Bald Eagles!

From the decks of the Lantern Queen we've watched several nests of ospreys hatch and grow this spring and summer. And we regularly watch bald eagles soar from the cliffs on either side of the river, occasionally swooping down to catch a fish, more often just content to look majestic. But recently a very peculiar thing has happened. The ospreys have grown up and left the nest, and of course the osprey parents have no need of the nest until next spring. Guess who moved in? The Bald Eagles! The photo above shows a bald eagle at home in the osprey nest high atop a power pole on the Amtrak railroad bridge. If you've a good set of binoculars check it out - the very top of the northen pole, just to the right of the swing bridge. To the naked eye it looks like a tiny ball stuck on the top of the pole. But there's a steel nesting box there that the ospreys occupied until late in the summer. 

Bon Voyage Jen!

After filling her up with chocolate and good wishes, we said a fond farewell to deckhand, Jen Taylor last night. Jen is relocating to Santa Clara, California to be near another of our favorite people, Jason Powers! It's fitting that they met on the Lantern Queen! (It's becoming quite the Love Boat!) 

It's safe to say that Jen is one of those folks we're really glad crossed our path. She brought a lot of skills to the Lantern Queen and left with even more. Whether it was cleaning the paddlewheels, caulking the windows, or dealing with waste tank issues, Jen jumped right in.  It was fun to watch Jen's excitement when the old vacuum cleaner died and we purchased a new Dyson. 

And of course, only Jen could find a way to upstage Elvis! At the end of an Elvis cruise Jen fell overboard off the gunnells, much to the amusement and enjoyment of the nearby fishermen! (They continue to tease her - hoping for a repeat performance perhaps!)

But the part of Jen that's most precious to me is when she's "Jenny" as granddaughter Katherine dubbed her. (See photo above.) Jen often tells people that she really doesn't like kids much - yet she's great with them, and they all seem to adore her.  (I think the truth is that Jen doesn't like brats much - and neither do we!) 

We can't wait to hear about the next chapter in Jen's life - with her can-do attitude and wonderful personality you can bet it will be interesting. 

MAN OVERBOARD! (Drills)

Periodically the Lantern Queen crew conducts man overboard drills. Besides the fact that they make a lot of sense, they're also required by the U.S. Coast Guard. But when the Lantern Queen crew is faced with a tedious task, they do their best to turn it into a party! So just in case you need to know how to rescue a man overboard, here goes:


Oh no! Capt. Fred didn't throw the seat cushion overboard as planned - he jumped in with it!!!

It's OK! (From r. to l.) Lantern Queen crew members Kristin, Erin, and little Katherine spot Capt. Fred and yell "MAN OVERBOARD" and continue to keep contact by pointing to him.

The captain starts manuevering the Lantern Queen so that the gangway points toward the victim. (Uh, I didn't want to choose between which captain to use for this photo, and Katherine's cuter anyway!)


While the captain's swinging the boat around, other crew members are lowering the gangway to about 18" above the water. One crew member, armed with a boat hook, takes up a station on the end of the gangway, while another acts as safety behind him.

As the Lantern Queen approaches the victim the gangway is finally lowered into the water in order to drag the victim aboard. Saved! Saved! Capt. Fred is saved- much to the relief of little Katherine, who took this drill VERY seriously!
And so it continued, until every one of the seven captains took his turn rescuing the poor, soggy seat cushion! And at sunset I was able to snap a great photo of bartender, Kristin.

Ospreys & Eagles

Here's a photo of the baby Osprey nesting under the Rt. 40 bridge.

Throughout the spring and summer, Carroll has pointed out the Osprey nest under the Hatem (U.S. Rt. 40) Bridge to our passengers. We've watched as the little chicks grew and grew. They seem to have left the nest now, but we're already eager to greet next years' babies.

Osprey are also called "Fish Hawk" and are in the same bird of prey family as the eagles. In fact, the slightly smaller Osprey often lose their prey to their larger Bald Eagle cousins.

