Wow, that is one of the moring boring titles that I have posted in a while. I am sorry to all of you who were expecting me to be on the blog train... I would have, except that Papua Nwe Guinea has a severe lack of interent possibilities...or at least affordable ones. I am currently at the university of the divine word where I am able to log on and hopefully fill you guys in a little. Lets just say I am very greatful for Bonice's log at the salts website!
This leg has been amazing. I can't even describe it. I was so excited to be back offshore again and this leg has not let me down in any way. Since you heard from me last I have climbed volcanoes, snorkelled, scuba dived, raced hermit crabs on deserted islands, helped build a dugout canoe, danced, ate, painted, and met a lot of amazing people.
A story of interest that may not have been fully fleshed out in the ships log is the story of Houdinin Sylvester, our 38th crew member. At our first port of call in the Solomons, a town called Honiara, we aquired a an extra friend onboard. Our friend remained nameless for along time until we decided that Houdini was appropriate. He is rather small and black, and rather cheeky, and likes to eat the food and wheat grain that the cooks store under the bunks. He gained the named Houdini after impressing us all with his prestige at the art of dissapearing. We cornered him in the head one night and when we opened the dooir once we had deckbrush and bucket in hand, he had gone! We cornered him in the stern one night and before our very eyes he up and disapeared! To our best guesses up the main sheet and along the main boom back to whence he came... he likes to wake us up by running across our backs, he especially likes one mate by the name of Antony, he gets an exceptional spring off of his shoulders. He was slowly turning into legend, we even wondered if he left us to live with his friends who run rampant the dock here in Madang...but last nights sighting has left us with no doubts that the rat is still onboard.
I only have five minutes left, so I will say goodbye for now, and send my love to everyone!
I have high hopes that next leg I will be able to communicate a little more.
Thanks to everyone who has e-mailed and/wrote, it means the world...even if the post system in PNG has places to go...
I look forward to taking over from Karen for this leg, and will turn from a faux-W.O into a she-W.O.
Love you all!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Friday, November 02, 2007
Blue Water, Black Magic and Green Blood
Wow. Vanuatu is fantastic and considering it was the country I wanted to visit more than any other and therefore had the highest expectations of, I am definatly enthralled with this country and wish we could have spent more time there.
My first adventure was in Port Villa on the island of Efate. The city itself was not very exciting. Noting all the duty free shops on the main street (all selling the same thing of course) you could tell it was very geared towards the cruise ships that came into town. I did however manage to entertain myself. I had never before riden a jetski, so when I saw the sign advertizing rentals I took advantage of a way to escape the heat and monotony of town and feel the cool ocean breeze once again. Loren, the exective director of SALTS, was on the boat with us for the first two weeks of this leg and the two of us rented a 2 stroke jetski and went bombing around the harbour. It was hilarious. We both had different driving styles. I liked to go fast and run straight over wakes of other boats (but usually chickened out and slowed down at the last second). Loren liked the fast turns and I was whipped off the back, twice! But both times managed to hold onto my sunglasses and chaco flops. I never did get him back....
Next island was Ambrym. This was the most interesting place for me. Aside from all the things one can read about in the log (salts.ca) I had a very interesting chat with an aussie girl named Ally who was living there working on a council in charge of 12 villages and teaching the local women to take over. This is a very radical concept considering it is very traditionally patriarchal, but they wre voted in, and so far less corruption, although Ally didn't seem to think a lot of progress had been made otherwise. I was fascinated by the culture though and all the "kastom" (custom) that prevailed their lives, right down to who could sit higher than who (male versus female). Ally's experience was definately a rich one, but one could liver their for years and not understand what was going on. The villages are very steeped in black magic and to a degree it runs their lives. Ally was told not to hang her washing out over night in case someone came and put magic on her shirt. She said she had seen things there that she can't explain. It was kind of eery, but at the same time so fascinating. We talked for a while. I think it was nice for her too to have "westerners" to talk to as well. She had may stories to share and was thrilled to be able to hang out for a bit. She even participated in an impromptu mug-up on the beach after a pig roast.
The last place we visited in Vanuatu was Louganville, on Espirito Santu. I made an amazing dive here on the President Coolidge, one of the best and most acessible wrecks in the world to dive on. It was definately the most technical dive I have ever made. I was fully inside the wreck (it was 650feet long) and could only see in some rooms with the aid of a light. We went down to kiss "The Lady" who was a portrait/frieze on the wall in the dining room, saw toilets still intact, although on what appeared to be the roof because of the orientation of the ship, and went into the chain locker as well. Also I got cut, not immediately interesting, but what I found fascinating, was the fact that because you lose colour as you go deeper in the water my blood was bright algea green! Red is one of the first colours that you lost as you descend, so while if I shone my light on my arm the blood was red, to just look at it plainly it was green. strage. luckily too, the cut has healed nicely and not got infected, which seems to happen to easily in tropical climates, especially when dealing with coral.
The passage over to the Solomons will be remembered by all because of the 6 meals of fish we ate. We caught a 8 foot marlin, and while we tried to release it, damaged it too much, so were forced to take it onboard and eat it. Marlin, is okay, not the most amazing fish ever, a little tough, but the resident fisherman Chase and Scott were able to be quite creative with ways to cook this fish (which I'm sure the cooks Gillian and Katie welcomed with open arms) We had fish steaks, fish sausages, fish nuggets, fish burgers, and fish cakes. All very cook, but when we caught another similar sized marlin the day we finished the first one, everyone was keen to let it go.
My first adventure was in Port Villa on the island of Efate. The city itself was not very exciting. Noting all the duty free shops on the main street (all selling the same thing of course) you could tell it was very geared towards the cruise ships that came into town. I did however manage to entertain myself. I had never before riden a jetski, so when I saw the sign advertizing rentals I took advantage of a way to escape the heat and monotony of town and feel the cool ocean breeze once again. Loren, the exective director of SALTS, was on the boat with us for the first two weeks of this leg and the two of us rented a 2 stroke jetski and went bombing around the harbour. It was hilarious. We both had different driving styles. I liked to go fast and run straight over wakes of other boats (but usually chickened out and slowed down at the last second). Loren liked the fast turns and I was whipped off the back, twice! But both times managed to hold onto my sunglasses and chaco flops. I never did get him back....
Next island was Ambrym. This was the most interesting place for me. Aside from all the things one can read about in the log (salts.ca) I had a very interesting chat with an aussie girl named Ally who was living there working on a council in charge of 12 villages and teaching the local women to take over. This is a very radical concept considering it is very traditionally patriarchal, but they wre voted in, and so far less corruption, although Ally didn't seem to think a lot of progress had been made otherwise. I was fascinated by the culture though and all the "kastom" (custom) that prevailed their lives, right down to who could sit higher than who (male versus female). Ally's experience was definately a rich one, but one could liver their for years and not understand what was going on. The villages are very steeped in black magic and to a degree it runs their lives. Ally was told not to hang her washing out over night in case someone came and put magic on her shirt. She said she had seen things there that she can't explain. It was kind of eery, but at the same time so fascinating. We talked for a while. I think it was nice for her too to have "westerners" to talk to as well. She had may stories to share and was thrilled to be able to hang out for a bit. She even participated in an impromptu mug-up on the beach after a pig roast.
The last place we visited in Vanuatu was Louganville, on Espirito Santu. I made an amazing dive here on the President Coolidge, one of the best and most acessible wrecks in the world to dive on. It was definately the most technical dive I have ever made. I was fully inside the wreck (it was 650feet long) and could only see in some rooms with the aid of a light. We went down to kiss "The Lady" who was a portrait/frieze on the wall in the dining room, saw toilets still intact, although on what appeared to be the roof because of the orientation of the ship, and went into the chain locker as well. Also I got cut, not immediately interesting, but what I found fascinating, was the fact that because you lose colour as you go deeper in the water my blood was bright algea green! Red is one of the first colours that you lost as you descend, so while if I shone my light on my arm the blood was red, to just look at it plainly it was green. strage. luckily too, the cut has healed nicely and not got infected, which seems to happen to easily in tropical climates, especially when dealing with coral.
The passage over to the Solomons will be remembered by all because of the 6 meals of fish we ate. We caught a 8 foot marlin, and while we tried to release it, damaged it too much, so were forced to take it onboard and eat it. Marlin, is okay, not the most amazing fish ever, a little tough, but the resident fisherman Chase and Scott were able to be quite creative with ways to cook this fish (which I'm sure the cooks Gillian and Katie welcomed with open arms) We had fish steaks, fish sausages, fish nuggets, fish burgers, and fish cakes. All very cook, but when we caught another similar sized marlin the day we finished the first one, everyone was keen to let it go.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Pictures
I've also uploaded some pics to the web check out
Lautoka & Waya, Fiji
*sorry the quality doesn't seem to be that great on the enlargements...I'm working on it.
Lautoka & Waya, Fiji
*sorry the quality doesn't seem to be that great on the enlargements...I'm working on it.
The International Language of Dance
One thing I love about being offshore is being able to experience culture. There are a few great things about travelling on the boat that make these experiences all the richer. One is that we are able to get to some more remote locations than the average "parachute" tourist, another is that we are able to bring our home with us, and a third is that we are a whole group of young people.
After leaving Lautoka we sailed over to another island, still part of Fiji, called Waya. We brought Kava to the cheif and we warmly welcomed into their village. It was a very traditionaal Fijian village and a mother named, Mila, gave us a tour of their village and introduced us to the "old man" (chief) and "old woman" (matriarch) and then a local boy, Sie, led us on a hike up the mountain. We found out later that we were the first foreigners to ever climb all the way to the top! We were also suprised to hear that we were the first boat to come to island in least 20 years and definately the only boat full of young people who wanted to spend time sharing with them.
We rowed some of them back to the boat for a tour and to play on our rope swing and were invited back that evening because they wanted to dance for us. After dinner we rowed the dories back in the dark and they led us over to a low cement porch covered by mats overhung by corrugated tin roof, in front of a field where they would dance for us. Some of the local boys performed a knife dance, the warrier/fertility dance, the flame dance, and a fire dance. It was a hilarious. You could definately tell they were having fun with it, adding in some impromptu and less than authentic moves... it was all fantastic though! The fire dancing was the most awe inspiring. They were whipping around sticks with flames on the ends of them (kind of like the ones jugglers use) and doing all sorts of pyramids and tricks. The most amazing was when they balanced the flamming sticks on the bottoms of their feet. They were laying on the ground holding balls of fire on the arches of their feet!!!
The next part was possible even more hilarious.
They asked us to dance for them.
They had everyone stand up and tought us the "Bula Dance" definately some form of the Fijian Macarena, and then we did a sort of congo line which included a half squat, reaching between your legs to grab the persons hand behind and infront of you and then a jump... all the while the locals laughing hysterically and yelling at us to "not touch the coconuts".... slightly offside, but we were happy to make their day.
After this we had a kava ceremony and we brought some instruments on land and Tavish and Jose performed a drum duo and we all had a little impromptu mug-up with them.
All in all a very memorable night and a fantastic way to start of the leg.
We are now unfortunatly back in Lautoka waiting for fuel and a part to be made correctly for us, but tomorrow we will be on our way to Vanuatu.
