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| dress rehearsal for zodiac landing |
So, the layers as instructed were 2 pair of socks, long underwear, top & bottom, jeans or trousers, flannel shirt or turtleneck sweater, a lightweight fleece jacket, scarf, earmuffs and/or hat, waterproof gloves or mittens (with or without glove liners), waterproof pants, knee-high rubber boots (one size too large, to accommodate 2 pairs and socks and tucked in pants). Pants tucked into boots, with waterproof pants outside boots and topped with ship-provided parka. Sunscreen on face (make sure you get under your chin!) and good sunglasses with a cord to keep them from being blown off. Small waterproof backpack. Walking sticks for balance.
Let's start with some practical thoughts. For most of us, the zodiac loadings and landings will require some contortionist moves that we don't ordinarily do and certainly not while wearing that many clothes! So, with flexibility in mind, here are my suggestions and what I had success with. I wore a sports-type bra for comfort and range of motion. I wore a thin pair of cotton socks first. Comfortable, roomy underpants. I preferred the silky long underwear like Cuddl Duds to the old style insulated cotton. I found both equally warm and both were about the same weight, but the silky kind were easier to move around in while the cotton texture stuck to the next layer and impeded movement. Your mileage may vary, but Clay and I both had a cotton pair and a silky high-tech pair and we both preferred the silky style better for ease of motion. I don't know what brand Clay had, but it wasn't Cuddl Duds, but that is the brand I had so I can recommend it or something like it. I pulled a pair of thick socks over the first thin pair and over the long underpants. For the next layer, I chose sweatpants instead of the recommendations. Two reasons, sweatpants are warmer and they give more which allows a better range of motion for those big steps and high leg moves I was talking about earlier. Last bottom layer is the waterproof pants. Now, I am a big fan of pockets and all my pants had pockets. It was too many pockets. It created unnecessary bulk. Once you put on the parka, you can't use any of those pant pockets anyway. If I could have gotten the sweatpants and waterproof pants without pockets, I would've. Just a tip. Clay went with jeans and he was fine with that choice as well. I believe men's jeans might be cut looser than women's jeans, so I stand by my sweat pants recommendation. On top, Clay and I both went way lighter than the suggestions and we still both got overheated and sweaty at times. I wore a thin cotton turtleneck and then the parka. Clay wore a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt and then the parka. I don't think either of us was ever too cold that way, but as I said we both did get sweaty under the parka from time to time, so I don't think either of us would suggest wearing extra layers under the parka. Keep that thing fastened up and you'll be plenty warm, if you get warm crack open some of the Velcro and zipper. Neither of us could find a way to wear a scarf with the high, Velcro-clad neck of the parka. We both wore woolly caps that covered our ears. I wore a earband also but kept it on my neck inside the parka collar except when I pulled it up to cover my lower face from the wind. We did wear sunscreen on our faces, ears and necks. (I got a small burned spot under my chin after the first outing! Don't miss any spots that the sun might reach!) We both had sunglasses that covered our regular glasses on cords to hold them if we removed them and also to keep them from blowing away. In the drugstore, when we found and tried on the sunglasses, they seemed like overkill. Mine even had vents around the edges that seemed unnecessary. They were perfect. Even in overcast, you need the extra UV protection, as well as keeping the cold and wind from sucking your eyeballs out. They did not impair our vision at all and while the cords seemed bothersome, in reality they were very helpful. The gloves were bothersome. We both spent most of our time out with only the glove liners on. Yes, they got wet but they dried quickly between zodiac trips on the clothesline. We both had 2 pairs of heavy waterproof outer gloves or mittens and we could have done with only one each. The problem is that you will want to be able to take photos and you just can't do that well in a heavy pair of insulated waterproof gloves or mittens. Clay got a real pair of men's glove liners. We did not find any small enough for me, so I used a little pair of magic gloves and they worked just fine. In fact, again the Velcro on the parka is so overwhelming that you don't want to spend a lot of money on anything knit that you will wear with it because it will just chew it up! We both used waterproof packs. I used a regular small backpack for the walking sticks (another story!) and for spare batteries and memory cards. Clay used a small stringpack that he tied in front to his life vest for his extra lenses. We both put cameras in packs when the water looked especially lively and splashy for zodiac rides! As to the walking sticks, I found a lightweight, collapsible pair and took them along. I took them out on the first landing and just found that I wasn't comfortable with them. They were just one more thing to have to handle whether in the pack or out and I left them behind after that. Now, a lot of people were using them religiously so perhaps they found them useful. But, for me, I think I did fine without them. I found them cumbersome and annoying and preferred to struggle for balance without them. As for waterproof pants, I preferred mine, but I had more trouble with them than Clay had with his. Mine had zipped vents at the elastic bottom, this meant they would go over the boots easily enough, but turning basically upside down in the Main Lounge was a nightmare. We always walked to and from the marina loading area in socks, to keep the ship clean. We were instructed to hand carry our boots, parkas, and life vests to the loading area and finish dressing there. Clay would just pull his wide pant legs up and pull on his boots and he was done. Sometimes his legs stayed down and sometimes they didn't. That drift bothered me. I was worried about water getting above and in his boot, which never happened! Mine had legs zippered with elastic bottoms to keep them securely in place and no way water could get in, but I did need Clay's help to zip them up. Otherwise, I would start out dizzy from turning upside down to get the zippers wrestled down! Both of us had just the thin kind, like golfers use, I believe. That was enough. Which leaves us, I believe with only boots. You spend a lot more time walking, hiking, standing around than you would imagine, at least we did! The good news is that we got cheap boots that had a nice warm and supportive felt foot bed and they worked fine. The bad news is that you are still slogging about in bigass boots one size too big! These are the actual boots we used. We went to Tractor Supply Company and they actually had a good range and selection to choose from. I have small feet and so we had thought it would be more of a challenge. But, we both wound up with the same boots in sizes that worked. I found that the men's rather than women's or children's sizes worked best for me because of having to get the thick socks and pants tucked inside as well. I wound up with a men's size 5 and Clay with a men's size 11. I can recommend these exact boots which I believe we paid about $24 for each pair. We did try on and see the over $100 boots and I have to say that the people wearing them did not seem to be any better off than we were. I think that covers my zodiac wear tutorial!
