Visitors on the Boat - Canal Boat Etiquette


We've had our first boat visitors!

Stan's sister Charlene from New Mexico, was the first.
At the end of a trip from Finland to Holland via Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
(- not exactly the usual route.)



Then - son Mikey, his Italian wife, Iris, and Baby Noah came from their home in Berlin.





At one point, we considered changing the boat's name to Noah's Ark. 
(or - some other options)
However, Iris' father - he's from Venice - nixed the idea STRONGLY.


Finally got the name of the boat painted again!

"You NEVER change the name of a boat! It's VERY bad luck!"
He should know. He's from Venice. They have lots of boats there.

So - we kept the original name.
No choice, really.

"Sorry, Noah. No Noah's Ark this time."

Then - son Erik came from Bangkok.
He's lived there for about 5 years.

He speaks great Thai.
Not as much French. 


Off to the market in Capestang via bicycle.


Erik draws for a living. We even got to do a little drawing and painting together.

And son Kilian, also living and working in Bangkok, arrived shortly afterwards.

Kilian: "Since I work online, I guess you could say I'm at the office, right?"


Our first local wine tastings in the area - with Kilian.

We never really had BOAT GUESTS before.
So we had to think about BOAT INSTRUCTIONS.

We're still winging it.
So for now, it goes something like this:

Rule 1: Regulations require that we inform guests where the life jackets are.

Well - that's pretty silly, since you can pretty much stand up in the canal.

The canals LOOK beautiful. But - they're not entirely clean, clear water...

I can see it now: 
"Man overboard!"

"Should I toss him a life jacket?"

"Nah, just tell him to stand up.
Walk to the edge of the canal.

And then take a REALLY good shower."




But: we DO make sure we use the handrail.
Especially on the canal side of the boat.

And especially after a glass or two of wine.

Yes, people fall into the canal.

Mostly, it's just embarrassing.
And smelly.

Rule 2: Shoes off inside the boat.
That's easy.




Rule 3: Toilet protocol:
This one is important.

NOTHING goes down the head (toilet) that hasn't gone through you first.
Got it?
Because: NO ONE wants to clean a blocked toilet.




Rule 4: Use power and water VERY sparingly. (We go into this in detail.)

Rule 5: Put everything back where it belongs.




A boat is too small to support a casual mess. 
It can happen quickly.




Rule 6: Close the hatch if it looks like rain.

If not, you - and your bed - will get VERY wet.


Stan - showing Noah how life on board works. Noah's got it down. So does Stan.

Rule 7: Enjoy!

Well, that doesn't seem like all that much after all.
I can't think of anything else.

ALL of our recent boat guests were GREAT.

You know? This IS a pretty cool lifestyle.


Would you like a glass of rosé with that?