Ferries: Three must-read rules

As I sit here writing, my social media feed has been drowning in pictures from vacations. Cute babies on beaches, selfies in faraway places, and various shots of feet lounging in repose. My husband and I plan to join the sunburned crowd soon, which always prompts a fond revisiting of the mistakes we've made in our travels. So get your flip-flops and seasickness bags while I tell you a few stories about ferries. Welcome aboard!

Cautionary tale #1

Book the high-speed option

My husband and I coming back from Nantucket a long time ago. 

My current project is set on a small island off the coast of New England, accessible by ferry and small plane. Most of the characters take the ferry I've ridden myself enough to talk about and opt for the fast one. 

Way back when before my husband and I knew better we visited Nantucket with a relative. Don't get me wrong, I love Nantucket and I love my relatives. In our glee, we took the tour around the island snapping photos and admiring the real estate to the point that before we knew it, the departure time for the last high-speed ferry back to the mainland was upon us. Overcome with touristy excitement, we brushed this aside and kept having fun deciding to wait for the other option. 

Now, mind you the marketing people are smart. There are two ferry options. High-speed and not high-speed. Often as in our case, this leads to logic like "They didn't say slow, did they? Besides, it's the same company. Look, honey, it's even cheaper! We can save a few bucks and get an ice cream downtown. We don't want to leave now anyway! We're having too much fun!"

In a high-speed ferry, you almost glide above the water racing with such speed that you can barely feel the rise and fall of the tides beneath you. 
Not so in the other option. Not so. 

As opposed to the jewel of the fleet, the other option in my experience can appear less than shiny. Unbelievable speed towards the horizon is now replaced with the horizon swinging wildly up and down in dramatic swells as the old boat desperately dog-paddles its way to shore. I don't know the actual speed in knots, but in time it is alarming enough to begin to question if, in fact, we will ever see the shore again. If you have children with you, this is a teachable moment to educate them on the struggle of the first explorers, colonists, and European immigrants who crossed the Atlantic at about the same pace. 

Do yourself and your relatives a favor. Pay a little more. Time is valuable. 

Cautionary tale #2  

Don't sit outside

I know the weather is great. I know you're on a trip and want to see the sun. I know it's either A: crowded or B: freezing cold because of the A/C inside but please for the love of everything get a seat shielded by walls. 
 
Because I'm hardheaded and forgetful, I've made this mistake a few times. The time that sealed the deal for me though was the ferry to the Dry Tortugas off the coast of Key West. 

A shot of the water through a window of Fort Jefferson on Dry Tortugas 

Easily in the top five things we've done together, the trip hooked us on snorkeling forever. I was so filled with excitement, the three-hour ferry ride to Dry Tortugas seemed to race by in minutes. Fresh out of graduate school, I chatted happily with my new husband about everything on our way out. As a side note, if Dry Tortugas isn't on your list, it needs to be. Snorkeling equipment and a light lunch included in a pristine, secluded National Park, who couldn't love that?  We didn't know anything about snorkeling, but we saw so much underwater I regretted not buying the water-tight Kodak in the gift shop. In truth, I was so relaxed I didn't even worry about leaving our stuff on shore while we explored, which for me back then was a big departure from the norm. 

We had such a fun time, that when we boarded for the mainland, I turned to my husband and declared I wanted to see the water and dolphins (Yes, really. They swam alongside the ferry.) all the way back. Being an indulgent new spouse, he readily agreed and we hauled our beach bags on to the port side and awaited departure. 

You don't know the power of wind until you have been sandblasted and waterboarded for three and a half hours, clinging to the hard plastic seat of a high-speed ferry racing for home. 

What? Why didn't we just go back inside with our tails between our legs, ashamed of our error? 

All of the seats were taken, leaving us to huddle against the wind, daring to get up only a few times in case the wind knocked us over like the preteens trying to get a windswept selfie. Those girls are lucky to still have hair as am I. I'm not lying when I say it was like a hurricane. All in all, that was still pretty fun and we did see dolphins. Finally, hugging the wall we made our way to the stern where we were thankfully shielded from some of the wind, but not all of it. When we reached the port, those who had sat inside looked fresh and well-rested, ready for a dinner followed by Key Lime Pie. Those of us who had sat outside looked otherwise. 

Sit inside, you can always step out for a minute before coming back in. 

Cautionary tale #3

Always sit on the bottom, near the back

The beautiful waters next to the ancient ruins of Tulum, our final destination for the day.

By the time of this next story, my husband and I had been on more than a few catamarans, sunset cruises, and ferries, so we naively thought we knew what to expect when we booked a day trip to the mainland of Mexico while on a cruise. During the routine safety talks to which we were accustomed, my husband and I laughed at all of the jokes and marveled at the passengers already ordering tequila. We thought we knew what to expect and were only a little bit surprised when the crew offered smelling salts and bags. Exchanging a glance, my husband and I seemed confused, but figured they must be for those who had never taken a ferry before. While those had been available on every boat we'd sailed on, we had never had one offered to us personally. Still, we took comfort that we were on a nice high-speed ferry and had chosen a seat inside. We had done this before and sat in smug confidence at our expertise. 

Oh, how wrong we were. 

The currents in the waters between Cozumel and Playa del Carmen are unbelievably strong. Laughing at the so-called power of this high-speed ferry, the swells lifted the bow to the sky before slamming it back down in a splash large enough to shake my teeth. I feel a kinship with astronauts and the rigorous training program they've had to endure. Really NASA could save millions if they just booked this ferry for all potential space explorers. I began to feel the familiar sense of nausea bubbling away and called on all of the tricks to keep the vomit at bay for fear of reaching a new low in public embarrassment. 

While I fought this private battle, members of the crew began to circulate the cabin again handing out the necessary equipment. To my surprise, my normally I'm-fine-must-have-been-something-you-ate husband sat, white-knuckled with sweat seeping down his face and through his shirt. I don't want to alarm you, but up until recently, he had been vomit free for twenty-two years. Quite a streak if you ask me.

I'm proud to say neither of us saw our breakfast again, not true for some of our fellow passengers, but the experience inspired such fear, we could not enjoy the day we had planned without the haunting realization of having to make the same trip in less than ten hours. In preparation, we skipped lunch depriving ourselves of eating one of our most beloved food, tacos, in a tropical paradise. Fearing the worst, we asked our tour guide if he knew of any way we could improve the return trip. Nodding with the knowledge of a sage, he said the magical words, "Sit near the engine and you'll be fine."

Total. Game. Changer. 

We watched the now familiar scene played out in the cabin in front of us as people turned a sickly green. Delighted with our new knowledge, my husband and I promptly headed to have a nice full dinner later that evening.

Sadly, the exact same ferry blew up years later. Thankfully, the disaster wasn't worse. 

Happy travels everyone! May these tips serve you well if you ever find yourself on a ferry or reading about one in my books. 

Thanks for sailing with me!
Kathryn