Read The Label

So, did you hear the one about the two women who set sail from Hawaii on a three hour week trip to Tahiti, and got rescued of Japan five months later?

Two women rescued after 5 months adrift in the Pacific - CNN

This being the 21st Century, the story started unraveling rather quickly.
Questions raised about sailors' story after months stranded at sea

The best analysis is found here: 19 REASONS THIS “SURVIVAL” STORY SMELLS FISHY – UNREASONABLY DANGEROUS ONION RINGS (h/t Insty.)

Aside from the fact that I may have to start reading the Unreasonable Dangerous Onion Rings blog just for the name, this is essentially a detailed fisking of the entire story. In this case, go ahead and read the comments. (Note: If you're going to click through to the Daily Mail's coverage, you might want to warn your spouse lest she look over your shoulder when you reach the part about how one of the principles in this story led a "Shades of Grey" lifestyle. AMHIK.)

Anyway.

What brought me here was that, out of curiosity, I looked up de-salinators on Amazon, because, 5 months at sea you'd obviously have to have one.

The search returned 29 hits, most of which are filters or purifiers, not de-salinators.

Removing bugs and contaminants from salt water doesn't do you much good if you still can't drink the water...

Anyway, two rules:

1. Always read the product description. 
2. Never read the comments. 

Exception to 2. above:

• Unless you still have questions about the product description.

Clearly...

"Socialist Worker Peasant's Paradise" ≠ "Paradise".

This is why American tourists don’t want to travel to Cuba - MarketWatch

Indeed, the initial excitement about the formerly closed off country gave way to moral dilemmas over food shortages and other problems caused by tourism, as well as disappointment over limited working internet, lower hotel standards, and lack of running water there. The Allianz study found lack of travel infrastructure was a major cause of anxiety about traveling to Cuba for 13% of Americans.

The slide in demand has led a number of airlines to reduce or completely eliminate flights to the country...

Sumers suggested confusion over the approved reasons to go to Cuba is keeping the average American visitor away still. As of May 2017, visitors to the country have to select one of 12 categories for their visit, which include religious activities, humanitarian projects, “support for the Cuban people,” and journalistic activities. “You can’t go to Cuba to sit on the beach and have fun and that’s what Americans like to do on vacation,” he said. “Cuba is a bit of an outlier still — it is not easy to visit and for a lot of people it’s still a pain. You have to really want to go there.”

...

Cuba has a long way to go before it’s suitable for many high-maintenance American tourists. “This will come with certain expectations: Americans expect that cell phones will work, credit cards will work, and that access to internet won’t be limited,” ...

(Emphasis added.)

So, let me get this straight, you want my money, in exchange for not letting me do what I like to do on vacation? And you can't (or won't) let me stay in touch with the folks back home?

I talked the other day with a co-worker about a recent (Trans-Panama Canal) cruise she went on, and she's already excited about the Cuba cruise she is planning to sign on for: "Just waiting for a bargain rate." A cruise may be the way to do that, since you are not reliant on the "tourism infrastructure",  although it sounds like the Cubans are very insistent about the excursions allowed. (I.e., you have to go on their excursions. But then, it's a Socialist Worker Peasant's paradise, what other excursions are there...?)

I had heard that Cuba was a popular destination for Canadians and Europeans who wanted fun in the sun sans Yankees. Now I'm wondering if that was exaggerated.

Now it can be told!

Yesterday evening we returned from a Hawaiian Cruise celebrating our 25^th anniversary.

No, I don't know how she does it.

My parents joined us; other family members were either not able to change plans, or, in the case of many of Mrs. Drang's family, have bad memories of previous cruises, which typically involved 14 hour days of chipping paint and "hot-bunking" with some guy from Alabama...

Itinerary:

• Board San Francisco
• Four days at sea
• Hawai'i, AKA "The Big Island"/Hilo
• Oahu/Honolulu
• Maui/Lahaina
• Kauai/Nawiliwili
• Four days at sea
• Ensenada*
• One day at sea
• Disembark San Francisco

*Stop in Ensenada mandated by US Government regulations intended to favor US flag carriers, requiring that non-US flagged passenger vessels make at least one stop in a foreign port on any voyage. Other US Government regulations make it prohibitive to flag cruise ships in the US, so there are none. This makes Seattle an attractive port for cruises, since Vancouver and Victoria are so convenient; Ensenada gets the love from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Alas, Alaska is the only cruise destination convenient to Seattle, and that's not a year-round trip like Hawai'i and Mexico/Central America. (There are rumors of Pacific Rim and round-the-world cruises starting in Seattle Any Year Now...)

Right now the consensus is that a 15 day cruise is at least 3 days too long, maybe 5. (How long a vacation is too long? When you get tired of fine dining and having someone else do your housekeeping...)

Maybe if the consecutive days at sea were fewer, and there were more port calls, we would not have felt this way. I don't know. Maybe we need to look into that 19 day L.A. to Ft. Lauderdale cruise, with Panama Canal transit and a stop in Mexico, Central America, and various Caribbean Islands to say for sure.

