big plus.

This has been a long tough week at work. 4 of my 5 days this week have been "13s" (yeah, 13 hour days). The guests, as usual, have been great, plenty of mechanic stuff to deal with. I can now add "kayak repairman" and "bilge crawler" to my resume. Rolling Eyes

Last night, we had 56 young guests from the NYC area... all boys in some sort of boy scout program. A few of them made some less than respectful comments to my female first mate prior to the trip, so I had to have a "discussion" with them. Their leader took exception to me telling them that it is necessary to "BE NICE." He, several of his helpers, and I had a rather face-to-face (as in: in your face) discussion... and the New York gentlemen came to understand that this Texas boy was just as tough and wasn't going to put up with any crap on the boats. I don't like starting a cruise like that, but 56 boys (12 to 20) away from home and without much adult supervision could easily get out of control. Not on my boat!

There was the "I want your name" comments, to which I responded AND spelled it, and explained how this WAS going to go down. Add in some big wind and waves, 19 other passengers who weren't part of the group... and it all turned out fine. In fact, their leader shook my hand, told me that I handled the situation well, and left a very nice tip for the boat crews. I'm glad that everyone wound up happy, but it isn't much fun to start a long evening that way.

So, today is my "Friday"... another 13 hours and we'll be looking forward to a couple days off.

On the really bright side, Casey and Sandi from C-Brat fame will be riding on our breakfast cruise this morning. Always a special treat to have our C-Brat friends visit! Very Happy

Best wishes,
Jim B.

Dora~Jean · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:58 pm Post subject:

Wow Jim. Tough situation. You're representing yourself, the company, and the captain regarding safety on the boat all at once -- sticking it all out there. Good for you, there aren't many people in the world that can handle that sort of situation with diplomacy (I'm NOT one of them, hate conflict).

I have had 'some' of those kinds of words when I took my son (then about 17) and a few of his friends overnighting on the boat. With their parents nowhere around, you DO have to assume the responsibility, ugly as it gets...

Thanks for the explanation, I should print it out and frame it.

hardee · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:30 pm Post subject:

Jim,

As always, you did a magnificent job of handling even the tough situations. Probably didn't even have to remind them that without your approval, they were going nowhere, or that you were from Texas Hot

and really know how to take the bull by the horns. Idea

As to the lightning storm, I was wondering how you were fairing round about then? Good to see you posting after that. Been kind of wondering too, when we were going to see dolphins from the Tetons? Now there would be a surprise for your tourists. Might even be able to pull that one off and get a way with it.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

Walldog · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:15 pm Post subject:

JamesTXSD · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:48 pm Post subject:

No dolphins in the Tetons... we have trout. Lots of trout. Cutthroat, lake trout, brown trout, rainbow trout. While there are no dolphins, some of the lake trout can get BIG. As in: 40+ pounds.

Casey and Sandi came on the breakfast cruise this morning. I got to sit with them during the meal, but left my camera in my locker. Really nice to see them again.

This morning, one of the first mates described last night's dinner cruise as: having a boat-full of little Joe Pesci clones. Accurate AND funny! Wink

One more long day today... LOTS of overtime this week. And now, looking forward to a couple days off. Casey and Sandi are leaving in the morning, so we probably won't get another opportunity to see them. I felt bad that I was scheduled such that I didn't have much time to visit. Still, it's always fun to see our C-Brat buddies.

We finished off the day with a nice sunset cruise... quiet, mellow. Cool

Best wishes,
Jim B.