Mardi Gras World Tour

Shearwater is a classic Newport-style schooner yacht, only recently recognized as a national landmark in 2009.  The vessel was built by Rice Brother Corporation in East Boothbay, Maine, back in a time when yachting was a rare combination of elegance and adventure; Rice Bros. were well known for building luxury pleasure yachts and produced some 4,000 hulls over a period of 64 years. The keel was laid down on January 4, 1929 and a news clip from the Boothbay Register reflects alongside a photograph "Tyler Hodgon at the old Tide Mill is getting out timbers for the schooner to be built at Rice’s. Vessel to be built of native white oak." Traditionally built from hand-hewn native white oak, she was the last boat to be constructed at that yard - likely due to the ensuing Great Depression brought on by the Stock Market Crash that occurred later that autumn.  East Boothbay was a small coastal town with shipbuilding being its only industry. About 40 workmen were employed for the construction of SHEARWATER. Her designer Theodore Donald Wells was born in Hudson Falls, N Y on October 22, 1875. He was a naval architect and marine engineer, a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and also the Institute of Naval Architects London. His education included post-graduate work at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He began his career as a member of the firm Herreshoff and Wells, N. Y. City in 1902. Working with Herreshoff no doubt had an influence on his designs, which bear similarities to many of the famous Herreshoff designed yachts of that time. From 1903 to 1907 he worked for Wintringham and Wells and then began practicing his profession under his own name. Mr. Wells joined the Navy Department in March 1917 and became Superintending Constructor of the Baltimore District U. S. N. Notable yachts designed and constructed under his supervision are "Viking" a 272 foot steel motor yacht built for George F. Baker in 1929 by Newport News and "Karina" a three masted schooner built for Robert E. Tod in 1932 by Staten Island Shipbuilding. Mr. Tod was a well-known offshore yachtsman as was his former yacht ‘Thistle", which competed in the Emperors Cup ocean race. SHEARWATER was launched on May 4, 1929 and photographs in the Boothbay Register reflect her graceful and elegant lines. Her first Captain, Leon Esterbrook of Edgarton, MA, arrived to take charge of the fitting out. Her owner Charles E Dunlap was a member of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Oyster Bay, NY and this became SHEARWATER’s first homeport after her completion in late September 1929. It was there in Oyster Bay that she first started to thrill those who sailed in luxury aboard her and those who were privileged to crew her on race day. Since her launching and documentation in Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts in 1929, she has had a colorful history and has been carefully maintained and restored to standards that few contemporary vessels are able to match and is truly a piece of American Maritime History. On November 7, 1942 SHEARWATER was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and became a member of The United States Coast Guard’s Coastal Picket Patrol during World War Two. She was painted gray and bore the numbers CG67004. Based at Little Creek, Virginia she patrolled the waters east of the Chesapeake Bay entrance and south towards Cape Hatteras. Her skipper during that period reflected on how they used their free time while out on submarine patrol to race against other yachts and in his own words "sailed in tandem with the schooner Lord Jim, racing in and out of port, up and down the east coast and winning." She was designed and built as a gaff rigged schooner but during this period was changed to a Marconi rig. She carries over 2,550 square feet while under full sail. A true veteran world cruiser, she first transited the Panama Canal in July 1946 and in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s completed a two and a half-year global circumnavigation. In December 1971 Mrs. John B. Thayer of Rosemont, wife of a former trustee and treasurer, donated SHEARWATER to the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Environmental Medicine. She was used by the university as a laboratory for research on physiological responses to the stresses of living and working underwater. Captained by James Shearson, she was fitted with compressors, generators, monitoring instruments and a small decompression chamber. She has participated in many Ancient Mariner and Classic yacht races in U S waters as well as racing in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand while on her circumnavigation in the early 1980’s. It is rumored she was once dismasted in the famous Newport to Bermuda race. She was last raced by the current owners in San Diego in May 1995 in the American Schooner Cup and finished second overall. She entered the yacht charter industry in 1966 whilst on the West Coast sailing to the Channel Islands and was again used to generate income to keep her shipshape while owned by the University of Pennsylvania. During the chartering industry’s infancy in the Caribbean, SHEARWATER was known as the " Queen of the Fleet". Today she continues this tradition offering the most unique sailing experience and has passed rigid Coast Guard inspections and can carry up to 49 passengers. We welcome you to join us for an excellent opportunity to experience the ambiance of a vintage sailing vessel while delighting in the splendors of The Manhattan sky-line, the Statue of Liberty or the beauty of the oceans beyond.