After leaving Lautoka we sailed over to another island, still part of Fiji, called Waya. We brought Kava to the cheif and we warmly welcomed into their village. It was a very traditionaal Fijian village and a mother named, Mila, gave us a tour of their village and introduced us to the "old man" (chief) and "old woman" (matriarch) and then a local boy, Sie, led us on a hike up the mountain. We found out later that we were the first foreigners to ever climb all the way to the top! We were also suprised to hear that we were the first boat to come to island in least 20 years and definately the only boat full of young people who wanted to spend time sharing with them.
We rowed some of them back to the boat for a tour and to play on our rope swing and were invited back that evening because they wanted to dance for us. After dinner we rowed the dories back in the dark and they led us over to a low cement porch covered by mats overhung by corrugated tin roof, in front of a field where they would dance for us. Some of the local boys performed a knife dance, the warrier/fertility dance, the flame dance, and a fire dance. It was a hilarious. You could definately tell they were having fun with it, adding in some impromptu and less than authentic moves... it was all fantastic though! The fire dancing was the most awe inspiring. They were whipping around sticks with flames on the ends of them (kind of like the ones jugglers use) and doing all sorts of pyramids and tricks. The most amazing was when they balanced the flamming sticks on the bottoms of their feet. They were laying on the ground holding balls of fire on the arches of their feet!!!
The next part was possible even more hilarious.
They asked us to dance for them.
They had everyone stand up and tought us the "Bula Dance" definately some form of the Fijian Macarena, and then we did a sort of congo line which included a half squat, reaching between your legs to grab the persons hand behind and infront of you and then a jump... all the while the locals laughing hysterically and yelling at us to "not touch the coconuts".... slightly offside, but we were happy to make their day.
After this we had a kava ceremony and we brought some instruments on land and Tavish and Jose performed a drum duo and we all had a little impromptu mug-up with them.
All in all a very memorable night and a fantastic way to start of the leg.
We are now unfortunatly back in Lautoka waiting for fuel and a part to be made correctly for us, but tomorrow we will be on our way to Vanuatu.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Upon Arrival
After spending about 24 hours actual time and 48 hours PST I have arrrived in Fiji and sweated... a lot. It's a beautiful country, gorgeous and green and I have been enjoying the lack of ties I feel to technology. Upon arrival I was immediately whisked away by a driver from the lodge where I was to meet up with the rest of the crew during their break between legs on the boat. Safari Lodge was the very cliche of beach bum couple from Australia who just want to spend the rest of their lives windsurfing and kiteboarding and playing in the sun, so why not open a resort and teach other people to do it too? at least we'll always have company. It was a lot of fun and I had a blast giving my best on the windsurfing board and lounging around in the incredibly comfortable hammocks.
I am however very glad to be back on the Pacific Grace once again. After spending a year on the Swift the first thing I noticed was how BIG the Grace felt and then how dry she looked compared to the glossy varnish of the Swift. The heat down here, while making us all sweat profusely has dried all moisture out of the wood. Never-the-less she still looks grand and striking against here background of turqoise blue sees and jagged island chains.
We have spent a total of one day together so far and already this group seems a promising one. They all have high expectations for the leg and we are going to do our best to follow through. My favourite part of offshore is simply the amount of time you have with everyone and the next 76 days should be amazing to watch and take part in.
We are planning on leaving Fiji tomorrow for the Yasawa Group and then back here to Loutoka to clear out of customs before heading off to Vanuatu.
I am however very glad to be back on the Pacific Grace once again. After spending a year on the Swift the first thing I noticed was how BIG the Grace felt and then how dry she looked compared to the glossy varnish of the Swift. The heat down here, while making us all sweat profusely has dried all moisture out of the wood. Never-the-less she still looks grand and striking against here background of turqoise blue sees and jagged island chains.
We have spent a total of one day together so far and already this group seems a promising one. They all have high expectations for the leg and we are going to do our best to follow through. My favourite part of offshore is simply the amount of time you have with everyone and the next 76 days should be amazing to watch and take part in.
We are planning on leaving Fiji tomorrow for the Yasawa Group and then back here to Loutoka to clear out of customs before heading off to Vanuatu.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Last Trip, time to pack
Well thats is it. It's really hard to believe that I am finished another season, a third season! and that I won't be going out on the boat again next week...or at least not on the Swift. This weekend is proving to be busy and expensive as I fill malaria prescriptions and buy all the other odds and ends that will be easier to get in Canada. I am really excited to go. I have been looking forward to this for a long time, but this season has been so amazing as well and I will be sad to leave this crew, that I have gotten to know so well and love so much, behind. I will also admit that I am nervous about coming into a community that has been established already and trying to find my place in a role that I have never played with SALTS.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Gone in Ten, Nine, Eight....
Hi Everyone.
I'm off in 10 days, crazy! Anyways, I'm packing up my apartment today so I thought I'd send out the addresses of the Port Agents while I still have my computer with me. So just in case anyone wants to send me mail (*wink *wink It's so special to get mail when you arrive in port!) well now you have that ability! Make sure my name and Pacific Grace appear on the outside somewhere to make sure it gets to me. Don't forget to send me your info if you want to start collecting exotic stamps. So there you go, love you all.
Papua New Guinea: send by November 1
Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O D&S Seko Ltd.
PO Box 993 Madang
Papua New Guinea
China: send by December 9
Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O Penavico Shanghai Pudong Co., Ltd.
5/F.,No.175 (Wang Jiao Plaza), Yan An Road
Shanghai 200002
P.R. China
Japan: Send by February 19
Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O Waldron Norton Lilly Intl Osaka (Branch) Heisei Shipping Angencies Ltd.
Wakasugi Grand Bldg 3F
5-25 Tenjinbanshi 2-Chrome
Japan
Hawaii: send by April 22
Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O Waldron Norton Lilly Intl
521 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite 255
Honolulu, Hawaii
96825 USA
--
Take Care,
Sarah.
~Sing, Dance, Floss, Travel
I'm off in 10 days, crazy! Anyways, I'm packing up my apartment today so I thought I'd send out the addresses of the Port Agents while I still have my computer with me. So just in case anyone wants to send me mail (*wink *wink It's so special to get mail when you arrive in port!) well now you have that ability! Make sure my name and Pacific Grace appear on the outside somewhere to make sure it gets to me. Don't forget to send me your info if you want to start collecting exotic stamps. So there you go, love you all.
Papua New Guinea: send by November 1
Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O D&S Seko Ltd.
PO Box 993 Madang
Papua New Guinea
China: send by December 9
Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O Penavico Shanghai Pudong Co., Ltd.
5/F.,No.175 (Wang Jiao Plaza), Yan An Road
Shanghai 200002
P.R. China
Japan: Send by February 19
Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O Waldron Norton Lilly Intl Osaka (Branch) Heisei Shipping Angencies Ltd.
Wakasugi Grand Bldg 3F
5-25 Tenjinbanshi 2-Chrome
Japan
Hawaii: send by April 22
Sarah Brizan, Pacific Grace
C/O Waldron Norton Lilly Intl
521 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite 255
Honolulu, Hawaii
96825 USA
--
Take Care,
Sarah.
~Sing, Dance, Floss, Travel
Monday, September 24, 2007
Under the Knife
Although possibly, more appropriately titled under the q-tip perhaps.... turns out that my ear drum wasn't ruptured after all but that I had wax melted onto it, hence the pain. In the end I had to go into day surgery to have it removed and after fasting and not drinking all day yesterday and not being able to go in I was glad to receive a spot this afternoon. All went well, but they ended up having to take off a layer of my ear drum as well so besides the fact that I'm still doped up feeling my ear is possible more tender and sore than it was before. The good news is that it should heal up in a couple days and then off to Fiji, no problems.
Oh and I'll be out on the boat this week, but have been promised as much as I need to recover (albeit on the boat)...should be okay though, my crew loves me.
Oh and I'll be out on the boat this week, but have been promised as much as I need to recover (albeit on the boat)...should be okay though, my crew loves me.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Update
Now that title seems a little redundant as this is a blog, and what else am I going to do but update....
But I mean update on my ear, which still has not healed.
I went to another doctor who said the same thing as the last one, its just needs some time. I want to believe them, but I have this sinking suspicion that it needs more than time. Hasn't there been enough time elapsed already? It's been 10 days since I tore a hole in my ear drum and the pain seems to be increasing, arrrraaaaarrrrrgh!
Anyways, hopefully the T3's will help, now that I have actually accepted a prescription for them.
Cross my fingers and pray.
But I mean update on my ear, which still has not healed.
I went to another doctor who said the same thing as the last one, its just needs some time. I want to believe them, but I have this sinking suspicion that it needs more than time. Hasn't there been enough time elapsed already? It's been 10 days since I tore a hole in my ear drum and the pain seems to be increasing, arrrraaaaarrrrrgh!
Anyways, hopefully the T3's will help, now that I have actually accepted a prescription for them.
Cross my fingers and pray.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Back to School
Well I'm not back to school, but back to doing school trips which make up the majority of my year. I was thrilled to have a chance to visit with a good friend and past coworker, Rebekah, in between the break of summer and fall trips. She is an amazing girl, with such servants heart.
I was excited to sail with my old highschool for the first trip this Septmeber. College Heights is always a trip looked forward to by the crew and a really good transition trip from summer trips, where there are multi ages and no one knows eachother before hand, to school trips, where its a class that has been going to school together for a while. College Heights brings multi age student who may or may not know eachother but have fundraised together for a year before hand to get there. Going from a ten day to a five day feels so short, so the extra day with this group was great to have.
I usually feel like the longer a trainee spends on the boat the more they understand the routine, the more they learn and the more chance I have of getting to know them even just a little. Most schools come for five days and the difference between school trips and summer trips in terms of growth, learning, and understanding are huge. This is another reason that I am so excited to have the chance to go offshore again. Having the oppotunity to spend months on the bo at is so incredible. I am excited for the immeasurable amount of potential it brings.
On a completely different note... I ruptured my ear drum! Warning: No one should ever candle their ears! A friend of mine wanted to try it out so I thought, why not?. Well I didn't know what had happenned at the time, but turns out that the loud noise pain I felt was my eardrum rupturing! I went on to do the next five days with a constantly plugged feeling ear, and the pain got better and then worse as the week progressed. I didn't get to see a doctor until we came in five days later, but I am happy to know what is wrong with me, unfortunately there is nothing I can do but wait it out, it should heal a few more days though. My crew was great to me, picking up where I had no more energy left. The boat is that last place I'd pick to be sick. I feel awful and useless because I can't do my job the way I'd like to be able to, but I was so happy to have a crew that cares so much.
Back out again tomorrow. We have a replacement cook for the next two trips. A long time SALTSer, Christina Vanderkamp, who I am really excited to be sailing with again. I am also looking forward to next weekend when one of my best friends ever, Ronelle, is coming to visit for the weekend! Lots of excitment in the next few weeks before I leave, but I'm feeling organized and my passport is back and the visas all came through which is a big weight off. Now I just need to worry about buying enough toothpaste for the year!
I was excited to sail with my old highschool for the first trip this Septmeber. College Heights is always a trip looked forward to by the crew and a really good transition trip from summer trips, where there are multi ages and no one knows eachother before hand, to school trips, where its a class that has been going to school together for a while. College Heights brings multi age student who may or may not know eachother but have fundraised together for a year before hand to get there. Going from a ten day to a five day feels so short, so the extra day with this group was great to have.
