Port of Montreal

Sept. 30 / 08

Day one on the boat – boarding procedures.

I was dropped off in the morning by my host at a metro station in Montreal, and spent the morning getting any last-minute items I figured I would need for the rest of the trip, including an electric-outlet converter for European sockets, which I should have gotten ages ago anyway. As well, I picked up some anti-nausea pills, just in case.

I went for a solo vegetarian lunch at L’Escalier, then, when the time was right, I worked my way toward the port for boarding. The whole day I’ve been lugging around this big backpack. Again, it’s neat to think that on my back I hold all my worldly possessions for the next three months. There’s something very appealing about this lifestyle – very freeing. More on that as it arises.

I get to the port at 2 p.m. With all the tall gates, hard hats and security posts, everywhere I go, I feel like I really shouldn’t be there. I approach one security gate, which I had to cross a few truck lanes to get to (don’t get the wrong idea though; the traffic was being controlled by a series of gates and lights, so there was no danger), and tell the guard that I’m a passenger. He checks my passport and radios for a shuttle to come pick me up. I snap some photos while I’m waiting, and the guard tells me it’s not allowed in the port. So for arbitrarily silly rules, it appears that ship ports are equally matched with airports. No matter. The shuttle takes me right up to the boat, past the massive crates and cranes of the port, and I board.

The Picture They Don't Want You to See!

I get shown to my room as soon as I sign in, and I don’t want to get in anybody’s way while the crew shows up, so I stay in my room for the next few hours. Oh, and I’m the only passenger.

After waiting a sufficient period, I head down to the office (where I checked in), grab a bite to eat, as prepared by the cook, and start talking to the Safety officer about safety on the ship. There’s a lot of rules, but it’s all for my safety – I remind you all that as I type this there is a giant frigging crane dropping crates that weigh who-knows-how-much on the cargo bay of the ship. I get the impression that once we depart tomorrow, I’ll have a bit more freedom. For the moment, I’m limited to the accommodation section, which is seven floors of fun, fun, fun*.

*Note: fun is spread over so many floors that the amount of fun per floor is actually quite limited.

Everyone’s very friendly, and Safety is an open book about shipping and sea travel.

Well, it’s night time, and we leave early in the morning, so there’s not much more I can do tonight but wait. Whee!