tiny boat! (some cool pics in there, tho.)
the boats that go out from eastern Long Island are cruise ships by comparison - two levels, snack bar, enclosed large main cabin on the lower level, plenty of room to walk around on both decks -
I would never be able to go on the kind of boat you did - my hat’s off to you
I was a bit nervous about the zodiac at first, but it was fun! Those things are fast (I think the guy said a top speed of around 35 knots) and on the way back he was deliberately hitting other boats’ wakes crosswise to give us a few good bumps. Of course, that’s related to how I got soaked.
The carrying capacity of each zodiac is 12 passengers, so since there were 22 of us on the trip we got split up between 2 boats. On our way back the skipper of the other boat found out that we were all from the same company, so he decided to splash us a little. Somehow he got airborne, creating a giant wave that came crashing down onto the boat I was in. Of course, this is what I found out later on. At the time, all I knew was I heard a splashing noise and the people sitting behind me starting to scream. Being an idiot, I turned to see what was going on just in time for a wall of water to hit me square in the face and run down the neck of my survival suit. At first we thought it had maybe been a whale, until we saw the bastards in the other boat speeding away. The skipper of my boat tried to get revenge a couple of times, but the chicken driving the other boat ran away. My skipper did make the other guy sweat a bit though, by going on the radio and informing him that we had at least 3 cameras that were completely dead. Luckily that wasn’t the case, but still, 
The company president was also in my boat, so we suggested that he should threaten to fire everybody who was involved in the drenching (I’ve heard conflicting reports as to whether or not they egged on the driver, so I’m betting on yes).
An announced surprise purpose to a company meeting should scare the bejesus out of you.
Whatever it is, though, you must turn the tables on them at the meeting. Once all of management has finally entered the room and taken their seats at the front of the room, several of you get up and close and lock all the doors. Then everyone just sit and stare at the highest-level manager in the room, without flinching. Just keep staring, deadpan. No matter who gets up to talk, never look at the speaker, not even a glance; just keep staring straight into the eyes of the head honcho or honcha with expressionless faces. Your meeting will be dismissed within 5 minutes, and you can all go home unscathed, and they’ll never do this again to you.
Seriously, though, I shudder at the thought that it may be a motivational speaker. How utterly depressing. And for seven hours?! That would be hell on earth. If I were faced with the prospect of being subjected to a motivational speaker for seven hours, I would seriously slit my throat.
– Steve
Nothing to worry about here, Steve. Read the last page of the thread - we went whale watching followed by a massive dinner with free drinks. It was an awesome trip, and I even had fun getting to see a different side of a lot of my co-workers. I’m sure a lot of you will think I’ve completely lost it to be saying this, but I even had fun hanging out with the company president!
Hi. Talk about a day late and a dollar short, eh? About three minutes after I just posted that reply I finished reading the rest of the posts and found out the mystery had been solved and in fact already dished up.
Sounds like you actually work for a nice company. That little trip they provided was pretty cool. (I’m still not sure I like the suspense angle, though, but since it did turn out to be something good, all’s well that ends well, I’ll say.)
I live in the desperate wilds of southeastern North Carolina now, but spent most of my adult years living in Seattle, and one year my then-14-year-old cousin came out to visit me and one day in my sincere attempts to find something for us to do that both of us would enjoy, we went on a guided kayak trip whale-watching in the waters off the San Juan Islands. We never got to see any whales, though, so I guess their people-watching tours were out of season at the time. Still, it was a blast, a day I’ll never forget. The highlight was when an oil tanker went by and we didn’t have sense enough to get perpendicular to its wake, and the big wave hit us broadside, and we almost tipped over. Well, that was probably really the “lowlight” since it involved a heavy dose of terror for a few moments, but still, it was overall a fun day, just kayaking around in the open water. If I ever had it to do again, though, I’d do it the way you did it, in a bigger boat! (We also took the Victoria Clipper back down to Seattle; now that’s a bigger boat! Speedier, too, and a lot easier on the arms.)
Glad your mystery had a happy ending!
(By the way, I’m still just a guest on this message board, but I’m finding I like it very much, and may sign up. It seems like there’s a lot of interesting, well-adjusted folks here. Well, not too well-adjusted, that would be terrible. But … well, heck, you know what I mean!)
– Steve
No problem. We actually crossed into American waters on the trip - that’s San Juan island in the background of a bunch of the photos. Apparently this is one of the best times of the year to see orcas, since the sockeye salmon run is on at the moment, so the whales are just busy gorging themselves on all that lovely sushi.
As luck would have it, I’m going to be taking the Victoria Clipper down to Seattle on Thursday, so maybe I’ll get to see some more whales. And that reminds me, it’s a little short notice now, but I’ve been meaning to start a thread to see if any Seattle Dopers are free for dinner some time next weekend…
Glad to hear you’re enjoying yourself here, though you’d better watch who you call well-adjusted. Them’s fighting words! 