I usually feel like the longer a trainee spends on the boat the more they understand the routine, the more they learn and the more chance I have of getting to know them even just a little. Most schools come for five days and the difference between school trips and summer trips in terms of growth, learning, and understanding are huge. This is another reason that I am so excited to have the chance to go offshore again. Having the oppotunity to spend months on the bo at is so incredible. I am excited for the immeasurable amount of potential it brings.
On a completely different note... I ruptured my ear drum! Warning: No one should ever candle their ears! A friend of mine wanted to try it out so I thought, why not?. Well I didn't know what had happenned at the time, but turns out that the loud noise pain I felt was my eardrum rupturing! I went on to do the next five days with a constantly plugged feeling ear, and the pain got better and then worse as the week progressed. I didn't get to see a doctor until we came in five days later, but I am happy to know what is wrong with me, unfortunately there is nothing I can do but wait it out, it should heal a few more days though. My crew was great to me, picking up where I had no more energy left. The boat is that last place I'd pick to be sick. I feel awful and useless because I can't do my job the way I'd like to be able to, but I was so happy to have a crew that cares so much.
Back out again tomorrow. We have a replacement cook for the next two trips. A long time SALTSer, Christina Vanderkamp, who I am really excited to be sailing with again. I am also looking forward to next weekend when one of my best friends ever, Ronelle, is coming to visit for the weekend! Lots of excitment in the next few weeks before I leave, but I'm feeling organized and my passport is back and the visas all came through which is a big weight off. Now I just need to worry about buying enough toothpaste for the year!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Circumnavigation # 3 Complete
I am back in Victoria now after fulling circumnavigating Vancouver Island for the third time. It's the greatest feeling when you round the corner and can see Race Rocks (one of the oldest lighthouses on the west coast) and you know that you are home again. Trips four and five were both fantastic, compelte with highlight visits to Hot Springs Cove, Rugged Beach and Cougar Annie's Garden!
Trip four in general was quite a calm trip, hardly any seasickness, which is great for a trip down the west coast. This trip is always really exciting because we only get to visit these places once a year everything is so new and undiscovered feeling and there isn't very much traffic either. We didn't have any really stomping broad reach sails like we normally due but a lot of our travelling was done very steadily with the courses, mains'l and main top up. We got so many fish we could hardly eat them all, despite the fish and chips night we put on thanks to Andrea.
Trip five was a different story all together. We got to sail up the island on the first day, which is rare in itself because the wind is usually blowing from the north when we want to head that way to start the trip out (there is virtually nothing between Ucluelet and Victoria). However, despite the sail (which usually calms the motion of the boat) almost every hand was seasick in one form or another. We had a few diehard trainees (most of whom were in Port watch...) who did a lot of dishes and radio watch that first day. We finally made it up the South side of Brooks Peninsula where we thought we would be sheltered from the swell....but we weren't and ended up having on the most terrifying dory experiences I've ever had trying to load people into the dory while buffering my dory against the bottom of the Swift as we got sucked under wiht every other roll! By the time we finally got to shore the trainees were almost kissing the sand and just staring at the trees trying to pretend the ocean didn't exist behind them.
The trip continued on however, and despite a lot of rolling around (penance for such a calm trip four I suppose) everyone had an amazing time. The highlight for me was a a very muddy and hilarious hike through the rainforest to Whitesand Beach (one of the most beautiful on the West Coast) Although I'm not sure everyone found this knee-deep mud experience quite as enjoyable as I did....I now have a new favourite sound though, and it is the sound of squelching mud and you lift your feet out of it take the next step back in.
It's really nice to be back in Victoria with some time to rest hopefully, between organizing everything I need for Offshore. I was getting a little nervouse about my Papua New Guinea Visa going through, but it looks like its all sorted out and that I should be getting it back next week sometime. Just enoough time to send it off to the Chinese Embassy next and have it back in time to leave in early October.
I really starting to realize how little I am prepared at the moment, but I'm slowly ticking off my to do list one by one and am trying to rest at the same time and get over a cold that seems to have taken a hold of me. It usually happens at the end of the summer. I figure my body just go go go's until the end of august and then when I get back from the boat and it realizes it has time to be sick it takes advantage of it!
Trip four in general was quite a calm trip, hardly any seasickness, which is great for a trip down the west coast. This trip is always really exciting because we only get to visit these places once a year everything is so new and undiscovered feeling and there isn't very much traffic either. We didn't have any really stomping broad reach sails like we normally due but a lot of our travelling was done very steadily with the courses, mains'l and main top up. We got so many fish we could hardly eat them all, despite the fish and chips night we put on thanks to Andrea.
Trip five was a different story all together. We got to sail up the island on the first day, which is rare in itself because the wind is usually blowing from the north when we want to head that way to start the trip out (there is virtually nothing between Ucluelet and Victoria). However, despite the sail (which usually calms the motion of the boat) almost every hand was seasick in one form or another. We had a few diehard trainees (most of whom were in Port watch...) who did a lot of dishes and radio watch that first day. We finally made it up the South side of Brooks Peninsula where we thought we would be sheltered from the swell....but we weren't and ended up having on the most terrifying dory experiences I've ever had trying to load people into the dory while buffering my dory against the bottom of the Swift as we got sucked under wiht every other roll! By the time we finally got to shore the trainees were almost kissing the sand and just staring at the trees trying to pretend the ocean didn't exist behind them.
The trip continued on however, and despite a lot of rolling around (penance for such a calm trip four I suppose) everyone had an amazing time. The highlight for me was a a very muddy and hilarious hike through the rainforest to Whitesand Beach (one of the most beautiful on the West Coast) Although I'm not sure everyone found this knee-deep mud experience quite as enjoyable as I did....I now have a new favourite sound though, and it is the sound of squelching mud and you lift your feet out of it take the next step back in.
It's really nice to be back in Victoria with some time to rest hopefully, between organizing everything I need for Offshore. I was getting a little nervouse about my Papua New Guinea Visa going through, but it looks like its all sorted out and that I should be getting it back next week sometime. Just enoough time to send it off to the Chinese Embassy next and have it back in time to leave in early October.
I really starting to realize how little I am prepared at the moment, but I'm slowly ticking off my to do list one by one and am trying to rest at the same time and get over a cold that seems to have taken a hold of me. It usually happens at the end of the summer. I figure my body just go go go's until the end of august and then when I get back from the boat and it realizes it has time to be sick it takes advantage of it!
Monday, August 06, 2007
Trip 3
This was an amazing trip. Leaving Victoria and knowing that you won't be back there again for at least a month is a great feeling. We set off and started the trip with a night run all the way up to Desolation sound making our first stop at Savary Island. Beautiful white sandy beach where we had a fantastic game of soccer, boys against girls...which usually isn't the best idea, but this time the girls were all for it and definitely held there own, although they just couldn't quite seem to score. Everyone was really happy and exhausted afterwards though.
The next few days we spent lolly-gagging in some of the lakes and waterfalls that are abundant in Desolation before started north again on our way up to Port Hardy. We even managed to spend an afternoon at Fredrick Arm where my watch had a lovely dory sail into the lagoon where everyone else was busy preparing for a sauna. This is always an adventure. We build a fire on the beach and heat up rocks meanwhile building a tent out of a tarp and wood with a pit in it. Then we put the hot rocks into the pit we fill the tent with people. Next we pour hot water on the rocks and let the steam collect inside the tent, for as long as we can stand it before we start a tribal chant of "Sauna sauna sauna...!!!" and then everyone makes a break for the cold water lagoon that is close at hand. It was fantastic.
We were thwarted by wind and current and fish as we spent out time trying to sail north, but not making it very far (I spent an entire four hour watch in the same 2 nautical miles of where I started!) We spent some time at many fishing spots that had been lucky the previous year, but not this time. The only fish we've caught this year is a three inch long rock fish of some sort caught off the Port Hardy Dock. We are hoping for better luck on the west coast.
This trip was one of my favourites. Trip three can make or break your summer sometimes being the "hump trip" but we were treated to so many good adventures, some spectacular sailing and whale shows (like within one hundred feet of the boat!) and even more fantastic and very talented trainees. Thanks to Angela for all her fiddle!
Port hardy has been relaxing and the time had gone by fast, but I am ready to leave and get back on the water.
Love to everyone!
The next few days we spent lolly-gagging in some of the lakes and waterfalls that are abundant in Desolation before started north again on our way up to Port Hardy. We even managed to spend an afternoon at Fredrick Arm where my watch had a lovely dory sail into the lagoon where everyone else was busy preparing for a sauna. This is always an adventure. We build a fire on the beach and heat up rocks meanwhile building a tent out of a tarp and wood with a pit in it. Then we put the hot rocks into the pit we fill the tent with people. Next we pour hot water on the rocks and let the steam collect inside the tent, for as long as we can stand it before we start a tribal chant of "Sauna sauna sauna...!!!" and then everyone makes a break for the cold water lagoon that is close at hand. It was fantastic.
We were thwarted by wind and current and fish as we spent out time trying to sail north, but not making it very far (I spent an entire four hour watch in the same 2 nautical miles of where I started!) We spent some time at many fishing spots that had been lucky the previous year, but not this time. The only fish we've caught this year is a three inch long rock fish of some sort caught off the Port Hardy Dock. We are hoping for better luck on the west coast.
This trip was one of my favourites. Trip three can make or break your summer sometimes being the "hump trip" but we were treated to so many good adventures, some spectacular sailing and whale shows (like within one hundred feet of the boat!) and even more fantastic and very talented trainees. Thanks to Angela for all her fiddle!
Port hardy has been relaxing and the time had gone by fast, but I am ready to leave and get back on the water.
Love to everyone!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Trip 2
Wow.
Two down three to go. This is the point in the summer, when you can't believe how little time you have left in the season. It's really like one big long trip, since leaving Victoria this time means I won't be back again until September, and then its a month and half worth of trips before the sails will come off again.
Trip 2 was great, visiting the old desolation haunts one more time, enjoying the sun while always praying for a little more wind... We had fantastic volunteers again, they really make the trip amazing. We always joke about how fabulous it would be if we could stock pile volunteers so by the end of the summer we would have 5 bosun's mates and assistant cooks, 10 watch leaders, etc. I think we don't do this because we would be laughing so hard we would never get anywhere. Gong show!
After only a few days back in Victoria, I'm already looking forward to being back on the water again. Being in town makes me realize all the things that are STILL on my to do list... like travel visas and forms and banking...ugh
Two down three to go. This is the point in the summer, when you can't believe how little time you have left in the season. It's really like one big long trip, since leaving Victoria this time means I won't be back again until September, and then its a month and half worth of trips before the sails will come off again.
Trip 2 was great, visiting the old desolation haunts one more time, enjoying the sun while always praying for a little more wind... We had fantastic volunteers again, they really make the trip amazing. We always joke about how fabulous it would be if we could stock pile volunteers so by the end of the summer we would have 5 bosun's mates and assistant cooks, 10 watch leaders, etc. I think we don't do this because we would be laughing so hard we would never get anywhere. Gong show!
