Canal of Solitude and Pacific Ocean
Today, I asked passengers and crew to each supply one word incongruous to our experience or setting. Look for the quotation marks to signify their picks.
“Cheerio,” mates. At dawn, the “bustling” crew worked at a “frenetic” pace while we slept, prepping us for a journey down Canal de Soledad. We awoke en route. After breakfast, we dropped anchor and zipped ashore to the “zebra”-striped dunes of a barrier island composed of drifts of “silicon” flour, “tundra” of sand that is “Mars”-like in its desolate splendor. We faced a “conundrum:” walk the dunes, watch birds aboard a Zodiac, or…my choice, slip into a “mustard” colored kayak and paddle silently past mangroves. “Hell”-o! Look closely and you’ll see that the roots of these salt-hardy trees are “populated” with “dull,” “miniscule” snails, their muted hues perfect camouflage against the steady “traffic” of birds overhead. We returned exhausted, begging the crew to install an “elevator” to take us to our rooms. No luck. But while we were away, the ship’s lounge was converted to a veritable “Kmart” of Lindblad merchandise. We shopped, had lunch, and then sat through an orientation on snorkeling. I was fitted with a snug wetsuit to use tomorrow, as black as new “asphalt.”
This afternoon, we entered the Pacific after a choppy ride through the so-called whales’ singles’ bar, gawking at gray, humpback and Bryde’s whales. Then -- hooray! A frisky set of gray whales were spotted dancing to Pink Floyd, an aquatic counterpoint to Luke Skywalker’s mission at the Death Star. But note the “syzygy:” one event brings destruction, the other new life. Then a rousing game of Scrabble! I’ve been scanning the dictionary for new words like “atavistic,” hoping to find a winning play that will impress even a “stuffy” linguaphile.
In the morning, Cabo! Some of us will dodge “cars” and pound the “pavement” searching for souvenirs. Not me. I’ll be snorkeling like a sea “monkey.” What a great trip! Lindblad has so much to offer. One colleague, nearly “frostbitten” from a “stressful” jaunt across the “glaciers” of Aconcagua, is now dreaming of following “Darwin” to the Galapagos. Another is thinking about a “rainforest” adventure. This isn’t “calculus,” dear “Chiquitas”…if you’re fighting “boredom” or “stress,” you really can’t make a bad pick!
Today, I asked passengers and crew to each supply one word incongruous to our experience or setting. Look for the quotation marks to signify their picks.
“Cheerio,” mates. At dawn, the “bustling” crew worked at a “frenetic” pace while we slept, prepping us for a journey down Canal de Soledad. We awoke en route. After breakfast, we dropped anchor and zipped ashore to the “zebra”-striped dunes of a barrier island composed of drifts of “silicon” flour, “tundra” of sand that is “Mars”-like in its desolate splendor. We faced a “conundrum:” walk the dunes, watch birds aboard a Zodiac, or…my choice, slip into a “mustard” colored kayak and paddle silently past mangroves. “Hell”-o! Look closely and you’ll see that the roots of these salt-hardy trees are “populated” with “dull,” “miniscule” snails, their muted hues perfect camouflage against the steady “traffic” of birds overhead. We returned exhausted, begging the crew to install an “elevator” to take us to our rooms. No luck. But while we were away, the ship’s lounge was converted to a veritable “Kmart” of Lindblad merchandise. We shopped, had lunch, and then sat through an orientation on snorkeling. I was fitted with a snug wetsuit to use tomorrow, as black as new “asphalt.”
This afternoon, we entered the Pacific after a choppy ride through the so-called whales’ singles’ bar, gawking at gray, humpback and Bryde’s whales. Then -- hooray! A frisky set of gray whales were spotted dancing to Pink Floyd, an aquatic counterpoint to Luke Skywalker’s mission at the Death Star. But note the “syzygy:” one event brings destruction, the other new life. Then a rousing game of Scrabble! I’ve been scanning the dictionary for new words like “atavistic,” hoping to find a winning play that will impress even a “stuffy” linguaphile.
In the morning, Cabo! Some of us will dodge “cars” and pound the “pavement” searching for souvenirs. Not me. I’ll be snorkeling like a sea “monkey.” What a great trip! Lindblad has so much to offer. One colleague, nearly “frostbitten” from a “stressful” jaunt across the “glaciers” of Aconcagua, is now dreaming of following “Darwin” to the Galapagos. Another is thinking about a “rainforest” adventure. This isn’t “calculus,” dear “Chiquitas”…if you’re fighting “boredom” or “stress,” you really can’t make a bad pick!