Anyway, I'll be posting some pics and videos here, although many of the videos need editing.

Here's a taste:

This is a somewhat crappy cell phone video taken on March 17th off Lahaina, Maui, of a humpback whale doing "pedunkle slaps."

Briefly made us wonder why we paid money for a separate whale watching cruise, if I could watch one from the buffet line...

(It was totally worth it, BTW.)

Well, we feel better now...

As I related in my lengthy, mostly-photo post about our Mexican Riviera cruise, the trip home was a bit bouncy. Waves were hitting 17 feet, making it a bit of a challenge to walk steadily. I think we all knew it could have been much worse.

Much, much worse.

Passengers on Storm-Ravaged Cruise Ship Return to NJ, Describe 'Cruise From Hell' | NBC New York

The ship, carrying more than 4,500 passengers and 1,600 crew members, departed Saturday on a seven-day cruise to the Bahamas. But the 1,141-foot vessel sailed on Sunday into a major winter storm.

The captain asked passengers to stay in their cabins as powerful 120-mph sustained winds and waves as high as 30 feet tossed the vessel around beginning Sunday afternoon.

And of course, a congresscritter is calling for a government investigation...

Mexican Riviera Cruise, December 30 2015 - January 9 2016

Mostly a photo post. Lots of pics, not lots of talk.
All photos copyright D.W. Drang and The Cluemeter, or Ms.Elaine-ious, and Bearcat's Spin, 2015 and 2016.

All photos after the break, so as not to overwhelm slow connections...

Earworms, 01/09/2016

A great trip, but good to be home. Cats seem to have forgiven us already, which is worrisome...

More my style

Of souvenir, that is.

One of the most popular souvenirs of Alaska is an Ulu knife.

An ulu (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐅᓗ, plural: uluit, English: "woman's knife"^[1]) is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Eskimo women, both Yupik and Inuit. It is utilized in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a child's hair, cutting food and, if necessary, trimming blocks of snow and ice used to build an igloo.

(Wikipedia, at link above)

Here's a typical souvenir, not sure where Mrs. Drang got it; she had it when we met. It's actually made of okay steel, but may well have come from A Las Ka, PRC. This is in the Savoonga style.

(An Ulu maker's leaflet that lists styles of Uluit is here.)

This one is Mrs. Drang's souvenir Ulu, a Nunavak style, I believe:

This one is actually Made in Alaska, USA. The handle hole is too small for me, which was the case with every Ulu of this style I tried. She found it in The Knife Shop in Juneau, AK.

In the same building was a small souvenir store that took a lot of our money, including for the bar of soap I posted about last week, and a nifty necktie with Northwest Native-style wolves on it. 

Bristol Bay pattern Ulu, blade of old carbon steel saw blade. 

That cutting board/bowl it's on actually came with Mrs. Drang's Ulu, and the bone stand hers is on in the photograph came with this one. This picture shows part of the reason I liked this one -- it fits!

I don't have a walrus or polar bear to butcher, but Mrs. Drang did ask me to shred some cabbage for slaw...

More info: Outdoors magazine: The Ulu Knife (.Pdf.)

Not my normal souvenir

"Pigment, essential oils of spruce, fir & cedarwood."

"...and don't be surprised to find yourself squeaky clean and yearning to 'run with the BEARS'!"

Skagway and the White Pass & Yukon Route rail tour

More photos from our Alaska cruise. All photos copyright 2013 The Cluemeter or Bearcat's Spins.

Skagway River

Skagway River

Tight curve after that bridge...

Halfway to the summit.  Our boat is in front.

Is this seasonal, or a permanent

"Ghost Bridge", decommissioned in the late 60's.

Tracy Arm Fjord & Juneau

More pics from our Alaska cruise. All photographs copyright 2013 The Cluemeter or Bearcat's Spins.

Sawyer Glacier.  Did I already post this one?

Ketchikan

Some more pics form our big Alaska (what other kind?) trip.
All photos copyright 2013, The Cluemeter or Bearcats Spins.

Approaching Ketchikan.  Or maybe leaving.  Not sure...

It's a little damp in Ketchikan

The city's official bird...

They don't mess around...

Ummm...

Leaving.  Or arriving.  Again, not sure...

No longer pining for the fjords

Oh, who am I fooling? I'm certainly going to miss them...

Sawyer Glacier

(Tracy Arm on Wikipedia and Google Maps.)

These don't even begin to be a sample of the pics we took this morning. I don't know who to feel sorrier for, those who have not and likely will never have the opportunity to view this beauty, or those who recoil at the thought of it.

While sailing up and then back out,  Mrs. Drang and I could not help but ponder having a cabin or lodge here.  You'd need a large enough boat to sail for supplies at least once a month, and maybe a plane as well.  Wonder if you can get a satellite connection this far north...?

All abooooooard!

Wrong technology, I know

Nicer stateroom than we had in December, and light years  ahead of what I had in November!

UPDATE: Fixed the stateroom photo. 3G signal only here in Ketchikan, probably won't upload anymore photos until we can get either high-speed WiFi, or "4G."