After only a few days back in Victoria, I'm already looking forward to being back on the water again. Being in town makes me realize all the things that are STILL on my to do list... like travel visas and forms and banking...ugh
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Monday, July 09, 2007
Trip 1
Back to the routine of summer. Its glorious, and really not so much of a routine at all. It is fantastic to be back into a longer trip after so many shorter three day ones. The summer trips are my favourite part about working for SALTS, I figure the longer the trip the better. You can get to know everyone so much more and relationships onboard develop so much deeper as well. Not to mention the fact that one can reap the benefits of all the teaching they do and not have to start all over every three days. It was a such a treat to be able to furl the topsails and headsails with trainees and then have them jumping at the gun to be able to go and do it by themselves the next time.
The first trip of the summer was full of all its usual shananigans and colourful characters,
Let me introduce you to:
RICO! ROSALITA! and CHANCHO!
not to mention was blessed with an unusual amount of wind.
The inside passage trips up to Desolation can be quite flat, but we were able to have worthwhile sails 7 of 9 days with a special treat of sailing all the way down the Georgia Strait averaging around 6 kts on our way back to Victoria. We hit up all the favourite spots: Savary Island (a glorious beach), Tenedos Bay and Unwin lake (possible my favourite anchorage in Desolation), Teakerne Arm and the waterfalls from Cassel Lake, and Hornby Island (another amazing beach, and with an icecream store to boot!)
We were blessed with four stellar volunteers and a whole boat load of amazing trainees who really bought into the program and where excited and up for anything.
This trip really drove home what it is about this program that I love. It's all the relationships that are made, the community that is developed, seeing people being challenged and learning from them, hearing peoples stories and sharing in a part of their life.
The first trip of the summer was full of all its usual shananigans and colourful characters,
Let me introduce you to:
not to mention was blessed with an unusual amount of wind.
The inside passage trips up to Desolation can be quite flat, but we were able to have worthwhile sails 7 of 9 days with a special treat of sailing all the way down the Georgia Strait averaging around 6 kts on our way back to Victoria. We hit up all the favourite spots: Savary Island (a glorious beach), Tenedos Bay and Unwin lake (possible my favourite anchorage in Desolation), Teakerne Arm and the waterfalls from Cassel Lake, and Hornby Island (another amazing beach, and with an icecream store to boot!)
We were blessed with four stellar volunteers and a whole boat load of amazing trainees who really bought into the program and where excited and up for anything.
This trip really drove home what it is about this program that I love. It's all the relationships that are made, the community that is developed, seeing people being challenged and learning from them, hearing peoples stories and sharing in a part of their life.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Kayaking
So I finally got my but in gear and after loving the day I spent kayaking last fall, I rented a kayaking and went out again...it only took my sister coming all the way from Prince George to keep me from being "too lazy." It was a perfect day to go out, nice and sunny, but with a bit of cloud cover so you don't get too sweltering!
Last fall I went out from Sidney and paddled over to Portland Island. This time we decided to do something closer to home and rented a double from downtown and paddled up the Gorge and around the Inner Harbour a bit.
The Gorge starts out very industrial, but as soon as you cross the Bay Street Bridge it is beautiful and peaceful. We didn't meet many other paddlers, just one or two and a couple of Harbour ferries giving a tour.
I checked the tide/current before leaving and found out that slack water under the Tillicum bridge was at 1400, which suited us perfectly since that was around the time we would be crossing under it. We got shot out going through and had an exciting paddle back under, but made it through on our first try... poor Leighsa, her foot pedal got stuck on the first attempt and she got swung back out in the current. Apparently it can get to be quite the whitewater scene in there when the current is racing. I would have liked to see what it looked like this morning at 0600 when it was doing over 7 kts! Crazy!
Last fall I went out from Sidney and paddled over to Portland Island. This time we decided to do something closer to home and rented a double from downtown and paddled up the Gorge and around the Inner Harbour a bit.
The Gorge starts out very industrial, but as soon as you cross the Bay Street Bridge it is beautiful and peaceful. We didn't meet many other paddlers, just one or two and a couple of Harbour ferries giving a tour.
I checked the tide/current before leaving and found out that slack water under the Tillicum bridge was at 1400, which suited us perfectly since that was around the time we would be crossing under it. We got shot out going through and had an exciting paddle back under, but made it through on our first try... poor Leighsa, her foot pedal got stuck on the first attempt and she got swung back out in the current. Apparently it can get to be quite the whitewater scene in there when the current is racing. I would have liked to see what it looked like this morning at 0600 when it was doing over 7 kts! Crazy!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Sisters
Wow, the spring season has officially ended. I now have 3 months, 10 trips, 110 days before I board the Pacific Grace in Figi. Not that I have been counting (seriously I just counted now for this blog)
But to celebrate the ending of the spring season we have about 5 days off before the first ten day summer trip starts. I am so excited about the summer, but definately looking forward to some rest. Plus my sister came to visit me as an added bonus.
So far lots of shopping (see below for the sexy new shoes my sister bought) But tomorrow we are planning on going kayaking, and enjoying more of the beautiful weather we have been blessed with this week.
But to celebrate the ending of the spring season we have about 5 days off before the first ten day summer trip starts. I am so excited about the summer, but definately looking forward to some rest. Plus my sister came to visit me as an added bonus.
So far lots of shopping (see below for the sexy new shoes my sister bought) But tomorrow we are planning on going kayaking, and enjoying more of the beautiful weather we have been blessed with this week.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
In Which the She-Wo goes in...Again.
I should also mention, I went in again.... and no I wasn't much more prepared for it this time, than the last. The last trip I did (in the middle of my first aid course) we took the first day and rigged up the main tops'l. The boys were taking a while to furl so I leaned out the aftcabin quarterberth window in an attemp to view their progress when I felt my sunglasses fall off the back of my head! AAAAAAAAH. I quickly turned around and saw them ever so slowly sinking, and not so slowly getting pulled back in the current. So quickly weighing the odds of getting wet versus losing my sunglasses I, after not being able to reach them from the boat) launched myself out of the window and into the ocean. At first I couldn't see the glasses and thoughtI must have pushed them down, but then I looked up and they were floating just above my head. I quickly grabbed them and passed them up to Drew (the first mate) before swimming over to the rope ladder that had been thrown over to me once again.
I maintain that my fate was sealed before I went in, because Drew and Leighsa (the cook) had been taking about how it would be funny if I fell in again, just momements before.
I maintain that my fate was sealed before I went in, because Drew and Leighsa (the cook) had been taking about how it would be funny if I fell in again, just momements before.
3 Down, None to Go
Finished! I've been in boat withdrawal lately, although I havent had too much time to worry about it. The last week has been spent at an Advanced Wilderness First Aid course. This is an 80 hour course, the outdoor equivalent of OFA3 if you will. It was a great course, although I'm not used to sitting in a classroom any more, so that part was a stretch, but I got through okay.
I took the course with Slipstream Wilderness First Aid, and one of my favourite parts about this company is that when we practice our skills we do most of the scenarios outside. We spent a lot of the class out at place called Mt. Work doing scenarios in the bush and down by the water at Mckenzie Bight. It was a fun to be learning, but not have to be in the classroom.
The last day(on thursday) was test day. We had three exams to do. A Trauma scenario, and Illness scenario, and a written test. I was really nervous in the morning, mostly because I had never got to do a trauma scenario in the class because I had missed those days to take a trip on the boat, but everything went well. I passed with flying colours and now I have couple years before I have to recertify again.
Now I am back on the boat again tomorrow and have two three day trips before the summer season (ten day trips) starts up again. I also realized, that at the end of this week I will have only 10 trips left before I head to Figi. CRAZY!
Can't wait for the summer to start!
Hope everyone is doing great.
love ya!
I took the course with Slipstream Wilderness First Aid, and one of my favourite parts about this company is that when we practice our skills we do most of the scenarios outside. We spent a lot of the class out at place called Mt. Work doing scenarios in the bush and down by the water at Mckenzie Bight. It was a fun to be learning, but not have to be in the classroom.
The last day(on thursday) was test day. We had three exams to do. A Trauma scenario, and Illness scenario, and a written test. I was really nervous in the morning, mostly because I had never got to do a trauma scenario in the class because I had missed those days to take a trip on the boat, but everything went well. I passed with flying colours and now I have couple years before I have to recertify again.
Now I am back on the boat again tomorrow and have two three day trips before the summer season (ten day trips) starts up again. I also realized, that at the end of this week I will have only 10 trips left before I head to Figi. CRAZY!
Can't wait for the summer to start!
Hope everyone is doing great.
love ya!
Monday, June 04, 2007
They Left.
The Pacific Grace left me yesterday on her year long voyage. I won't say I didn't shed a few tears. They kept coming in bursts and then I'd push them back down and then they'd come out again. It was hard to watch the people that I am closest to leave all at the same time. Ironically I looked more emotional than most and I will be the one to see them the soonest (of everyone left in Victoria that is).
Victoria however, will be as busy as ever and I will be seeing them all in four months in Figi! If you want to follow the trip, check out salts.ca There is a trip log where their position and ship's log is updated frequently and I hear that pictures and videos willbe posted as well.
I am currently at home, despite the fact that the rest of my crew is sailing... why you ask? I am preparing to do an advanced wilderness first aid course, as I am the medical officer onboard and need to be up to date with all the "new stuff." I did more homework today that I have in a while and my brain is feeling fuzzy again, but hopefully I will be very prepared for my course which starts tomorrow. 10 days of intensive first aid... Well not quite ten. It's hard to find someone who can fill in for me on the boat, so I will be missing a few days of the course to do a trip at the end of the week, which will ne a nice break from classroom stuff.
Wish my good luck, I haven't had to do any exams for a while...
Victoria however, will be as busy as ever and I will be seeing them all in four months in Figi! If you want to follow the trip, check out salts.ca There is a trip log where their position and ship's log is updated frequently and I hear that pictures and videos willbe posted as well.
I am currently at home, despite the fact that the rest of my crew is sailing... why you ask? I am preparing to do an advanced wilderness first aid course, as I am the medical officer onboard and need to be up to date with all the "new stuff." I did more homework today that I have in a while and my brain is feeling fuzzy again, but hopefully I will be very prepared for my course which starts tomorrow. 10 days of intensive first aid... Well not quite ten. It's hard to find someone who can fill in for me on the boat, so I will be missing a few days of the course to do a trip at the end of the week, which will ne a nice break from classroom stuff.
Wish my good luck, I haven't had to do any exams for a while...
Monday, May 28, 2007
36 hours in PG
I flew home this weekend for a very very quick, 36 hour visit to good ole' Prince George. It was my sister's, best friend's, and best friend's mother's grad weekend.
I was horrible let down however, when I arrived in the Prince George airport, why do you ask? well after all the defending I do of Prince George, maintaining that it is not the "hick town" that everyone says it is, I arrived at the airport and was greeted by a group of at least 8 and all the males in that group were wearing too tight jeans, boots and cowboy hats, with cut off t-shirts of course... Remind me not to defend my hometown anymore, I will now mock it along with the rest of the province, hee hee.
The rest of my weekend was not a let down however. I managed to spend some time with family and friends, the home, the school, and the pub, and still upload some pics!
