Another edition of "Perks of Being on a Dickinson Program!" today. This time? We get to go on fun, all-day field trips to the sea!!! How lucky were we that we got to see the coast?? Completely different environment (literally) and feeling than in Norwich, even though we only drove about two hours to get there.
We left early (like woke up at 7:30 in the morning on a Sunday early) so that we would be on time for our boat tour-because SEALS!! I did some napping and reading for class on the way up, and it was actually a pretty pleasant ride. We had a little breakfast action en route (thanks Perabo-she's really such a gem!) and pretty much everyone passed out at one point or another. Nothing quite like a bus full of sleepy college students.
Well, the trip was WELL worth it. The departure point was BEAUTIFUL!!! Postcard worthy shots all around. It made me feel like I was in Rhode Island which was so pleasing! Boats of all sizes all around, the smell of the sea, a nice crisp breeze….I love the coast.
These are barely even edited--the early start/nice weather certainly added to the photo-taking opportunities.
One thing I will say: whenever we are doing something kind of off-site as a Dickinson group, it is always so much colder than we think it is going to be!!! (think: globe monsoon.) I obviously dressed for the occasion in a bunch of layers, but even that wasn't sufficient while we were on the boat-luckily it was a fairly small zodiac sort of boat, so body heat solutions for all of us. Here everyone is huddling before we got on the boat:
Walking over to the dock we left from…looks like some kind of procession, HA! But the sky…c'mon. Blakney Point is a lovely, lovely place.
Then for the real reason we were there: SEALS! Yes, we did drive two hours to go on a seal-watching tour. And was it rewarded? YUP. So many flubby, bouncy, happy seals all over the place. So what if it started raining in the middle of the tour and we had to turn back? The seals were just so fun to watch, and we were able to get pretty close to "observe them" (very scientific purposes, of course).
Tips for going to the sea: wear appropriate footwear. Obviously Haley, Rachel and I donned our Hunters, to which we got quite the rise out of the boat captain. I believe his words were, "Crickey, they sells Hunter boots in America??" Like where are you actually from sir…? But nonetheless, a perfect shoe choice, liners and all. At least our feet were cozy!
After the seals and lots of scenic photos, we hopped back on the bus and drove to Great Yarmouth. Now, none of us really knew too much about GY, but we had the whole rest of the day to spend there. Yay for free time! Started off exploring a bit along the pier (I don't think I've ever been to a pier like this before!) so that was nice to see and experience. Quite picturesque, once again. (It seems like everywhere I go there is a perfect photo-opp!!!)
We went to lunch and walked around the town-area a bit, stopping into a few stores here and there to check out the scene. Nothing super exciting, but there was a store called "tickles" and I just found that so hilarious and could not stop laughing. We went in, of course.
After walking around uptown (I sound like such a New Yorker, good lord..) we went back over to the beach area to meet up with the rest of the class. We still had a loooong time until we were heading back to UEA so we just sauntered along for a bit. Checked out some rocks and shells, tested out the water (everyone thought I as so brave, I was just embracing my Albright family traits really) and took some more scenic candids and such.
Hay sustainability! Such a cool shot of the wind turbines across the water.
View of the pier/park area from across the beach. We didn't go on any of the rides or anything because it didn't seem worth it, but looking back, it would have taken up some time and probably would have been fun to do. Oh well!
We had more than enough time after playing a few of the games on the pier (hello, tourism), so we met up with some of the class for a group shot. Also, we obviously went to Starbucks (we also got ice cream…hot and cold treats were slightly counterproductive, but we searched for the ice cream for a solid 25 minutes!)
This makes me happy….so nice to spend time and catch up with these guys. It's hard to do so now with all of our classes and flats and everything! (Also hard to find a place other than Perabo's for 29 people!)
And what would a trip to the sea be without a Theta kiting photo??? So necessary. Love these two, this one is totally getting sent to HQ with the caption "Theta's kiting the North Sea".
Such a fun, relaxing day with the group! It was a nice escape, for sure.
xx
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