We arrived in BC pretty much on schedule, but unfortunately it didn’t stay that way for long. Due to rough, choppy water in the bay, the “tenders” were delayed because they couldn’t people safely aboard for the trip to the pier. “Our” excursion had already been rolled back to “my excursion” and, instead of a 12:20 start time, it was now a 1:30 launch.
Camboriu is, I am told, sometimes referred to as the Dubi of Souther Brazil. One look at the city skyline will easily answer the question, “Why is that.” While sitting in the middle of the bay, the tall buildings stretch 180 degrees. It is “muito impressionante” if you are into tall buildings.
It might also be known as the playground of Brazil (or South America, for that matter) as the year-round population swells from 145,800 people to a summertime number that exceeds a million people.
The 1:30 start time left just enough room for an early breakfast, then a sneaky-fast lunch before I left my wife behind and boarded the tender. The adventure began even before launching shipside. The rough, choppy waters had not abated, but the demand to go ashore had grown to an undeniable strength, safety be damned. The boat was rising and falling about three feet, making the timing of the first step critical. The two deckhands that grabbed flailing arms and yanked one aboard, would have had a fight on their hands had Alicia been standing on the precipice.
The water was much more calm at the pier, making disembarking must less challenging. We were directed to gather just outside the terminal building where a young man with a clipboard eventually attempted to take control of the group. He looked briefly at each persons ship-issued ticket for the excursion, recorded our presence on his checklist, then wrote a number on the ticket and handed it back. The group was thus divided into tour numbers (mine was first, but bore the number 16), and told to look around at various shops at the terminal site, but return at 1:20 for a 1:30 departure. (The excursion had been described as a cable-car ride and boat ride.)
It was now 12:50 so I checked out a souvenir shop, took a few pictures, then, at the appointed time, returned dutifully to the gathering point. The young man was still checking in people as they arrived, but the instructions had changed, as did the waiting area. The instructions were now to see a second man to obtain a colored wrist band which would help identify group members. We were then told to stay nearby and wait for a guide to raise a lollipop (a numbered paddle on a stick) and lead his group toward the first objective. The problem however, became one of time and a lack of shade.
There was nowhere close by to sit and, as the sun had maneuvered slightly westward in the sky, there was now a dirth of shade. It was now 1:30 and people were still being checked in as they got off the boats, but only about half of them were being told to get wrist bands. There were now roughly 150 people standing in the hot, Brazilian sun, with nowhere to sit and no shade. Some people had wrist bands, some did not, so the number of tickets checked in and the number of wristbands handed out did not match. To make matters worse, group 18 began to move toward the street and they hadn’t been waiting nearly as long as group 16. A couple of unruly members of 16 began to protest vociferously! This made matters even worse as the tour guide could not begin to usher the group away until he had given these people the opportunity to voice their displeasure.
We finally began to move across the street where we climbed three flights of stairs. The area inside this building was A) large enough and B) air conditioned. It would have made an ideal gathering and organization spot, a perfect counterpoint to the scene we had just witnessed. By the time we loaded into cable cars for the ride up the mountain it was 2:10.
At the top of the mountain we’re more steps, this time descending from the tram to the nearby meeting spot. It was at this spot that a couple of the tourists declared “no mas”, and rode back down having given up on the tour. It is easy to be organized when all goes as planned. The key to goodorganization however, lies in knowing what to do and how to conduct business when things don’t go as planned. I am sure that Oceania Cruise lines lost more than one potential future client today.
From the top of the mountain there were several options: A small miniature train through the jungle terrain for the kids, a rolling sled ride for individuals down a bobsled-like run on round tubes, and a zip line that descended the far side of the mountain down to the beach over a distance of (strictlya guess here) a half mile or more.
You can see the able, but not likely the zip line riders as they disappear down the mountain.
Our excursion didn’t allow these alternatives so we walked down ((by their count) 87 steps to a viewpoint
Then back up 121 steps to a gift shop and boarding spot for the cable-car ride down the backside of the mountain. Upon arrival at the bottom we again stood in line to board a “pirate ship” that took us back to the starting point.
From there we stood in line for another half hour (?) to board the tender back to the ship. But that was where the adventure started! We were tossed around a lot on the way back, but once we tied up the fun and games started. The water was churning, heaving us hither and wherever the other side of hither takes you. We waited in the boat while the other 60 or so people were tossed ashore, or aship. We were tied up to the loading platform but the boat was bobbing up and down maybe 5-6 feet. Because of this the ropes had to have adequate slack to keep the boat from reaching the end of its rope and flipping. Because of the slacking the rope the boats engines needed to push the boat up solidly against the side of the docking platform, if not it would have drifted the length of the rope, away from the ship, creating a five foot chasm between boat and platform and dumping a bunch of seniors in the ocean. So the engines went to max throttle and, each time the boat climbed or fell alongside the ship, it was again bashed into the dock, over and over, causing people to stumble and catch themselves repeatedly. The combination of the engine running at full speed and the continual crashing of the boat against the side of the ship was unnerving for several. If Alicia had been there, they would have had to shoot her with a tranquilizer gun to get her off that boat!
To put a positive spin on my day I must mention that we had a decent meal with great company tonight. As they say, tomorrow’s another day. We’ll see how things work out in San Francisco!
Comments
Post a Comment