We also see a number of bald eagles on Lantern Queen cruises too, and make ever effort to point them out to our passengers. Both Osprey and Eagles are truly majestic birds!

Thursday Sailboat Races

Every Thursday night, the Havre de Grace Yacht Club holds sailboat races. As the Lantern Queen departs for our Thursday night public dinner cruises, we try to "hang out" near the races for a little while so our passengers can watch the races and take advantage of the "Kodak moments." Of course every race and every evening is different, but I love the light of sunset on the sails and water, and the colorful spinnakers create a festival feeling.

Emergency!

Somehow you know that someday there will be an emergency, and you hope that the training and skills of your crew come through.

On a recent afternoon cruise a passenger began feeling ill. At first she and her family thought it was a little low blood sugar combined with the hot weather. She seemed to perk up and ate dinner, and even told me stories of her childhood. When I stopped by their table later to see how she was feeling I was shocked at how ill she looked. I asked Kathy Eikenberg (of Marquis Downs Catering) to evaluate the guest. (Kathy is also a nurse!) I could read Kathy's concern in her facial expression. She looked up and asked, "How far are we from the pier?" I mouthed "ambulance" to Kathy and received a nod in return.

I went directly to the wheelhouse and told our captains and crew that we had a medical emergency and needed to return to our pier as quickly as possible. Captain Bill was at the wheel and immediately said, "I can be there in 10 minutes." Capt. Tom was reaching for the radio to call the U.S.C.G. but we figured it would be quicker to call 911 since we were only 10 minutes out. I called 911 and everything went smoothly after I convinced the 911 operator that we were on a boat and did not HAVE a house number to give him! Just as we docked the boat at the Hutchins Park pier, we heard and saw the ambulance coming down Congress Ave. right towards the Lantern Queen.

I went back downstairs to the dining room to check on the situation. Nurse Kathy was still working with the patient and her family, keeping the patient alert and the family as calm as possible. But it was caterer Tom Eikenberg (Kathy's husband) who got my attention. Tom was busy entertaining the rest of the passengers in the dining room with stand up comedy - one joke after another. (Everyone's talents came into play that day!)

As we docked, Lantern Queen owner Carroll Fitzgerald made an announcement telling our passengers that an ambulance was meeting the boat due to a medical emergency and we'd appreciate them just waiting until the sick passenger was taken off before they disembarked.

In just a few minutes the EMTs brought the gurney up the gangway and loaded our passenger into the ambulance for the short, 3 block trip to the Harford Memorial Hospital E.R.

Lantern Queen passengers are the BEST! Everyone was patient and considerate! Several passengers quietly told me that they were praying for our ailing guest.

I wish I had a video of the wheelhouse activity during this situation. From the moment I announced that we had a medical emergency there was an air of calm determination. No one really talked except for me - still on the phone with the 911 operator, and Capt. Bill occasionally announcing, "10 minutes, 8 minutes, 5 minutes" to help me communicate our position to the 911 operator (who still didn't quite understand the whole boat thing!)

The next day I happened to be chatting with Susquehanna Hose Co. Capt. Bill Reeder, who assured me that if we'd been farther away from our pier, the hose company's fire & rescue boat would have met us and evacuated the passenger. The same is true for Water Witch and Perryville fire companies too. We are extremely fortunate to have pros like the folks from all our local fire and ambulance corps!

I am proud to share this story with you because it underscores the high level of skill and competency of the Lantern Queen crew.

Zoom...there goes Summer!

Can it possibly be August? June and July zoomed by in a blur of cruises...weddings, anniveraries, birthdays, family reunions, corporate parties, and just plain party parties! Back in the "good old days" of winter we figured that Summer 2008 would be the trial by fire for our crew. The good news is that our crew is still great and they're all still smiling!

Carroll & I are just absolutely tickled with the group of folks who make up the crew of the Lantern Queen. They are some of the best people we've ever met!