And the Winner is….

Not that thing…best oyster according to Eddie, silly you.  After exhaustive research from the coastal waters of Maine to the rain soaked streets of Charleston, Eddie has put in the research on the best oyster-raw or fried on the eastern seaboard.  And we have the Master Card receipts to prove it.  Drum roll if you please…it is the Southwest Sensation from PEI (Prince Edward Island), with second place going to the Virginia standard of Old Salty’s.    

Remember back in the day when Pappa’s on 59 (now I-69-they grow big so quickly) use to post on the outside marquee in the winter/holiday months Oysters $3.95 a dozen (followed by the fresh lobster $12.95 a pound) ? We did both specials.  Eddie would come home from work with that wild eyed look and said we were going out to dinner.  The boy could do some damage.  Once the kids left home we would bring our other oyster loving friends and do some serious damage.  The shuckers could not keep up.  Once they realized they had heavy duty eaters, our table would have a designated shucker.  Those days are long gone…the going rates are $3.50-4.00 per oyster…per oyster, you read it right.  No more 10-12 dozen on the half shell.  Since we have done limited excursions on this trip, Eddie decided to find the best oysters on the Eastern Seaboard, that tells you everything you need to know about Eddie’s adventuring spirit these days.  Today, with storm clouds and rain soaked streets we walked the mile to PearlZ on East Bay port side in Charleston.  We came to Charleston together in 2019, but Eddie has come here for years on Federal Court work and assorted boondoggles-I mean conferences.  October and November are usually the months of Low Country Oyster Roasts…byosk-bring your own shucking knife.  Some parties even gave them as party favors…one can never have too many oyster knives with a sexy leather belt pouch.  Oyster Bars in Charleston are like Nail Bars and Mexican Restaurants at home…one or two on every street corner.  There must be an oyster mafia as the prices/selection are pretty much the same every menu you glance at.  

PearlZ was the place on the way to the Charleston airport we discovered 5 years ago.  They have a couple of locations, today it is the one closest to the dock.  Neither rain nor humidity was going to stop Eddie from his oyster date.  Charleston humidity…next level, think New Orleans after a rain storm.  So glad I did not put any effort on my hair before leaving the ship.  We arrived a little before 1:45…the place does not open until 2:00…like I said very much like NOLA.  They took pity on us and let us come in early and get our oyster on.  I am only a casual oyster eater…I don’t think I have ever committed to a full a dozen…more of a one and done kind of gal.  Eddie had the two mentioned above, and a fried oyster platter that he said was the best he has had in a long time.  I had a mixed grill skewer with the usual suspects of shrimp, scallops, salmon and unicorn fish….please do not tell my grand daughters I ate a unicorn fish.  When we got back, I looked it up…figured the foodies had renamed some not appealing sounding fish name with unicorn fish.  Nope, unicorn fish, sturgeon fish and tangs (think Dory) are all part of same group.  They have a slight horn on the head.  So, unicorn fish…it is what for dinner…wonder if that is at our H‑E‑B.  

As we retraced our steps, I went left towards the Charleston City market and Eddie went right back toward the ship and a post oyster nap.  Charleston understands the tourist market well.  This is a 4 block area in middle of Market Street that for over 200 years have housed the City markets.  Today, it is home to local sweet grass weavers, artists, tee shirts and souvenirs…all out of the rain and sun, some with fans and some more like small shops with Air Conditioning and bathrooms.  It is fun to wander the market…whether I bought anything or not.

I am on the back side of my upper respiratory stuff…based on the sights (masks) and sounds (coughing and nose blowing) everyone else on our ship signed up for the same excursion.  Eddie is late to the party, but the coughing began this morning…great souvenir.  We seem to keep picking up this same souvenir every time we get on a ship.  We arrive home Saturday afternoon late.  I have been watching Rafael with interest.  Looks like we are not going to have a visitor….George quipped that if the government is really controlling the weather, we need to stop given them our Itineraries.  Until our next adventure…. 

