All the arrangements were made:
Bed&Breakfast reservation – check
Whale and dolphin watching tickets – check
Options for dinner – check and check
Once everything was decided and paid for, Hurricane Earl made news.
People all along the coast were encouraged to make evacuation arrangements.
At what point do we surrender the trip, we wondered.
We decided we’d go if the storm was just wind and rain. We could still have fun in the wind and rain.
If roads were closed, then we’d reconsider.
Friday morning came and there was no sign of rain except for a few stubborn grey clouds, so we packed up the car and made the trip to the end of the Parkway.
First stop was the B&B.
Our room was small and dark, and there were no amenities in the bathroom, which I had not prepared for.
But, it was in the garden and had a private entrance, so the bad things about it got pretty evenly balanced out.
Earl kept the masses away, so we didn’t have to fight crowds or traffic. Just a few random sprinkles every now and again. Not enough even to need an umbrella.
Good call to come down despite the threat of a hurricane, we decided.
We spent the day on the beach, climbing the stairs in the lighthouse, walking through the Victorian mall and shopping for fun vacationy things.
All went better than planned.
Next up – whale and dolphin watching.
The brochure guarantees sightings, or you get free tickets for another trip.
We boarded the boat and quickly scoped out the best spot – the very front of the ship.
Everyone else sat in chairs on the second floor before they realized those seats didn’t afford a view anywhere near the view we had.
Eventually they caught on and soon people were swarming around behind us, moving in closer and closer.
I planted my feet firmly on the ground and refused to let anyone elbow me one inch away from my spot.
I never get the best spot. I wasn’t letting this go.
Robert said he was going to sit down. I was horrified he wanted to sit.
You’ll lose your spot, I warned.
He said he felt badly about getting the best spot while everyone else had second best and worse.
The ocean is all around us, I told him. The dolphins and whales aren’t positioned right in front of the boat just for us.
Still, he sat.
His display of societal courtesy didn’t shame me one bit. I waited for some guilt to kick in. And it did, a little.
But still I didn’t move.
It surprised me how reluctant I was to share my spot. Normally I’d be somewhat magnanimous in such a scenario.
But I wasn’t going anywhere. I let the wave of guilt ride and it soon passed.
Besides, anyone could’ve taken his spot, and no one did. So I wasn’t a spot hog anyway.
The captain hit the gas and we flew through the water.
There was wind and waves and riding them felt like a rollercoaster.
I laughed out loud and no one could hear me. They couldn’t even see me because they were all behind me.
It was so worth it not moving.
Sometimes you have to be a spot hog.
The boat stopped and we saw dolphin families hopping in and out of the water.
We all yelled, wow! every time a dolphin came up.
The boat started again and there was more rollercoaster riding and laughing.
This was the best part of the trip, I thought.
The boat stopped for whale sightings and I looked at the seats behind me to tell Robert to join me.
His seat was empty.
I now had no choice but to let go of my treasured spot.
He’d been worried about motion sickness and had prepared for it with some Dramamine.
I needed to find him and make sure he was OK. It was bigger than my need to hold onto what I felt was rightfully mine …
I surrendered my spot and found Robert lying on a padded bench, clearly trying to manage a bad case of nausea.
I sat with Robert, protected from the cold and wind sitting inside and wondered why I felt badly at all about holding onto my spot. All spots on the ship had something good about them.
We rode out the rest of the trip without a single whale sighting.
The captain conceded over the loudspeaker there were no whales to be seen, and then added we should be grateful the dolphins showed up and you can never guarantee what sea life will do.
Clear case of trying to get out of the free tickets thing on the brochure.
Whatever, we thought. Whales or no, we had a great time. Well, I had a great time. Robert got through it.
As soon as we were back on terra firma Robert’s motion sickness went away and we continued our mini-vacation with hand-made gelato, one last walk around town and dinner at Vesuvio’s in Forked River before making the trek back home.
This little trip could’ve been so easy to pass up because of the hurricane, because of the last minuteness of it, because it’s easier to do nothing than something.
So glad we went, even if it was just overnight. I can’t think of a better way to have spent the last weekend of summer 2010.
glad you got to see the dolphins, i love dolphins. maybe next time you'll get to see whales, i'll never forget the feeling of seeing something so massive and that's been around as since the jurassic period. that took my breath away.
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