Running a live aboard boat is kind of like running a small city. We are responsible for power generation, water supply/quality, sewer, sanitation, public transportation, medical facilities, pharmacy, entertainment and cultural awareness activities, food delivery/storage/preparation, fire department (including preparations and drilling), emergency services, disaster preparation, animal control and keeping of the peace. Any system failures made for very unhappy citizens. Our roles fall into very traditional categories:
Jim is responsible for the mechanical systems such as; all aspects of driving/parking the boat, engine maintenance, fine details of navigation, radio communications, all boat systems, and laundry (if underway) since these systems are in the engine room.
Lara is responsible for food provisioning/preparations, cleaning, pharmacy and docking/undocking (fenders/lines) activities.
Our day in Prince Rupert was “interesting”. It began with the cell phones dropping calls everywhere. Can you imagine a town without adequate cell coverage – anywhere? We can. The guide book says, “for a variety of reasons most cell phones have not worked in Prince Rupert”. I suspect this is about land rights. Anyway, we went to the government phone office (because it was next door to the Internet Café) and they told me that the town did not even sell wireless broadband cards – they could be special ordered. Cell coverage just has not made much progress.
At 1030 the Harbor master was not answering the radio as we called in for a marina assignment. We called the listed land line (using our cell phone) and the call was dropped part of the way through on NINE calls. Turns out that the one and only Harbor Master was off on a marine survey call. During the nine calls we determined that there was room at Fairview. Fairview is the commercial fishing dock where it is completely socially acceptable to “raft” your boat to another when they run out of space. This means to tie your boat to the gunnels of a boat already tied to the dock. I can only imagine waking up tomorrow to find some rusty old fishing boat tied to ours and having to wake up a burly Prince Rupert fishing crew to get them OFF OF US.
Our first warning about this town was found in a guide book, “It’s Prince Rupert – decide to be happy.”
We tied up to the dock, grabbed our stuff and headed off to town. The ramp to the wharf above was more of a ladder up. Lara had to use both hands for fear of tumbling back down on to the dock and into the water (to die of some type of flesh eating disease a few days from now – that water is definitely unsanitary).
For those of you that remember reading about Moss Landing (Warning Killer Sea Lions), that was a resort compared to this place. Actually, we are grateful not to have to “raft” to another boat.
Once on the wharf, we walked past the active cannery where bald eagles were circling for a snack. Then we began the 2 mile hike to the main town. Luckily a fellow picked us up after the first mile and gave us a lift right to the front door of the café.
We spent a few hours getting our internet “fix” where Jim got some office work done. The internet café (Javadotcup) was really nice. It looked rustic (like something out of Northern Exposure) and half of it was dedicated to internet users. The upper area (a few stairs) had about 8 computers on desks and a leather couch area. The lower area was a traditional café and it too, was packed with a diverse crowd.
A quick trip to the Safeway was shocking! A bag of pecans was $20 (the kind for baking typically about $8 in the US). A pouch of cookie mix was $4.79 ($1.79 in the US) and gas $5.50 gallon (I thought that pipeline might offer a little spout in the area for some type of break). I don’t know how these folks live.... At the checkout, I overhead the cashier discussing that she finally got an eye exam appointment - in October. Socialized medicine or a one town doc?
We then went on a scavenger hunt around town (toting all of our stuff) looking for anti-freeze for the heating system. By this time we were breaking out a sweat as we left the boat in our three layers of clothing.
We went to three different places (to find the shelves bare in the anti-freeze section). Finally, we hailed a taxi (a run down K car with the fabric nearly worn thread bare) to haul us out to the edge of town where the NAPA auto supply store was located. Jim left Lara in the car (as collateral) and for just $12 a gallon we came away with the antifreeze and we sped back to the dock for our 4:30pm meeting with the Harbor Master (to pay).
After dinner we watched the movie “When Harry met Sally” and it was off to bed at 9pm (still very light out) because we were doing our usual 4am get underway. The light no longer seems to bother either of us and the early morning wake ups are no longer so difficult since it is getting light out as well. This does not mean that we have seen the sun.
[Jim Note: I am currently heading north while Lara takes her morning nap to gather strength to cook second breakfast in a few hours. It’s raining as usual. You can actually see the rain coming on the radar – which is pretty cool the first dozen times but which quickly loses its novelty after that….]
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