Congratulations to my sister Diana, who graduated from highschool, Ronelle, with her bachelor of arts from UNBC, and Helen, masters of teaching!
I was horrible let down however, when I arrived in the Prince George airport, why do you ask? well after all the defending I do of Prince George, maintaining that it is not the "hick town" that everyone says it is, I arrived at the airport and was greeted by a group of at least 8 and all the males in that group were wearing too tight jeans, boots and cowboy hats, with cut off t-shirts of course... Remind me not to defend my hometown anymore, I will now mock it along with the rest of the province, hee hee.
The rest of my weekend was not a let down however. I managed to spend some time with family and friends, the home, the school, and the pub, and still upload some pics!
Congratulations to my sister Diana, who graduated from highschool, Ronelle, with her bachelor of arts from UNBC, and Helen, masters of teaching!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
In which the She-WO goes in.
This past trip was another gloriously sunny three day trip with Langley Christian School, a great bunch of grade eights. We made our first stop of the season at Portland Island. In the past this has been a frequented stop by SALTS, but we havent made it there yet this year. It was marked by the occasion of my very first dory sailing ever. Well not really my very first dory sail, it was my second, but the first with a watch. We had a beautiful soft breeze that blew us right up on the shore of Portland Island, we had to row back, but seeing as we didn't have to row there, my watch was grateful. This is an unusual occurance as the sailing dory is the first mates dory, but I heard if you ask nicely then...
Next day was almost if not more so memorable, but for all the wrong reasons. One of the trainees decided it would be a good idea to throw a deck mat (rope mat to protect the deck from wooden blocks) at another trainee, however they missed and it went in the water. Oops. Anyways, We were still at anchor so therefore limited in our ability to maneouver, but Skipper managed to put us within pike-pole reach and I got it, and almost had in onboard, but then it slipped of the pike I was ever so carefully balancing it on. next I tried to lean over, but found I couldn't quite reach it, so I grabbed a line (the port side reefing penant) and holding onto this lean away from the boat, managed to grab the deck mat, but as I am doing so I needed to be upside down and then I had to let go of one arm and this culminated with me ending up swimming in Cadboro Bay in my jeans and hoody. I guess this speaks to how much we love the boat...when we go in for a simple rope map.
I love my job.
Next day was almost if not more so memorable, but for all the wrong reasons. One of the trainees decided it would be a good idea to throw a deck mat (rope mat to protect the deck from wooden blocks) at another trainee, however they missed and it went in the water. Oops. Anyways, We were still at anchor so therefore limited in our ability to maneouver, but Skipper managed to put us within pike-pole reach and I got it, and almost had in onboard, but then it slipped of the pike I was ever so carefully balancing it on. next I tried to lean over, but found I couldn't quite reach it, so I grabbed a line (the port side reefing penant) and holding onto this lean away from the boat, managed to grab the deck mat, but as I am doing so I needed to be upside down and then I had to let go of one arm and this culminated with me ending up swimming in Cadboro Bay in my jeans and hoody. I guess this speaks to how much we love the boat...when we go in for a simple rope map.
I love my job.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Hmmm....
| You Belong in 1959 |
 You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in! |
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Chairboarding and Anton-kwon-do
The past few weeks have a been a bit of blur and now I find myself looking at the rest of the spring season and wondering where the first few months went? This next week marks big changes in for the Pacific Swift, as my first mate, Antony, and bosun, Chris, are replaced by the two not so new faces of Drew Hayes, and Matt Lamay (respectively).
This past week marked the last five day trip of the spring season. I will now be doing a series of three and four day trips, which means no teaching of our regular curriculum, so more time for fun and games and sailing; but it also means that the trainee's don't learn quite as much and I have to clean up the boat twice a week instead of once...
This last five day trip was fantastic. It was the "warm wind" trip. There is always a trip in the spring when the wind changes from its fridgid winter temperatures and starts blowing a warmer summer breeze accross our sails, and this trip was it. The change in temperature meant a lot of brightwork (painting/varnishing/etc) was done last week. I even had my she-wo (female watch officer) hands on a few brushes re-finishing the names boards with metallic gold and green paint. The warmer winds also made the water look more inviting and one sunny and not so windy afternoon when we were not able to sail, but looking for something fun to do, we decided to bring back out the chair-board. That is to say, we rigged up the bosun's chair (a plank with lines on either side, kinda of like those old fashioned swings) and swung it out off the end of the yard (big horizontal piece of wood) and then proceeded to swing out over the water and the mercy of whomever was in control of the other end. I volunteered to be first out to spike curiosity and interest and though I had not planned to get more than my legs wet, by the time I got back onboard I was soaked from head to toe!
As far as the Anton-kwon-do goes... every since my crew found out that I have a black-belt, they have been challening me with their own martial arts, such as the aforementioned Anton-Kwon-do, as well as Kick-but-te and Drew-Jitsu...
This past week marked the last five day trip of the spring season. I will now be doing a series of three and four day trips, which means no teaching of our regular curriculum, so more time for fun and games and sailing; but it also means that the trainee's don't learn quite as much and I have to clean up the boat twice a week instead of once...
This last five day trip was fantastic. It was the "warm wind" trip. There is always a trip in the spring when the wind changes from its fridgid winter temperatures and starts blowing a warmer summer breeze accross our sails, and this trip was it. The change in temperature meant a lot of brightwork (painting/varnishing/etc) was done last week. I even had my she-wo (female watch officer) hands on a few brushes re-finishing the names boards with metallic gold and green paint. The warmer winds also made the water look more inviting and one sunny and not so windy afternoon when we were not able to sail, but looking for something fun to do, we decided to bring back out the chair-board. That is to say, we rigged up the bosun's chair (a plank with lines on either side, kinda of like those old fashioned swings) and swung it out off the end of the yard (big horizontal piece of wood) and then proceeded to swing out over the water and the mercy of whomever was in control of the other end. I volunteered to be first out to spike curiosity and interest and though I had not planned to get more than my legs wet, by the time I got back onboard I was soaked from head to toe!
As far as the Anton-kwon-do goes... every since my crew found out that I have a black-belt, they have been challening me with their own martial arts, such as the aforementioned Anton-Kwon-do, as well as Kick-but-te and Drew-Jitsu...
Sunday, April 29, 2007
April Showers Bring May Flowers
This old saying is undoubtedly true!
I spent the last few days of this weeks trip in my foulies and pink boots half the time being smushed into a puddle on the deck after having my skipper and first mate discover that I have a rather ticklish neck and that if they jam their fingers in the back of it they get the delightful (or not-so-very-delightful depending on whose poing of view) result of my head cramping down and despite my constant plea or rather shreik of "stop, stop, stop!" they insist they cannot since I am pinching their fingers into the very spot!
This weekend however had brought warmth to the day and blue to the skies and a skip to my step.
I spent the last few days of this weeks trip in my foulies and pink boots half the time being smushed into a puddle on the deck after having my skipper and first mate discover that I have a rather ticklish neck and that if they jam their fingers in the back of it they get the delightful (or not-so-very-delightful depending on whose poing of view) result of my head cramping down and despite my constant plea or rather shreik of "stop, stop, stop!" they insist they cannot since I am pinching their fingers into the very spot!
This weekend however had brought warmth to the day and blue to the skies and a skip to my step.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Another Year
I realized that I haven't posted much in a while. So here I go, on the blog train again.
I head out on the boat again this week, 21 years of age, and will come back 22.
Birthday on Tuesday! Woo Hoo.
I am only slightly scared on what will come of me, considering in the past there has been plank walking, sending people out on the bosun's chair(just a plank, tied to a rope) or just plain throughing people over into the fridgid April water's of our West Coast Pacific Ocean.
I however smart of not so smart this may be, have convinced my crew that they should all voluntarily jump in on my birthday, so here's to hoping we don't all catch pneumonia...
I am looking forward though to another fun-filled week and am thankful everyday that I get to work with such amazing people celebrating the creation that surrouds us everyday.
I head out on the boat again this week, 21 years of age, and will come back 22.
Birthday on Tuesday! Woo Hoo.
I am only slightly scared on what will come of me, considering in the past there has been plank walking, sending people out on the bosun's chair(just a plank, tied to a rope) or just plain throughing people over into the fridgid April water's of our West Coast Pacific Ocean.
I however smart of not so smart this may be, have convinced my crew that they should all voluntarily jump in on my birthday, so here's to hoping we don't all catch pneumonia...
I am looking forward though to another fun-filled week and am thankful everyday that I get to work with such amazing people celebrating the creation that surrouds us everyday.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Flight of The "Air Hog"
To update you: I neglected in earlier posts to mention the find of the season! The "Air Hog!" On the last day of a five day trip, which are so often characterized by these drifting sails, we were "sailing" off the Victoria waterfront, when the trainee's on bow watch, who were doing an unusually fantastic job sighted off in the distance a small floating red object, which on closer inspection turned out to be a poor child's lost airplane. This turned out to be the find of the season when we discovered that it was the infamous Air Hog! What is the Air Hog do you ask? Well essentially it is a toy airplane which runs on air. The fuselage is pumped full and then you toss it into the wind and it will continue to fly. I imagine it is meant to be used in fields where once thrown the thrower can then run after their prize and throught it again... oops. In any case, victory was ours as we steered the boat on a collision course with the tiny plane and the first mate hung off the side of the boat dipping down to retrieve it out of the fridgid ocean!
We contined to have much amusement with our flying machine, jerrying up a pump to fill it and finding out what the best angle and speed was to through it in the wind at. The decisioin was made that the Air Hog needed a gloriour flight off the top of Mt. Norman to brng itself out into the aviation world. So last week we hiked up to the top of this mountain located on Saturna Island and Antony, the first mate, readied the plane, pumping it full, assembling it's wings, taking position and throwing it... Failure! On first attempt the Air Hog took off and immediately nose dived into the cliff face. After retrieving it two more times the third flight was finally a success! That is until the Hog veered into the only tree in its path and lodged itself 80ft up, to be perpetually framed mid-flight in its branches.
Good Bye and Bon Voyage, Air Hog.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Exposing Truth
Off to a Photo Gallery tonight, put on by Jordan. It is the final culmination of a photo essay he did on the time he spent in Kenya with myself and Elske and SHERP.You can check out some of the photos here
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Lets Go Fly A Kite
Last week was characterized by a failed attempt to fly a kite. All the kids were down below in lessons and Skipper John and I were on deck headed toward Sansum Narrows where the wind was funneling in giving us what we thought was definately enough wind to fly a kite!
So off Skipper went to get all the supplies we needed for our "storm kite" wooden dowel, heavy duty canvas, and marline of course (what could we really do without the marline?) In any case, we decide to go with the classic top heavy diamond shape and soon have a frame constructed, the canvas tied on and a swallow-tailed double tail. It was beautiful, and even though the wind was dying slightly we still through her up to let her fly. We were however, thoroughly dissapointed when she dived right down to the water... No matter, a few quick tweaks and some bridal adjustments and she would fly, we just knew it!
However, about 45 minutes later, and with little to no success we packed it in. Soon some trainees found the kite and decided to give it a try. But I guess it really did think it belonged in the water, because on their first toss it unleashed itself and dived into the water as we slowly watched it float away.
Lesson learned: Kites must be made of light weight materials, and have optimum flying winds to reach the desired altitude.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Presenting...
