Mary: The Dial Up

November 18th, 2008:

I had been hoping to spend a little time in Guam upon our arrival, but the Dial Up was waiting for us to board before beginning their voyage back to Japan, so all we saw of the tiny island was a small section of the port as we sprinted toward the other end of the docks, our luggage careening wildly behind us as we pulled it along.

The Dial Up was a small fishing and cargo boat, definitely in the "boat" and not "ship" category, with only a three-man crew. We were hastily but very courteously welcomed aboard by Captain Maeda, whom I had spoken with to book our passage- a middle-aged, paunchy man with sunken eyes and a resigned but benign demeanor. The Captain spoke English quite well, and after we'd launched he took great pains to make certain we were comfortable in our cramped, but exquisitely clean quarters.

His First Mate Mochizuki was a young, skinny man not more than twenty years old, a professional, business-like fellow who trailed after the Captain and studied his every move as he went about his work.

Finally there was Riku, a short, ancient, shirtless man with only a single tooth who grinned and bowed to everyone else on board so often and rapidly I thought he would throw his back out before we hit land.

In all, despite the language barrier and our cabin being half the size of the one on the Reliant, we felt far more at ease on the tiny boat. While the crew on the Reliant had been polite, their manner made it clear that they were a cargo ship first and a cruise line a distant second. Meanwhile, in no time at all Josh and Riku had bonded over beer and dominoes, while the Captain made me feel more than welcome at the helm with him discussing world events.

Even when First Mate Mochizuki informed us that there appeared to be some storm activity brewing between us and Japan, we didn't worry about it overmuch, putting ourselves in the affable, capable hands of the crew. Besides, with how Josh and I were feeling in general it was difficult to work up bad feelings about anything at that point.

In all, while the voyage on the Reliant had felt like business (with the exception of the final day, of course), the Dial Up felt more like a vacation, and our first day had been nothing short of a delight.