It’s a Miracle!

 It’s a miracle! After ten days with Sir Richard/Eddie and his dapper wooden cane and brown fedora, Eddie has been healed!  He no longer needs his cane to walk.  Seriously, after a week on board, it was obvious he is out gunned by the other cruisers.  There are more pieces of expensive medical equipment for whatever your infirmity might be here on board Nautica.  Our fellow passengers are almost all of a certain age…read I am on the young side of this spectrum.  Yes, there are pockets of 50ish folks (Cuban American that live for the casino to be open), but by and large it  people that prefer a smaller ship, excellent food (you can even get a lobster on a burger-foodie wet dream), and lots of butt powdering.  You can sort the groups by medical equipment and shoe wear.  There is a range of footwear that looks like a catalog shoot from Foot Solutions.  (Read High end shoes that are built for foot issues and comfort and are decidedly unflattering)  Then there is the walking and rolling medical equipment-did not even know some of these existed.  It took Eddie a week of observation to decided that his cane looked a little affected, but not much medical value.  Did he say this, no, but he concluded it was not helping his hip problem.  Duh, could have told him that, it is too short…thanks, Amazon.  

Today in Portland, we decided that we had actually had enough lobster and could do lunch on our own at Eventide Oyster Bar.  It ranks as one of the best places on the eastern sea board to get fresh raw oysters. Portland, Maine, is everything a charming New England town should be..with excursions to and from Peggy’s Cove for the iconic picture of the colorful cottages on the tidal pool to a red and white lighthouse on the rough rock coast/cove entrance…  Eddie was so excited about fresh oysters from the Maine coastline, he actually memorized the map on how to get there on FOOT…like I said, it is a miracle!  

Back to Eddie and Oysters…we walked the mile to Eventide…a mile because Eddie got lost. Yeah, his memory is not as good as it use to be…nor his directional compass.  I  had pregamed this place and knew it was both popular and did not take reservations except for tables of 6 or more…on Resy..two weeks out starting a midnight.  It is a smallish affair…think the size of our living room, dining room and foyer, with a bar area/shucking area about the size of my kitchen work space.  There were 3 picnic tables inside, ledge bar seat by windows and standing ledges on the back wall.  There are 10 picnic tables outside that could seat six, so I guess that is what a reservation would get you.  It is 30 degrees outside, sunny, but not on our side of the street.  We do not own clothing for this kind of weather…another one of those passenger identifiers.  No cute puffy jackets on Team Pickle…we would look like the Michelin men…so thin windbreakers with long sleeved cotton shirts, it is.  We arrived at the hostess stand and put our name on the list-30 minutes if we wanted to sit on a bar stool in the window, 2 hours for picnic table seating inside.  There were few hardy souls sitting outside, so instead of walking for next 30 minutes until I receive a text, Eddie plopped down at the first picnic table facing the door, and gave the hostess his glare.  It worked, old people on outdoor picnic tables telling incoming customers of how long the wait would be (yes, he did that).  I think it was all of 5 minutes.  Eddie still has the power to intimidate people  a cold stare…no cane needed.  

Now for the Oyster review.  East coast and Gulf Coast oysters are on the same branch of the animal kingdom chart, but they are so different.  Gulf Coast oysters are large, with heavy shells and only truly salty and safe in the cold months of year.  East coast oysters are smaller, with petit shells and have different salinity based on the type.  Eddie opened with a dozen of 2 each of the chef selection…plus a lagniappe of two common NE oysters.  He determined the pink striped variety was the best and ordered a second dozen along with a lobster roll dressed with brown butter.  Service and  barstool turn over is fast…you are not going to hang around, it is slurp and go kind of place.  I had a blue tuna roll and cup of clam chowder.  Eddie was a happy camper when we walked/skipped back to the ship.  Miracle, right?

