- Joined
- Dec 3, 2009
- Messages
- 10,978
- Reaction score
- 237
- Location
- Kingsport, Tennessee
- My Bike Models
- Former '82 GL1100 "The Slug"
This is absolutely not motorcycle related, but I think real cool nontheless! My first boat job out of high school was on a sighteeing boat out of Wildwood, NJ. (The boat is actually the story here.) When I was in grade school, I was facinated with WW II PT-Boats (like McHales Navy). I read all I could about John F Kennedy and PT-109, the South Pacific PT bases and so on.
Well, back in the '70's we had two sightseeing boats that offered rides out in the ocean. One was called PT-109 (but it was an Air-Sea rescue boat, not the real McCoy) and the other was called the Big Blue Sightseer. Turns out, the Sightseer is a real live WW II PT-Boat converted for boat rides (wait until you see the pic). Well, any red blooded, history seeking teenager that loves PT-Boats has got to get a job on one! Hence, my first deckhands job and the most fun I ever had at work!
The Captain (who also owned the boat) loved to play pranks on the customers. We used to feed seagulls off the bow of the boat (away from the passengers) while the Captain would say, "Now Gerry, you keep those birds off the side of the boat. You know what happens when they eat peanuts and crackers!" And of course the passengers would say, "Yeah Gerry, don't feed the seagulls!" Well, while I fed the birds, the other deckhand would be at the back of the boat working his way forward with a water pistol filled with green colored Intensive Care handcream and would be squirting people's bare arms or on bald heads from behind. Of course they always thought it was real right away until the deckhand would pass them on his way to the bow and they would catch on real fast to the joke! :smilie_happy:
Well, back in the '70's we had two sightseeing boats that offered rides out in the ocean. One was called PT-109 (but it was an Air-Sea rescue boat, not the real McCoy) and the other was called the Big Blue Sightseer. Turns out, the Sightseer is a real live WW II PT-Boat converted for boat rides (wait until you see the pic). Well, any red blooded, history seeking teenager that loves PT-Boats has got to get a job on one! Hence, my first deckhands job and the most fun I ever had at work!
The Captain (who also owned the boat) loved to play pranks on the customers. We used to feed seagulls off the bow of the boat (away from the passengers) while the Captain would say, "Now Gerry, you keep those birds off the side of the boat. You know what happens when they eat peanuts and crackers!" And of course the passengers would say, "Yeah Gerry, don't feed the seagulls!" Well, while I fed the birds, the other deckhand would be at the back of the boat working his way forward with a water pistol filled with green colored Intensive Care handcream and would be squirting people's bare arms or on bald heads from behind. Of course they always thought it was real right away until the deckhand would pass them on his way to the bow and they would catch on real fast to the joke! :smilie_happy: