Recollections: The Sea and me (part 2 of 3)

This is a continuation of my post of 4 December, 2010,when I talked about my fascination for the sea and how it started. I had decided that I would have a career on the sea. I sent a letter to the French Navy, while in high school, asking how I could best prepare myself academically to join the Navy. Their response was that I could not join for service on ship, only as a nurse in a Navy hospital, on land. I was totally devastated.

Old French Navy Poster (Join the Navy)

My father said that I should finish my studies successfully and get married. My mother said that I should save my money and travel by sea or air by myself and that I did not need the Navy. This is what I did. When I had saved enough for a passage to the USA, I left for New York on a ship. I had obtained a “green card” so I could work to afford any future trip and to return home to Paris.

Postcard of the T/S Hanseatic, the ship I took to go to New York in 1961

I’ll talk more about my coming to the USA in a future post since this one is more about the sea. I lived in San Francisco for many years where I could be near the sea. I went back to France several times and often would first stop in London then take the ferry to France. I also would go to Mers-les-Bains in Normandy with my parents for a few days.

In 1967 I was married, in San Francisco, but whenever I had a chance I would still go to the sea. Below is a ferry to cross to Catalina Island from Los Angeles, California.

photo of ferry to Catalina Island, California, with my old camera

When we moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I would visit my French friend in New York and somehow get close to the water and look at ships.

Vintage postcard of New York harbor with ferry and ship, circa 1911

The ship touring Manhattan Island was not a long voyage, but it was still being on board a ship.

Click on picture to enlarge

When my father passed away in 1974 I tried to visit my mother at least once every other year. I would also try to go on little side trips, and often these included being close to the sea, like visiting my Armenian cousins in Egypt.

On the Nile, near Luxor, Egypt

During the summers with our little daughters we would spend some time by the sea, either in Savannah, on one of the Golden Isles of Georgia or in Florida.

On an south Atlantic Ocean beach, circa 1975

When my mother started to be ill, I would go and visit her twice a year, in the spring and the fall. Sometimes I had extra compensation time from work and would be able to also go to Paris for several days during the Christmas vacation. As a side trip once I visited my Dubai friends in December and I asked them to take me close to the sea.

By a boat in Dubai, December 1988 or 89

In the mid 1990s my husband, daughter and I went on the ferry crossing the St Lawrence River from Rivière du Loup to St. Siméon, Québec, in Canada. It was not a large ship, but it was still being on water. Later we also took the ferries going to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, from Vancouver and also from Seattle (we went to Victoria 3 different times.)

Ferry crossing the St Lawrence River (photo courtesy Great Lakes and Seaway Shipping) and my (bad) picture of the clipper ferry in Seattle going to Vancouver Island.

Another time, after visiting my mother in Paris, I took a side trip to Thailand. In the picture below I look “pleased as punch” to be riding in this smooth boat in Bangkok, Thailand.

In Thailand, 1991

Going on a ferry was also a treat. In 1996 on yet another side trip to Africa I took the ferry from Dakar to the Island of Gorée in Sénégal. Below is the picture I snapped from a restaurant, looking toward the ferry.

Photo of the ferry to the island of Gorée in Sénégal (from my old camera)

A few hours from Dakar there were more boats to be seen. The Pink Lake of Retba in Sénégal is shallow and has such a high content of salt that it appears pink.

Pink Lake in Sénégal, Africa (from my old camera)

While in Luang Prabang, Laos, my daughter and I took a small boat on the Mekong River.

Daughter on the Mekong River, Laos (taken with my old camera)

We toured the Tam Ting Caves, which means “Cave of a thousand Buddhas.” It was an extraordinary journey.

View inside the Cave of a thousand Buddhas, Laos (photo courtesy Asia Explorers)

When we visited our other daughter, in Long Beach, California, she invited my husband and I for a Father’s Day Brunch on the Queen Mary, which is birthed right there. It was an elegant meal, with many gourmet dishes.

Father’s Day on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Ca., 2003

The following year we went back for the Christmas Day brunch and it was also very special. Touring this large ship made me so homesick for a real voyage at sea. I told my husband that when I retired we would take a cruise. He was not very enthusiastic. He feared that it would be too crowded and not much fun. Life is strange sometimes - I thought that I would have a career with the sea, and ironically I worked for 26 years for an aircraft manufacturing company. So indeed when I retired it was time to go on a sea voyage. This is getting long again, so I’ll finish in my next post.

Postcard of the Queen Mary, now birthed in Long Beach, California

The Sea Spirit

I smile o'er the wrinkled blue¬
Lo! the sea is fair,
Smooth as the flow of a maiden's hair;
And the welkin's light shines through
Into mid-sea caverns of beryl hue,
And the little waves laugh and the mermaids sing,
And the sea is a beautiful, sinuous thing!

- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian, 1874-1942


Painting by Alfred Thompson Bricher, American, 1837-1908

Note: Top picture is also by Alfred Thompson Bricher entitled Low Tide