Week two was the first five day trip of the season. Five day trips are always maxed out as we try and squish in: sailing, games and fun, eating, sleeping, 5 lessons and a written test and 6 oral tests, plus room for all the spontaneous visitors who might decide to show up! This week I would like to introduce the Bilgey Bottom Boys, who graced us with their presence during mug-up on the last night.
This past week we had a group on from Calgary, who we proceeded to get very muddy and very wet, but enjoyed every minute of their oceanic adventures. It was not only the kids though, I should add, that got muddy and wet, I too collided with some of the earth and ocean. We had launched the dories and were preparing to row ashore, and I, as a "seasoned sailor" had donned my foulies and rubber boots to avoid the cold water that I knew would freeze my toes as soon as the dory ran aground and it was time to jump out and pull it up the beach, and I was right. I jumped out in a few inches of water and proceeded to pull the dory up with dry feets thanks to the infamous pink boots. The mud came next as we ran around a more than slightly soggy field hurling frisbees at eachother as we played a game commonly referred to as "bean-the-guy-softly". I thought however, that despite my muddy knees, that through my intelligence I had escaped the fridgid water, but alas it came time to push the dories out again. This time, I didn't have the advantage of momentum to push the dories further than they would naturally float, considering the 10 people already weighing them down. So in I tread and with one step too far, my boot is filled! But the dory is still on the ground so I must go further before I jump in myself. Finally my little boat begins to float and I jump up and slide in, however doing so I must go head first and then right myselfonce aboard, and in doing so all the water that had collected in my boots found its way not back into the ocean, but up the leg of my foulies! This was quite amusing back onboard when once I had stripped of the rain gear, my pants were "mysteriously" wet up to my pockets!
Sometimes I love these trips the most because, despite the wet and cold of early March, it is when we get the trainees that find every shell, crab (dead or alive), bit of seaweed, starfish, anenome, porpoise, and sail absolutely fascinating! It reopens my eyes to the beauty in the creation around me and makes me realize how lucky I am to be doing what I do.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Never Again...
Will you see my shoes this white.
After taking me through a few years of walking to school, and an few seasons on the boat including an offshore, my not-so-vey-white-anymore crew shoes finally bit the dust at the end of last season, and after a proper memorial service they were ceremoniously tossed in the dumpster.
What this means is that this year I bought new crew shoes! and while they are blinding right now, (the pristine condition perfect for last weeks AGM...), they soon will be christianed to boat life (first trip tomorrow!) and will start their not-so-very-white life.
Most people wouldn't find this worthy of a picture and much less a posting, but I feel it is a service to the shoes to remember them in all their brilliance.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
All In A Weeks Work
Week two is complete. It was only the first week of shipyard work, but I am exhausted. Could be because Tuesday actually felt like it should have been Thursday... All was made right in the end though, after two glorious days of sunshine and warm weather; plus as a bonus I was able to be up on deck all day both days bending on sails, lashing down deckboxes, and setting up some lines as we are busy prepping the boats for the upcoming season.
before and after the toque comes off
tools of the trade, my grimy hand, and my shiny new knife!
before and after the toque comes off
tools of the trade, my grimy hand, and my shiny new knife!
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Bandidas
Back at work, and with all the boys off on the third annual "Bachelor Surf Trip", we girls decided to get together for dinner and a girly movie. Some of you might find the fact that I watched this film more entertaining than others (Ronelle!) But if anyone reading this is in the mood for a horrible (and "bly"), cheesy western staring Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek (who I will add wear corsets the whole movie, even when they sleep!) then this is your movie!
Monday, February 12, 2007
And February comes again...
I realize that February has actually been upon us for 12 days now, but I am referring to the day in this chilly month that I will once again go back to work on a big beautiful boat. And that day would be tomorrow. I am officially back in Victoria and looking forward to (tomorrow) when I will be going back to work. Yes that is correct, I am EXCITED about going back to work. I think that I am one of the luckiest people in the world to have a job that I love and am excited to go to, and back to, every day and year. I won't say that it's not challenging or tiring, but its so rewarding and that makes up for everything.
In any case, here I go again, the start of another sailing season, always with the promise of being better than the one before it.
"So throw off the bowline. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain
In any case, here I go again, the start of another sailing season, always with the promise of being better than the one before it.
"So throw off the bowline. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Pictures From France
And here they are, some pics from France.... I've narrowed it down to about 50, from over 300! oops. Anwyays, if you are interested, take a peek here,
Nifty Nifty, Look Who's 50!
Well I made it back from Canada, and am currently relishing in the fact that I can take a shower (a hot one) without the shower turning off every 10 seconds, an canadian style keyboard, and coffee that comes in a size larger than a teacup!
After a weekend full of flights and travelling I made it home, just in time to go to "bootcamp" with my sister, and then my mother's 50th birthday party that same evening. All I can say is that I am lucky that the jet-lag is easier to deal with when you are coming back to Canada.
After a weekend full of flights and travelling I made it home, just in time to go to "bootcamp" with my sister, and then my mother's 50th birthday party that same evening. All I can say is that I am lucky that the jet-lag is easier to deal with when you are coming back to Canada.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Snow Flakes and Sand Dunes
Hey Everyone,
Back in Paris again, and I have to say that the thing that I am most looking forward to is a Canadian keyboard! The letters are all funny over here and I keep putting in Q instead of A and it one of the most frustrating things in the entire world; that is at this moment when clearly the entire world is centred around me and other more frustrating could not possibly exist...
So here is the gist. From Nice I went to Carcassonne, with the intent of seeing Lastours, one of the Cathar Castles, but neglected to think of the possibility of snow in the mountains... oops! So instead had a beautiful but quiet, and extremely cold!, few days wandering around the completely deserted medieval city, thoroughly exploring the castle and ramparts, and trying out some of the local cuisine, such as cassoulet (which is like a stew, made with beans, and duck, and sausage). Brittany, being a braver carnivore than I, also ate blood sausage!
Next it was off to Bordeaux specifically to go wine tasting and hopefully to find some warmer weather on the coast, but alas, we brought the snow with us! Since we couldn't go no a tour until Saturday; and didn't particularly want to hang around a big city all day we hopped a train over to Arcachon! It was definitely a highlight of the trip. We initially just wanted to put our feet in the Atlantic ocean, but were tipped off to take a short bus ride over to the Dunes of Pyla, which were these amazing sand dunes and almost completely deserted (until we got to the top ans saw all the other people who probably thought it was completely deserted too). Arcachon was a lovely little break from everything, it was very quiet, but not in a deserted way. We decided to walk back along the beach, and it was so beautiful to be by the water, and the sun even managed to poke itself out for the day!
After seeing a few wine Chateau's and not really refining my taste at all, we took the train back down to the Mediterranean to a little spot called St. Raphael. This place kind of had a small town wants to be a big city vibe that was more than a little confusing at times. For example the church bells that rang repeatedly but not on any kind of schedule, or all the cars that never seemed to want to drive around the block, rather they would back up on some main street to go back to their turn... strange! The real treat was a day trip over to St. Tropez, and despite the tourist office saying we shouldn't walk 5km to the beach, we did, and again found ourselves on a white sandy (maybe seaweedy) beach with only one or two other people in sight. St. Tropez was an afterthought really, our initial plan was to head into the middle of France, but after facing so much cold and snow we wimped out and went back to the coast, but it turned out to be a fantastic detour.
Now I am back in Paris once more to finish the trip off with the fireworks finale of Sacre Cour, Versaille, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomph, and the Eiffel Tower. Today was spent wandering around Montmartre, Moulin Rouge, Les 2 Moulins, and, thanks to the flip a coin way of walking, seeing the Sacre Cour twice without even realizing we had done a circle... I am still in shock over this. Tonight I am going back to Moulin Rouge to compare the lights to the daytime blandness... it surprised me really how unglamorous it looked in the daytime.
In any case, back to Copenhagen on Saturday and then Canada on Sunday. See you all soon I hope!
p.s. Happy 50th Birthday Mom (I tried to call this morning but no one was home!)
Back in Paris again, and I have to say that the thing that I am most looking forward to is a Canadian keyboard! The letters are all funny over here and I keep putting in Q instead of A and it one of the most frustrating things in the entire world; that is at this moment when clearly the entire world is centred around me and other more frustrating could not possibly exist...
So here is the gist. From Nice I went to Carcassonne, with the intent of seeing Lastours, one of the Cathar Castles, but neglected to think of the possibility of snow in the mountains... oops! So instead had a beautiful but quiet, and extremely cold!, few days wandering around the completely deserted medieval city, thoroughly exploring the castle and ramparts, and trying out some of the local cuisine, such as cassoulet (which is like a stew, made with beans, and duck, and sausage). Brittany, being a braver carnivore than I, also ate blood sausage!
Next it was off to Bordeaux specifically to go wine tasting and hopefully to find some warmer weather on the coast, but alas, we brought the snow with us! Since we couldn't go no a tour until Saturday; and didn't particularly want to hang around a big city all day we hopped a train over to Arcachon! It was definitely a highlight of the trip. We initially just wanted to put our feet in the Atlantic ocean, but were tipped off to take a short bus ride over to the Dunes of Pyla, which were these amazing sand dunes and almost completely deserted (until we got to the top ans saw all the other people who probably thought it was completely deserted too). Arcachon was a lovely little break from everything, it was very quiet, but not in a deserted way. We decided to walk back along the beach, and it was so beautiful to be by the water, and the sun even managed to poke itself out for the day!
After seeing a few wine Chateau's and not really refining my taste at all, we took the train back down to the Mediterranean to a little spot called St. Raphael. This place kind of had a small town wants to be a big city vibe that was more than a little confusing at times. For example the church bells that rang repeatedly but not on any kind of schedule, or all the cars that never seemed to want to drive around the block, rather they would back up on some main street to go back to their turn... strange! The real treat was a day trip over to St. Tropez, and despite the tourist office saying we shouldn't walk 5km to the beach, we did, and again found ourselves on a white sandy (maybe seaweedy) beach with only one or two other people in sight. St. Tropez was an afterthought really, our initial plan was to head into the middle of France, but after facing so much cold and snow we wimped out and went back to the coast, but it turned out to be a fantastic detour.
Now I am back in Paris once more to finish the trip off with the fireworks finale of Sacre Cour, Versaille, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomph, and the Eiffel Tower. Today was spent wandering around Montmartre, Moulin Rouge, Les 2 Moulins, and, thanks to the flip a coin way of walking, seeing the Sacre Cour twice without even realizing we had done a circle... I am still in shock over this. Tonight I am going back to Moulin Rouge to compare the lights to the daytime blandness... it surprised me really how unglamorous it looked in the daytime.
In any case, back to Copenhagen on Saturday and then Canada on Sunday. See you all soon I hope!
p.s. Happy 50th Birthday Mom (I tried to call this morning but no one was home!)
