Monthly Archives: October 2015

A Way With Whales

 in Gratitude / Our Quest  tagged Cape Ann Whale Watch / Cynde McInnis / Gloucester Massachusetts / whale research / whale watch by

If all our research trips for Cruisers’ Guide to the Sea are as good as the one we took to Gloucester, this dream I’m wading into is even better than I thought.  Thanks to Cynde McInnis and Captain Jim of the Cape Ann Whale Watch, Steve and I cruised the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary for a week. As a volunteer on whale watch tours, I used our commute to the feeding grounds to talk to passengers about kinds of whales and their eating habits.  When the first spout lofted, we educators ran to the wheelhouse to help spot and record sightings, making ticks on charts to count the times we saw specific shale behaviors or body parts. […]

Man at ship's wheel statue

Last Grab at Budapest 6/27/15

 in Grand Eastern European River Cruise  tagged Budapest / Covered Market / Danube River / Four Seasons Hotel / Gellert Bath / massage / opera house / river cruise by

Before our trip, a woman just back from Budapest told me not to miss the baths there.  I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Was I going to take an actual bath with soap and maybe a vigorous scrubbing by a hefty washer woman?  Well, sort of.  The baths were beautiful swimming pools–some indoor with marble and mosaics, some outdoors surrounded by gardens, some steaming, some cooler to cold.  Any number of spa treatments were offered as well.  My masseuse wasn’t hefty, but she certainly had the attitude.  “Take it off,” she said of my swimsuit–no towel, no drape, no options.  She gave my muscles what-for, […]