I had been attending JREF's The Amazing Meeting since 2004 (TAM2). One of the movers and shakers at JREF was big into the cruise industry. He started arranging TAM-related cruises. At TAM6 (January, 2008), The Amazing Adventure 3: Galápagos was announced. I jumped on it. James "The Amazing” Randi was on board, as were many friends from the TAMs.
We assembled in Quito (as Galápagos travelers do), then proceeded to the islands and our vessel. We cruised from island to island. Our naturalist guides shuttled us to and from the islands via a set of pangas. I felt a bit rushed as we hiked the island trails, because I was carrying a camera and looking for compositions.
We had a great time. Some weather delayed my return to Sacramento. The ever-shortening summer break meant the school year started August 18 that year. The wether delay meant I missed the first two days of school. Mind you—no teacher anywhere ever misses The First Day of School. I left two days of “emergency plans” for my guest teacher, so I anticipated a potential delayed return.
Nevertheless, my principal at the time was not all pleased, and indicated an interest in docking my pay as my absence did not align with the (never-enforced) strictures of “Personal Necessity” leave per our contract. I was able to talk him off that ledge, in part by listing all the “beyond contract” work I donated to the school. If he wanted to go by the contract, we could certainly do that. But it would be to his considerable detriment.
In any case, here’s the documentary recollection of the voyage.
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