11 April St Kitts-Nevis Special Ops Boat Thrills

Beautiful day in St Kitts, blue sky, puffy clouds. Unlike ocean ships where an intercom announcement in your room was rare and almost always very necessary, they seem to be the norm on Octantis. I guess they figure that everyone is up since COVID samples are due out the door by 0800. Karla and I have been putting ours out much earlier and going back to sleep. We don’t need or want to hear that we’ve arrived, and the local authorities have cleared to ship for passengers to depart.

After Zoom Church with fellow Franciscans, it was off to the gym. Not much of workout required after yesterday’s climb. Breakfast followed. We used the morning to upload the last three days of the blog. Now that the ship is full, the internet bandwidth is a limiting factor. Downloads and uploads are at dial-up speeds. The best times are when most are ashore or eating. At any rate finally all updates are in and we headed for our Special Ops Boat (SOB) ride.

What a blast!!! The SOB’s are launched out of the back of the ship on a rubber-tire ramp. As the aft end hit the water the engine is started powering a pump that produces the water jet the powers the ship. Off we went to circle St Kitts, view Nevis and cross from the Caribbean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean.

We made three stops where Sam, the ships vulcanologist pointed out the dormant volcanos on both islands and told us about the flora and fauna. All that was nice, but we asked the ship’s pilot to demonstrate the full capability of the vessel. He did a tight 360 as well as a sudden stop by directing the engine water jet forward. Very impressive. All of us aboard were whooping and laughing as if we were on roller-coaster. Great fun.

The Hanger where all the toys are stored

The Hanger where all the toys are stored

The Ramp off the ship

Our Viking Expedition Guide

The Viking Submersible

After lunch, I headed to the Carambola Beach Club. Viking had arranged a day pass for all passengers as well as the crew. The pass included free drinks. The rum punch was OK, the beach was soft sand and the lounge chairs comfortable.

I returned in time for Trivia, Karla, myself, and another couple won. When did the US purchase Alaska? Only two other teams played so it wasn’t a large victory.

We got the submersible safety brief this evening and a show time for tomorrow. Very weather and sea condition dependent. Fingers crossed.

The End of Day Dinner Wine