Monday, January 29, 2007
St. Raphael & St. Tropez
After all day spent on the train we arrived in St. Raphael. This was exciting for two reasons, the first being that the train ride was so long, and the second is that we spent the last at least 30 minutes having to watch the lady ahead of us picking her nose, and I don't mean just picking, she was like digging for who knows what, but she made it bleed!!!!!!!! eeeew. Anyways, St. Raphael is cute, but kind of has this big city wannabe vibe, so we took the bus to St. Tropez where we walked (even though the tourist office said we definately needed a car) for about 5 km to a local beach, which was completely deserted, but beautiful to sit and relax and read on. I have noticed that being in places that are completely deserted, but you know would be busy in the right season, gives you this funny feeling, like you are one of the only people left on Earth.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
The Dunes of Pyla
This to me sounds like the title of a fantasy book, however it is a real place and one that I visited yesterday. Currently stationed in Bordeaux, we took a day trip to put our feet in the fidgid waters of the North Atlantic, to a little town called Arcachon. It was beatiful, and a short bus ride away, but rather long, yet beautiful walk along hte beach back were the Sand Dunes of Pyla. They are massive and have been growing steadily over the years to reach their current hieght of 117m, 3km long, and over 300m wide. Possible one of the most amazing things was that we took the less populated route and it wasn't until we were at the top that we realized we were not alone on this beautiful creation, but that there were in fact at least 15 other peaple, who had climbed the cheater way to the top by taking the short side up, while we had climbed up the side facing the ocean. I will note that sand is most treacherous to climb up... But the view from the top was beautiful!
This afternoon we will be going wine tasting at Chateau Merdoc and Le Maison du Bordeaux.
This afternoon we will be going wine tasting at Chateau Merdoc and Le Maison du Bordeaux.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Is That Blood Sausage?
Currently in Carcassonne, the namesake of a well loved game. Was hoping to visit a site of one of the Cathat Castles called Lastours, but unfortunately discoereved another reason not to travel around France in the winter and that is snow? Apparently they have snow in the mountains so the castle is closed. After being on the beach in Nice, the thought had not even occured to me. Oh well, another adventure will present itself I am sure. Last night, when we arrived here in Carcassonne, we had to walk over a bridge and up into the medieval city and all three of the walls were beautifully lit, it really was like alking into a fairy tale. Amazing! After checking into our hostel we went to find some dinner, and being very brave Brittany order Bedouin... we asked the waiter what it was andwith my limited understanding of the language we got that it was sausage, but I did not cath him pointing to his arm, neaning blood... oops!
(I had chicken)
(I had chicken)
Friday, January 19, 2007
Surfing & Muddy Lanes
Okay...
So I did make it out of Copenhagen, but I later found out that all the train traffic and the bridge did close shortly after I left, so the wait at the airport was worth it after all. My flight was great and short into France and despite the general warning I got about the Metro, it was fine and after walking up and down one street twice I did find my hostel in Paris and Brittany's smiling face was there to greet me!
The next day we decided to explore Paris and both of us were up for some walking, so we decided to walk downtown, this took us about an hour? We were looking in places and exploring a bit so I can't say for sure, but eventually we did get downtown and I got my first sight of the Eiffel Tour! We didn't make it over there because we spent the next 5 hours (at least) in The Louvre. It was amazing to see these things so up close, and as everybody says, yes the Mona Lisa was a bit smaller than I imagined, but I will also say that I can't believe how big the biggest painting was... it would fill a movie screen! So then it was pretty much time to walk back home again, which we did, and maybe our feet were swearing at us when we finally got back to the hostel, but nothing that a good nights sleep didn't fix.
We decided that we would explore the rest of France and come back to Paris, so the next day it was the train for us and onto to St. Malo which is in Bretagne. This was a unexpected delight because after checking into the hostel we took a walk over to the old city and on the way found surf!!!!!!!!! Which we took advantage of the very next day. The first day was spent exploring the city and then the next day was taken up with surfing and the decision to go to another little village called Dinan. We got up very early to do a sunrise surf, but when we got there found that the water had come all the way into the wall and the surf was pounding against it, and after deciding that if we went in, it would probably be our bodies pounding against that wall, we waiting until the tide at gone down a bit and the sun was up. So then the surf went good, despite the rather short 6'7 board.
After a few roadblocks, like trying to pack all our bags, two boards and wetsuits to the rental place, and then having to wait for half an hour because the lady had "car trouble" we booked it to the bus station to catch our deal of a bus, at 2 Euro, to Dinan. Once in Dinan we booked our train to Nice for the next day, and it was a good thing we did because we found that the train we wanted to take was full, so we had to take the 630 AM train instead....
The rest of the day was spent wandering around the beatiful medieval town of Diana, finding a wonderful boulangerie.. mmm and exploring a castle that wasn't actually open. Oh, and we jumped a fence or two to get down to the River Rance and walked, along an extremely muddy trail, to another small town called Lehon, where again we jumped a gate to get into some ruins to look at a viewpoint of the whole city.... it's not our fault the tourist season is closed... :)
Anyways, we made it back to Dinan, caught our train to Nice and now am in the Mediterranean. Today it was 17 degrees here, so I'm looking forward to some sun tomorrow. Can't Wait.
So I did make it out of Copenhagen, but I later found out that all the train traffic and the bridge did close shortly after I left, so the wait at the airport was worth it after all. My flight was great and short into France and despite the general warning I got about the Metro, it was fine and after walking up and down one street twice I did find my hostel in Paris and Brittany's smiling face was there to greet me!
The next day we decided to explore Paris and both of us were up for some walking, so we decided to walk downtown, this took us about an hour? We were looking in places and exploring a bit so I can't say for sure, but eventually we did get downtown and I got my first sight of the Eiffel Tour! We didn't make it over there because we spent the next 5 hours (at least) in The Louvre. It was amazing to see these things so up close, and as everybody says, yes the Mona Lisa was a bit smaller than I imagined, but I will also say that I can't believe how big the biggest painting was... it would fill a movie screen! So then it was pretty much time to walk back home again, which we did, and maybe our feet were swearing at us when we finally got back to the hostel, but nothing that a good nights sleep didn't fix.
We decided that we would explore the rest of France and come back to Paris, so the next day it was the train for us and onto to St. Malo which is in Bretagne. This was a unexpected delight because after checking into the hostel we took a walk over to the old city and on the way found surf!!!!!!!!! Which we took advantage of the very next day. The first day was spent exploring the city and then the next day was taken up with surfing and the decision to go to another little village called Dinan. We got up very early to do a sunrise surf, but when we got there found that the water had come all the way into the wall and the surf was pounding against it, and after deciding that if we went in, it would probably be our bodies pounding against that wall, we waiting until the tide at gone down a bit and the sun was up. So then the surf went good, despite the rather short 6'7 board.
After a few roadblocks, like trying to pack all our bags, two boards and wetsuits to the rental place, and then having to wait for half an hour because the lady had "car trouble" we booked it to the bus station to catch our deal of a bus, at 2 Euro, to Dinan. Once in Dinan we booked our train to Nice for the next day, and it was a good thing we did because we found that the train we wanted to take was full, so we had to take the 630 AM train instead....
The rest of the day was spent wandering around the beatiful medieval town of Diana, finding a wonderful boulangerie.. mmm and exploring a castle that wasn't actually open. Oh, and we jumped a fence or two to get down to the River Rance and walked, along an extremely muddy trail, to another small town called Lehon, where again we jumped a gate to get into some ruins to look at a viewpoint of the whole city.... it's not our fault the tourist season is closed... :)
Anyways, we made it back to Dinan, caught our train to Nice and now am in the Mediterranean. Today it was 17 degrees here, so I'm looking forward to some sun tomorrow. Can't Wait.
Monday, January 15, 2007
The Louvre
Well after an arduous day at the Copenhagen airport I am finally in France! Today I walked downtown to The Louvre, not that downtown is particularily close, but it felt wonderful to stretch my legs. The museum was amazing, the Mona Lisa, depspite all warnings, was smaller than I expected, but the museum itself was a LOT bigger, so I guess that makes up for it. It was amazing to be seeing all these famous pieces in real life. Tomorrow we are off to St. Malo and then Dinan, which we have heard to be the jewel of Brittany, I will keep you posted.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
København
Currently I am in the Copenhagn Airport, and have been since 930 this morning, despite the fact that my plane does not leave until 1815. Why you ask? Well yesterday there were rumours of bad weather in the south of Sweden, and this morning the forecast is that the bridge between Sweden and Denmark may be closed due to weather and on top of that trains may not be running... it was sunny in Malmö. In any case, safety first, so I got on a train the train my mother was catching to get to her 1215 flight. So now after, out of pure boredom, waiting with her in the line up to security I am not finding creative ways to use up the next six hours that I have here.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
A Danish, A Beer, and The Little Mermaid.
Hello to Everyone!
Well this is my last night is Sweden. The week has been eventful to say the least!
Monday: I spent the day in Copenhagen with my mom and her cousin. We started the day with a danish, which I found appropriate since it is Denmark after all, but after spending the first hour getting tickets for and waiting, in the cold, and colder yet rain, for a bus (that would eventually never show up) we hopped a city bus and found our way down to the "Little Mermaid" to take a picture with her. To my mother's dismay I braved the cold Atlantic waters, or at least my shoes did, in order to get a picture sitting with this harbour lady. We soon decided that the wind and rain was probably worse down by the water and quickly found another bus to take us back into the city where we spent quite some time, which very much pleased my mother, in an amber shop. I should note that later on in the day we went into at least four more amber shops, three of which were different locations of the same store as the first. We went for lunch in a Turkish restaurant and later since Lisbet said that the Danish drink beer for breakfast, we of course went for a beer.
Tuesday: went to Ales Stenar which is the Swedish equivalent of Stone Henge, although not quite as big. This day started in rain and I can't say that I was lookig forward to the hike up to the stones in the rain, but by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and we had passed albino deer and pheasants! (randomly) It felt very mysterious to be up there just thinking about the magnitude of the job and wondering what they were for; seeing as all the signs were in Swedish I had very little idea, except something about a clock... The view was amazing! and bonus, I got to run out along a breakwater, which at the time was definately "breaking water" and despite my best efforts to listen for the waves I might have gotten slightly wet...
Wednesday: Went in to Malmö to do some shopping with another of mom's cousins Marie, and her very cute children Herick and Clara. Despite the "disastrous to the hair" rain and wind we managed to navigate our way through the downtown of Malmö and find the best places to shop and eat!
Thursday: Into Lund we go. Another of my mother's cousins, Martin, is one of the best hair stylists in Lund, so of course I had to have my hair done as well. My sister's both raved about the experience and it was good indeed. Also saw the Domekyrkan, the oldest church in Lund, where I marvelled at the architecure. It was made of sandstone, which is not found locally, so one wonders how in the 1100's they transport the amounts they did over the distances they did! Amazing! despite the slightly erie feel down in the crypts...
Friday and Saturday: more visiting, trying to see everyone one last time before leave. Definately spending some time with my great grandmother. It is sad to think that I most likely will not see her again, she is 92 right now, so wow, at least I have long life genes in the family.
Currently: hoping that my laundry wil be dry in time to pack it, enjoying a glass of wine and
dinner at Martin's and anticipating France! and I can't wait!
Well this is my last night is Sweden. The week has been eventful to say the least!
