Feb 29 2008

Membership Has Its Privileges

Published by at 11:16 pm under Patagonia,South America

Today we took a boat ride to view several glaciers and icebergs. When we got to the boat at the dock, our guide confidently led us past rows and rows of seats already teeming with eager tourists laden with cameras, binoculars and extra fleece. I was starting to get a little worried that all the seats were taken, when our guide opened a door at the front of the boat labeled, “The Captain’s Club”.

The Captain’s Club

Enter All Ye Who Have a VIP Badge

It seems we had arrived. Literally, at least to our seats. One of the nice things about going on a tour is that you don’t have an itemized list of the cost of each activity. If we were travelling on our own, we might have said, “VIP section? We’re not worth all that fuss. We don’t need to pay extra. Let’s just go in the regular section.” However, it was pretty sweet.

The best perk of living the high life on our all-day navigation around Lago Argentino and its surrounding glaciers was the ability to see everything. In The Captain’s Club (“TCC” from now on), we had two private decks from which we could view glaciers and icebergs for the 16 privileged people in the VIP section (Dave got some great pictures). We could also see the people who were not VIPs (commonly referred to by those in TCC as “the masses” or “steerage”) on their viewing deck below.

Glacier Cruise 1

View from TCC down onto “the masses”

As you can see, there’s not nearly enough room on these lower decks for the 150 people on the catamaran that were in steerage. I think they actually had to take turns in order to take pictures. At one point in the trip, I felt like going out on to the TCC viewing deck and singing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” to the people below.

One other perk about being in TCC was the fact that we were able to go down to the bar and get soda, coffee, tea and water for free, instead of paying (we all had badges, properly identifying us as members of TCC). However, I know some of us were quite afraid of going out amongst the masses in order to obtain our liquid refreshment – you never know who might get jealous of our higher stature and iceberg viewing position. So, it was a very good thing that we found out that we could also order drinks from an attendant in TCC named Daphne. Whew!

Half-way through the trip, one of the crew members was able to pull up a small chunk of ice from the pristine water. We all got a piece in a glass, over which Daphne poured some Scotch (don’t worry Dad – it was a blend, not a single malt, so the ice didn’t ruin it!). It was quite tasty.

Dave High Life David & Laurie High Life

Dave and Other TCC Members Living the High Life

Unfortunately, like all good things, this excursion came to an end. But it was fun while it lasted, and we got some great pictures.

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Membership Has Its Privileges”

  1. Russ Mendola says:

    Dave looks mighty regal in the TCC atmosphere. What centuy is the vintage of the “ice”. Bon voyage.

    Dad

  2. Meredith Mendola says:

    Hi Dad! They said the vintage of the ice was at least early 1700s. 🙂