Your return train ticket from Paris-Caen is NOT included.  You should aim to arrive at Caen railway station by 09:00 on weekdays, 10:00 on Saturdays and 11:00 Sundays **. You will be picked up by your guide from your arrival at the MAINLINE RAILWAY STATION in Caen:  Please note that your guide will be waiting in the main hall of the Caen Railway Station.Follow the signs ‘SORTIE Place de la Gare’ to go to the main hall. Your guide will be near the ‘Point de Rencontre’ sign and will have a board marked Memorial de Caen.   You will be dropped off at the station at around 18:30 from October to March and at around 19:30 from April to September to connect with trains back to Paris.   Practical information: please wear appropriate shoes and clothes. It can be windy along the beaches and temperatures can be cool even during the summer. If you want to book a train from Paris to Caen, here is some information for you:
  Train from Paris Arrive in Caen Dropped off at Caen Station Train from Caen Arrive in Paris
           
Week 07:07 09:00 19:15 20:18 ou 20:28 22:26
           
Saturday 07:45 10:00 18:30 19:06 ou 19:11 21:18
           
Sunday 09:04 ou 09:10 11:00 19:15 19:54 21:50
 

Your return train ticket from Paris-Caen is NOT included.  You should aim to arrive at Caen railway station by 09:00 on weekdays, 10:00 on Saturdays and 11:00 Sundays **. You will be picked up by your guide from your arrival at the MAINLINE RAILWAY STATION in Caen:  Please note that your guide will be waiting in the main hall of the Caen Railway Station.Follow the signs ‘SORTIE Place de la Gare’ to go to the main hall. Your guide will be near the ‘Point de Rencontre’ sign and will have a board marked Memorial de Caen.   You will be dropped off at the station at around 18:30 from October to March and at around 19:30 from April to September to connect with trains back to Paris.   Practical information: please wear appropriate shoes and clothes. It can be windy along the beaches and temperatures can be cool even during the summer.   Sunday D-DAY TOUR information: Please note that from 28th January to 31st March and 1st October to 31st December, on Sundays the guided visit of the Memorial de Caen Museum will last 30 minutes. This is due to the fact that on Sundays during this period, the earliest train from Paris arrives at Caen around 11:00 and the departure of the guided tour of the D-DAY landing sites is at 13:00. If you want to book a train from Paris to Caen, here is some information for you:
  Train from Paris Arrive in Caen Dropped off at Caen Station Train from Caen Arrive in Paris
           
Week 07:07 09:00 19:15 20:18 ou 20:28 22:26
           
Saturday 07:45 10:00 18:30 19:06 ou 19:11 21:18
           
Sunday 09:04 ou 09:10 11:00 19:15 19:54 21:50

Participants should plan on spending 1 to 1.5 hours at Dolphins Plus from arrival to departure. Participants must understand English or bring someone that can translate in order to take part in the swim program. Participants should be comfortable in water that is 12 - 15 feet deep. Swimmers must be at least 7 years old to participate. A participating parent or guardian, age 18 or older must accompany swimmers age 7 to 9 years. Swimmers age 10 to 17 must be accompanied at the facility by a participating or non- swimming parent/ guardian age 18 or older, but can enter the water independently. Pregnant women are unable to participate in our in-water encounters. If any members of your party have special needs please contact us before completing your booking  

Get up close and personal to Manhattan's famed Macy's 4th of July fireworks spectacular, aboard a fun and casual cruise on the Hudson.  Circle Line gives you a front row seat to the brilliant display of pyrotechnics.  Premium Experience tickets include festive 4th of July menu and open beer, wine and soda bar.    

This guided tour will explain every detail about the history of Barcelona from Roman times to the medieval period while you walk through the Gothic Quarter, which has a charm all of its own with its narrow, cobbled streets, wrought-iron street lamps and buildings that comprise hidden corners you can lose yourself in. The walk begins in the plaça Sant Jaume, the seat of the local government during the Middle Ages and at the present time. Next, you'll explore the narrow streets leading to the Barcelona Cathedral, built in different artistic styles, next to the important surviving sections of the Roman walls. To end the tour, close to the Cathedral, the plaça del Rei, a unique site and the historic centre of power during the reign of the Catalan counts and monarchs. Beneath the square lie the remains of the Roman city of Barcino and the remains of the medieval city (Saló del Tinell, Capella de Santa Àgata or Mirador del Rei Martí), above it.  A route that will make you feel you have travelled back in time when you get home.