Friday, April 2, 2010
Living on a "Tourist Attraction"
Go ahead and ask why the ships are black - everybody does. They are black because in Columbus' day, coal tar was used at a preservative on the wood. These are painted black to give the same appearance as the originals.
In the last two days we have had about 2600 visitors - about 150 per hour. The crews' job is to welcome visitors, answer questions, give information about Columbus, his voyages, his ships, the building of the replicas, and be generally hospitible - the latter, of course, being the most difficult for me.
And I have learned more about the above subjects that I ever new existed. It is fun, and I enjoy it, but it is also tiring to do for nine hours every day. At some point I will lead guided tours, usually children, but I am not going to do that yet.
Kinda looking forward to getting underway on Tuesday early to head up to Ft. Myers. Hopefully the winds will cooperate and we can sail. If not, we motor.
The pictures are a little dark, but I waited until all the visitors had left, so it was later in the day. Maybe some better one next time, maybe even some of us under sail.