Showering in Rough Seas

We've been on many cruises. Most of them have been mainstream cruises like with Princess or Holland America Line. We've also been on some smaller boats, with not more than 100 passengers.

The boat we were on in the Galapagos was the smallest we've ever sailed on, with 16 passengers. During our week on her, we traversed some very rough water.

Doing things like taking a shower was a real interesting experience. To keep from falling, we'd put our back into a corner and then plant our feet out in front of us, in a V shape, firmly pushing ourselves into the corner.

Next we'd put one hand on the outside edge of the shower stall to keep from falling foward. That left one arm for washing. Have you tried to shampoo your hair with one hand? Not easy. Wedged in the corner, we'd lean over slightly to wet hair. Then we washed as well as possible with one hand, leaned over slightly again to rinse hair, washed a few vital parts, then got out of the shower.

Drying was not much easier. It's hard to dry your back when you need to wedge it against a bathroom wall to stay upright.