It's done!

I write to you all from a beautifully finished apartment that I don't have to work on any longer, the weather is cool, just a sprinkle this morning to cool things off, and with a tummy full of ice-cream! The first trip of the summer was amazing! The weather was hot and sunny everyday, with the exception of some overcast cloudson day 7 (I figure this is only because Rebekah and I jinxed it all by deciding a few weeks ago that we would wear skirts on day 7 - boat Sunday). We had a wonderful group of trainees onboard, many of which had never been on a SALTS vessel before. It was really awesome being able to experience things I've done so many times with those who never had. My watch (Port Watch) headed up by myself and the hilarious Mark Erhardt was a blast. Mark took over a lot for me which was nice, although I have to admit, that when you are used to doing it all yourself, it is hard to give up the control sometimes.... I told the kids I was all about "making the memories" and that this was the reason that our dory always seemed to be on the brink of sinking and also why whenever we went ashore we took "the long way." (we actually only got lost - sort of - twice) On the note of dory rides... usually the kids get better at rowing during the trip, however my watch's competency seemed to decrease drastically with our last dory ride filling the dory up to a record high; although I still haven't beat the record Marquesas underwater row!