Sunday, the houseboat had to be returned by noon. We set sail back to the pier, stopping briefly on a nearby island for some final group shots.

Not much else happened at Lake Shasta. We disembarked, unpacked, and parted ways - some of us had to make it back to the city in time for other events. I slept almost the entire way.

My vacation in California actually continued for a couple more days, but I spent all of it bedridden and seeing expensive American doctors. Turns out I used the hot tub too much, and came down with “hot tub folliculitis” (I kid you not, that’s what it’s called), which annoying left a lot of scars. I also crushed my trusty digital camera, whilst groggily closing the door to a car. So the rest of the vacation really isn’t much fun to blog about. I hope my next leisure trip is more consistently enjoyable. <sigh>

Saturday began with breakfast and a pow-wow session to determine where to set sail to. We eventually settled on visiting some waterfalls.

We got a bit lost, and thinking we had arrived, landed in a small cove near another boat. We received a rather unusual welcome from the lady of the other boat, along the lines of “Where are you from?”, to which our crew replied “Santa Cruz”, whereby we promptly received “We don’t do that here! Go away, this is our spot!”.

Whilst debating whether we should stay in spite or go out of convenience, a deer showed up! It made up for the unpleasant side story, for me anyway. It sauntered around, had a drink, and unhurriedly went its way.

We eventually moved on and “dropped anchor” in a more secluded spot. We broke into pairs and individually; most of the activities involved the hot tub, playing/singing with a guitar, fishing, and just hiking around. It was a beautiful day:

Some of the Saturday activities…
Enjoying some pineapple:

Enjoying some music:

Some fishing:

The sun was bright enough to show all the spiders’ webs in the rocks, like a fine, silver mesh:

We used the barbecue for some delectable burgers with onions, peppers, etc. for lunch, then started into another round of poker. I got pushed out quite quickly, 10-15 hands in. I ventured out to the hot tub to enjoy the sun, and eventually sunset. I hopped out a bit to get a few pictures:

And Venus came out:

I was gradually joined by the others of the crew as the poker game wound down, and received some constellation tips whilst enjoying some champagne and wine. I hopped out for a bit after sunset to grab a few more night sky pictures - I particularly like the ones where I caught a shooting star:

After warming myself with the hot tub again, and two more glasses of wine, we vacated and went down to shower and change. I split a beer - and that was it for me. Whilst a game of Cranium was starting, I curled up on the couch and fell asleep. I’m grateful to the rest of the crew: they were very solicitous of my well being, after my self-indulgent alcoholic binge.

I came to just as dinner was starting (11pm). My hats off to the cooks and food buyers, we had an incredibly good BBQ meal: paprika shrimp skewers, tender chicken with BBQ sauce, corn on the cob, roasted vegetables, a delicious cold pasta… I regret that all I could do was help clean the dishes!

We then played a game called Werewolf, also known as Mafia. All I can say, this is a fun, but potentially mentally exhausting game. We played four rounds, debating endlessly, particularly in the last round and for over a half-hour in the post-game discussions. It can get pretty spirited, since it’s all about trying to get people to believe you (your demeanor, your logic). It’s a fun game, I recommend people try it at their next social event. Funny enough, we used cards to determine the roles, and I drew an Ace (for the Mafia/Werewolf role) each of the four times - about a 1 in 4 chance each round, so about a 0.4% chance in total!

After such a spirited game that went quite late, we were all very tired and turned in. I was still a bit over-energetic from the game (lying, misleading, and trying to manipulate people is very tiring!) and from the drunken stupor prior. I watched a bit of anime on my laptop before finally being able to fall asleep.

We woke up pretty early on Friday and had a hearty breakfast. Danishes, croissants, eggs, and bacon were all available in large quantities. This day became the day of poker for those of the crew who were into it.

The first round of poker:


This ended up with me and my cabin-mate being the last two standing. We decided to split the pot rather than hold up everyone else, as we both had started the strategy of hunkering down behind our chips, waiting for the ideal hand.

After such a big breakfast, it was unanimously decided to skip lunch, and go into a second round of poker. Those not playing spotted some otters swimming in the lake. I promptly abandoned my hand and scrambled out onto the rocks to get what pictures I could:

I also got this lovely shot:

The rest of the table wasn’t inclined to wait for me, so I got folded out of the pot I called on. However, I managed to outlast everyone to come in a distant second, and thus win a portion of the pot. Throughout the second game, those of us not playing (and sometimes those that were!) were watching Madagascar and Deuce Bigalow that played in the background.

We took a break after the second poker game. I eventually went out and practiced with my camera taking night shots of the stars. I really appreciated how many stars one could see so far in the wilderness, and enjoyed experimenting with my camera and tripod (amateur level both). I also discovered that the noise level at ISO 400 on my Canon S400 was really too much. The bigger pictures for the starry sky convey the details better I think:


I particularly liked the last sky picture above, because it captures both a shooting star and the remnants of sunset on the horizon. I lucked out, but it’s too bad about the noise.
This one turned out interesting, as someone in the houseboat was playing with the searchlight, wondering where I was perhaps (I was huddled outside the houseboat taking pictures; it was pitch black).

Dinner were some delicious savoury crepes made by one of the crew (a Frenchman, no less): ham and egg and cheese, peppers, etc. We watched Team America over dinner, and then I ventured out to the hot tub with some of the others to enjoy warm waters and bright stars, with a laptop playing good music in the background.

The hot tub was very relaxing, yet after we had all returned back below decks, I joined in on the third round of poker for the day. This was a particularly grueling game, going until 3-4 AM. I made many mistakes, from very basic ones early on (thinking I had a different hand) to strategic (playing directly against one person early on for big stakes on weak hands). I eventually got pushed out taking the non-paying third place, and watched #2 desperately go all-in repeatedly until she was finally caught. After such a late game, I slept very soundly.

Jet lag sparked an early waking, despite a late night chatting with my hosts. I put the time to good use, IM’ing, reading email and blogs. Breakfast at McDonald’s, then the drivers arrived, picked us up, and we jammed ourselves in with all the food, baggage, and minor furniture that were coming with us. The drive was uneventful - I had some landscape pictures, but they’re not very interesting. We arrived at Lake Shasta four hours later, using a single pitstop at a trucker gas station - which oddly enough, did not stock a single granola bar!

Here was my first look at the houseboats ready for the holiday crowd:

and our houseboat in particular:

The houseboat can best be described as a very large, floating, luxury trailer-home. There were plenty of amenities:

The room my friend and I shared:

One of the more cramped rooms near the top of the boat:

And the most unusual room of all; it looks like a regular cabinet, but open it and lo and behold:

Above deck, we had the other piloting station (there was indoors, too), a sink, small stereo (built into the island), and hot tub:

And out aft, we had the water slide:

We were the first group to arrive. The other half of the our crew were not due to arrive until late in the evening. Having the lion’s share of the food and baggage, we tucked it all into the houseboat. It was fascinating how many nooks, crannies, and fold-outs of various sorts there were!

A neighbouring boater had a pair of dogs, one of which was this adorable puppy:

With time to kill, we had a first round of poker with no money on the table, then watched March of the Penguins and Kingdom of Heaven, and then some napping. The others arrived later in the evening, having been delayed by one of them being in a car accident (thankfully no injuries). We had a round of intros, orientation, and they unpacked.

Finally, with all of us together, we started another round of poker before turning in - this time for money:

Incidentally, I did surprisingly well, being the biggest of the last three. We went very late, however, and tired players make for reckless playing. My larger pot couldn’t hold against a pair of players betting it all on cards unseen. At least I came in second.