The other activity of the day was presenting ourselves to the CBP (US Border patrol) in the cruise terminal.  Instead of waiting until the end to stamp your passport, they want to do it in the first US port that your ship makes.  We have done this numerous times in numerous countries, so this was not something new.  I guess they are looking for random gray terrorists among us.  We were given rather vague instructions on how this was done, but found out from the dining room manager that it would after the CBP people had eaten their Hamburgers with lobster, which he had scheduled to be ready at 11:30.  Like I said, it is a small ship, no secrets.  

When doing this in the past, there are line lice…just like on airplanes…don’t want to wait until it is their turn…jump to front.  Nope, not happening here…this is a group of color within the lines baby boomers.  We wait until we are called…no terrorists, no line lice.  

Rolling on the River

 Remember how I mentioned in a previous post that there were two Oceania ships in the Quay in Montréal?  De ja vu all over again…Viking Summer Sailing 2023 without Covid Jail.  Insignia is Nautica’s “sister” ship, doing a one week Montréal to New York run with us.  We all know what that means—-another game of rock, paper, scissor…and our captain will lose.  Bottom line, Insignia will park next to the dock and we (Team Nautica) will anchor and tender to shore.  

The small town of Saguenay is almost at the end of the Saguenay Fjord off of the St. Lawerence River.  Excursions include fun things like going to a paper mill, paper museum or a pulp wood factory….in the rain…No thanks, we have been to Laurel, Mississippi-many times-and know what making paper smells like. It is a classic fjord, with a river, glacier formed mountains on both sides, that eventually meets a larger body of water. This fjord is much  wider than those in Norway, Alaska and Chile, not quite as picturesque. The shape of this fjord acts as a wind and current funnel…so both anchoring and tendering will be that something extra on todays’s stop.  The weather…cold (30 degrees), overcast with a strong chance of rain.  Eddie rolled over and said “Let’s sleep late, and decide”.  About that time the anchor dropped, and dropped  and dropped some more…definition of a fjord…deep water …Suite 6002 is right above the Theatre and the anchor porthole…metal chain on a steel ship hull.  Special.  Once dropped, Eddie attempted to go back to sleep….we are facing into the wind (and current)…to maintain our position, the Bridge must engage the bow thrusters…every two minutes.  Wow!  Glassware, remotes and our dental work all bounced around…every two minutes all day long.  And to think we paid extra for this treatment.  We had probably laughed more (between the bow thrusters engagements-lest we bite our tongues) at ourselves than usual on the trip so far.  

Because we are so far north, with darkness setting in before 5:00, I have had my handy Aurora App set to alert me to the Northern Lights in my area…it knows where I am and have give the okay to send me notifications.  In both May and earlier in October there has been heavy solar activity-So the Northern Lights have been visible as far south as Tennessee.  Where we are, the lights are more common but it is cloudy…but I am waiting for my phone to indicate that the skies is green, orange and purple.  So far, nothing, but I remain hopeful as we will be sailing the St Lawerence River for the next 36 hours with almost no light pollution…read day at sea.  

During the night, Eddie and I both became aware of the extreme motion of the ocean.  A couple from Houston that we met in the Airport before departing chuckled when we told them our room number. Larry  and Connie are veteran Oceania cruisers.  Larry said we should be prepared for “X” sleeping.  Yup, we are “X” sleeping as we have hit heavier seas and the bow of our ship is digging into each and every wave.  Think roller coaster in bed.  We assumed the “X” position with Eddie hanging on with his left hand, me with my right and our one leg crossed over the other person’s to prevent rolling out of bed.  We are having fun now!  Can I get a Wohoo! Wait, it gets better.  The tonnage of our boat is probably 1/3 of what we are accustomed to, so even the smallest of wave action makes for a interesting day.  We know from past experience on much larger ships that a little sick tablet goes a long way…but also makes one sleepy.  We once again assume the “X” position and waited for the seas to calm…36 hours later.    No green and purple skies, but lots of green and purple passengers…is there an App for that?