Today we anchored at Key West, which meant that passengers wanting to go ashore had to do so via tender boats. I was fortunate to have a great view of the tender boat and dock process from my balcony. These will likely bore most of you.There are two processes going on simultaneously -- the lowering of the tender boats and the preparation of the ship's 'docks' (for lack of a better term). There are three tender boats on each side of the ship. There are arms that swing out, taking the boats away from the ship. The boats are then slowly lowered via cables and make a nice little splash when they hit the water. It's not clear to me how the crew of the tender boats board the boards before they are lowered.
The docks are fascinating. Basically, there are two platforms that fold out with hydraulic assistance from the side of the ship. There is a staircase in the bottom of the unfolded platform, anchored in place by four large square posts secured in place by pins. The crew takes out the pins (which have a specific place they are then stowed in the 'floor') and swings the posts up, landing at the side of the dock and perpendicular to the floor. These four posts then become the buffer between the dock and the tender boats. After those posts are in place, hydraulics push the stairway up. There is a platform about 20 feet higher than the docks that extends from the ship. The stairways from each of the docks meet at that platform and lock onto it. Fascinating process to watch.
What was less fascinating was a fishing expedition boat that was lurking nearby while all of this was taking place. When the coast was clear, they finally sidled up and unleashed the longest continuous streams of profanity I've heard in, well, an awful long time. Yelling and cursing at the pilot of their own boat as well as our crew because apparently we didn't have enough extra ropes to dock them and they didn't have their own. Our crew was remarkably calm.
I made my first trip up to the 24/7 fitness center that was quite amazing -- 20 treadmills and 10 ellipticals, for starters, all of which were equipped with the monitors so you could watch TV or whatever. Best of all, as you can see in the photo, the view from the treadmills is a straight-on view of the ocean. Quite beautiful.