Ahoy, Matey!

I'm the finance person supporting a group of technical support people at my company. I do the annual budget, monthly forecasting, and look at the actual vs budget variances. Sometimes I get the feeling that people around me are afraid of me, or they pretend to be. They'll talk about wanting to purchase something, then look at me and whisper, "shhhh, the finance person is right over there, she can hear you." So I am always touched when they include me in recognition events. In the words of Sally Field, "You like me! You really like me!" Or is it, "We better invite the finance person because she'll see the expenses hit the general ledger." Ha ha!

Anyways, the GSC managers that I support invited me to go along with their holiday outing. It was a guided tour of the Maritime Museum of San Diego and lunch at The Fish Market, down on the Embarcadero.

It was an overcast day. Sometimes it even drizzled a little bit. But it did not dampen the spirits of our group of sailors!

Our docent Jim was a retired Navy submarine skipper, so he was incredibly knowledgeable about ships and boats and subs.


We got to tour the various levels inside the Star of India, as well as the deck.


It was simply incredible how people used to have to travel across the world like this. The Star of India used to carry immigrants to New Zealand, and the trip would take FIVE months! The food they ate was all salted and dried meat and biscuits, because it had to last five months without refrigeration. Just imagine! Ew!

More views of the Star of India.




This is the HMS Surprise, the ship that was used in the film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World". It was also used this year in the not-out-yet film "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides".




The steam-powered ferryboat Berkeley.


One of the neatest part of the tour was that we got to go into a B39 Russian submarine. This was a diesel-powered Foxtrot-class submarine used by the Russians during the cold war.


A B39 torpedo!


I'm sure I don't know the proper term for these, but this is where the torpedos go in and get shot out of the submarine.


In order to work on a submarine (or to tour it, LOL), you have to be able to fit into and go in and out of these little circular doors that separate the different compartments inside the sub. Here is Kirk demonstrating.


Beautiful view of the ships in San Diego harbor, even with overcast skies.


After the two-hour tour, we went a few blocks along the harbor to The Fish Market, where they prepared a special menu for our group.

I had the crab sandwich and key lime pie. Forgot to take photos but they were both delicious. I brought some leftover key lime pie home for Todd.

Some of my coworkers enjoying lunch.


This was probably one of the funnest and most educational work outings that I've ever been to!