Monday: I spent the day in Copenhagen with my mom and her cousin. We started the day with a danish, which I found appropriate since it is Denmark after all, but after spending the first hour getting tickets for and waiting, in the cold, and colder yet rain, for a bus (that would eventually never show up) we hopped a city bus and found our way down to the "Little Mermaid" to take a picture with her. To my mother's dismay I braved the cold Atlantic waters, or at least my shoes did, in order to get a picture sitting with this harbour lady. We soon decided that the wind and rain was probably worse down by the water and quickly found another bus to take us back into the city where we spent quite some time, which very much pleased my mother, in an amber shop. I should note that later on in the day we went into at least four more amber shops, three of which were different locations of the same store as the first. We went for lunch in a Turkish restaurant and later since Lisbet said that the Danish drink beer for breakfast, we of course went for a beer.
Tuesday: went to Ales Stenar which is the Swedish equivalent of Stone Henge, although not quite as big. This day started in rain and I can't say that I was lookig forward to the hike up to the stones in the rain, but by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and we had passed albino deer and pheasants! (randomly) It felt very mysterious to be up there just thinking about the magnitude of the job and wondering what they were for; seeing as all the signs were in Swedish I had very little idea, except something about a clock... The view was amazing! and bonus, I got to run out along a breakwater, which at the time was definately "breaking water" and despite my best efforts to listen for the waves I might have gotten slightly wet...
Wednesday: Went in to Malmö to do some shopping with another of mom's cousins Marie, and her very cute children Herick and Clara. Despite the "disastrous to the hair" rain and wind we managed to navigate our way through the downtown of Malmö and find the best places to shop and eat!
Thursday: Into Lund we go. Another of my mother's cousins, Martin, is one of the best hair stylists in Lund, so of course I had to have my hair done as well. My sister's both raved about the experience and it was good indeed. Also saw the Domekyrkan, the oldest church in Lund, where I marvelled at the architecure. It was made of sandstone, which is not found locally, so one wonders how in the 1100's they transport the amounts they did over the distances they did! Amazing! despite the slightly erie feel down in the crypts...
Friday and Saturday: more visiting, trying to see everyone one last time before leave. Definately spending some time with my great grandmother. It is sad to think that I most likely will not see her again, she is 92 right now, so wow, at least I have long life genes in the family.
Currently: hoping that my laundry wil be dry in time to pack it, enjoying a glass of wine and
dinner at Martin's and anticipating France! and I can't wait!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
How The Weather Was Supposed To Be
My Grandmother warned my last spring that "winter is a terrible time to go to Sweden, there are no flowers and it is always raining and wet (go figure) and cold!" While the first part of that turned out to be true I didn't quite believe her about the second part until today. I really hadn't excepted there to be any flowers, but I did expect rain and had been pleasantly surprised to have almost none. The last three days however, have not been quite as nice.
Monday was spent in Copenhagen, and after an appropriate start to the day with a danish while in Denmark we were going to take a bus tour to see the Little Mermaid. Now generally as I rule I don't do bus tours, but it was raining so my mother bought the tickets and on we went, her cousin Lisbet and myself , to go stand in the rain to wait for the bus. Well turns out that the bus driver got sick, decided not to go to work and there was no one else in all of Copenhagen that could drive the bus... brings me back to Africa! Anyways. So fine then, we take the city bus down to see the Little Mermaid anyways, I of course need to have a picture with this famous statue! The rest of the day was spent looking at amber... mom went into at least 5 different shops, 4 of which were different locations of the same shop, eating delicious Turkish food, and as Lisbet said that the Danish are fanatic beer drinkers we had to try that too. My conclusion is that it is better in Canada, although Denmark is in the top ten.
Yesterday was a trip to Ales Stenar, a stone henge type idea in the shape of ship. More rain although luckily only while we were driving, and today was spent shopping in Malmö with another of my mother's cousins and her two extremely cute children. I have only three days left and they promise to be just as busy as the rest of the trip and then off the Paris (say that with a french accent please its how I intended it)
Monday was spent in Copenhagen, and after an appropriate start to the day with a danish while in Denmark we were going to take a bus tour to see the Little Mermaid. Now generally as I rule I don't do bus tours, but it was raining so my mother bought the tickets and on we went, her cousin Lisbet and myself , to go stand in the rain to wait for the bus. Well turns out that the bus driver got sick, decided not to go to work and there was no one else in all of Copenhagen that could drive the bus... brings me back to Africa! Anyways. So fine then, we take the city bus down to see the Little Mermaid anyways, I of course need to have a picture with this famous statue! The rest of the day was spent looking at amber... mom went into at least 5 different shops, 4 of which were different locations of the same shop, eating delicious Turkish food, and as Lisbet said that the Danish are fanatic beer drinkers we had to try that too. My conclusion is that it is better in Canada, although Denmark is in the top ten.
Yesterday was a trip to Ales Stenar, a stone henge type idea in the shape of ship. More rain although luckily only while we were driving, and today was spent shopping in Malmö with another of my mother's cousins and her two extremely cute children. I have only three days left and they promise to be just as busy as the rest of the trip and then off the Paris (say that with a french accent please its how I intended it)
Saturday, January 06, 2007
January 6, 2007
Well, yesterday was the 13th day of Christmas, and apparently another reason to party in Sweden! I visited with more of my mother's cousins and my second cousins in Kristianstad. And today I have made the trip to Karlskrona to meet my Father's side of the family. They drove us around a bit and showed me the house and land where my great grandmother was raised, and also on a map the area where my family comes from. They can trace it back to 1658! I got to walk along the Baltic Sea, and even test the waters a bit, and tomorrow I am looking forward to going to a maritime museum here in Karlskrona. Driving in here the town looks like it is floating on the water, because it is so close to the sea. Apparently there is very little tide here so I guess everyone is safe until global warming sets in... Also have been chatting a ton with my third? cousin who just came back for a 4 month sailing trip on the Götenburg III from Shanghai to Singapore. Very Exciting!
In Which I Learn the Swedes like to Sing with their Schnapps!
Hello to everybody again and
Happy New Years!
I am still enjoying Sweden, and we have been lucky as far as weather goes. My grandmother insisted before we came that this was the worst time to go to Sweden because it rains all the time! But so far I was happy to report (knock on wood) that while it has rained a little bit, not while I have been out walking around.
The Christmas Season was definitely full! They basically celebrate it three times, little Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, and Christmas day (which although is not as big a party, still has its fair share of fish) I thought I'd share some of the foods that I've tried since being here: reindeer, eel, pickled, fried, and smoked herring, caviar...in a tube and out, cheese in a tube, home made mustard (which I did myself!) anchovied scalloped potatoes, sweet cheese (pudding type thing), lutfisk, and lutfisk pudding (lutfisk is made by soaking fish in lye for a while and then in water...giving it a rather slimy, and I though unpleasant, result), fried cabbage, jul ol ( a Christmas beer), julmost (a Christmas soda), and glugg (a Christmas hot spiced wine). Another exciting first included meeting Santa Claus who came to our door on Christmas eve complete with a sack full of presents for the children, of which I am still included.
Since I last wrote I have finally made it out of tiny Eslöv to Kristianstad (pronounced kri-wans-ta) and also to Gothenberg (pronounced ye-ter-boy) I know crazy! Anyways, Kristianstad was beautiful! I visited an Great Aunt of mine, and we went out for lunch and looked around a beautiful church. They have this tradition of lighting candles for loved ones who have passes, so we light a candle for my Morfar (grandfather on mum's side) and placed it in the special holder with all the others. (which is basically this round iron ring with a large candle in the middle and spots for others around it) Anyways, this aunt of mine, Ija is here name, is a little odd... her apartment looks like a museum though with antiques everywhere, its gorgeous!
Next off to Gothenberg where I connected with a couple, 80+ years old, who are quite possible the most energetic of anyone here. They drove me all around the city, and out walked my grandmother (who is ten years their junior...) We went to the Universeum which follows a Swedish stream from Northern Sweden. It was great because I got to see all the wildlife and fish from up there. And since I won't get to that part of Sweden this was much appreciated! We also went to a place called the Feskekyrka (which means Fish Church). It has no biblical ties, other that the fact that it is built like a church on the outside. The inside however is a fish market! Beautiful fish, and every kind imaginable, including eels! and humongous Arctic Crab! We had lunch here, where I got a shrimp sandwich which definitely came with more shrimp than bread...
Too soon, back to Eslöv for New Years Eve. New Year's is huge here, everyone plans way ahead of time and goes to all sorts of fancy parties and such, and me, who just crashed in on everyone, of course didn't have any plans.... so I spent the evening with my grandmother and my great grandmother! woo hoo! But actually it turned out all right. I got a little nervous when they opened the champagne at 10 in case they couldn't stay up till midnight, but they both made it and we were given a fantastic fireworks show! Literally the most amazing show that I've ever seen. Everyone over hear just stocks up on fireworks and shoots them all off at midnight. Well actually they were going off right away when it was dark, but the real show started at about quarter to midnight, and lasted till everyone was burnt out. The sky above Eslöv was alight with hundreds of fireworks, 360' around me all I could see was colourful lights raining down. It sounded like a war had broken out, but it looked amazing!
Today I spent finding some of my grandmothers memories, including a duck pond... and a rock which apparently used to be able to have 100 men standing on it, but now holds maybe 5... We also drove all around the countryside, and despite the fact that I was repeatedly being told how beautiful it is in the summer when all the fields are full of flowers and the trees are green and everything is beautiful, I enjoyed it anyways, and fully appreciated the only barely "rolling" hills of the countryside. The fields were green and the hundreds of windmills were blowing and the sky was even blue! (like I said, I've been lucky with the weather, because later than afternoon the storm clouds rolled in and everything looked more than a little grey.)
So now I am looking forward to a trip back into Copenhagen to pick up my mother from the airport. She will be joining us here until I depart for Paris. It will be excited to have someone else who speaks my language, and I will have the added bonus of having her complete the generation gap. I now will have have my great grandmother, grandmother, mother and me here in Sweden!
Hope everything is great with everyone of you and I wish you the best in this New Year!
Happy New Years!
I am still enjoying Sweden, and we have been lucky as far as weather goes. My grandmother insisted before we came that this was the worst time to go to Sweden because it rains all the time! But so far I was happy to report (knock on wood) that while it has rained a little bit, not while I have been out walking around.
The Christmas Season was definitely full! They basically celebrate it three times, little Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, and Christmas day (which although is not as big a party, still has its fair share of fish) I thought I'd share some of the foods that I've tried since being here: reindeer, eel, pickled, fried, and smoked herring, caviar...in a tube and out, cheese in a tube, home made mustard (which I did myself!) anchovied scalloped potatoes, sweet cheese (pudding type thing), lutfisk, and lutfisk pudding (lutfisk is made by soaking fish in lye for a while and then in water...giving it a rather slimy, and I though unpleasant, result), fried cabbage, jul ol ( a Christmas beer), julmost (a Christmas soda), and glugg (a Christmas hot spiced wine). Another exciting first included meeting Santa Claus who came to our door on Christmas eve complete with a sack full of presents for the children, of which I am still included.
Since I last wrote I have finally made it out of tiny Eslöv to Kristianstad (pronounced kri-wans-ta) and also to Gothenberg (pronounced ye-ter-boy) I know crazy! Anyways, Kristianstad was beautiful! I visited an Great Aunt of mine, and we went out for lunch and looked around a beautiful church. They have this tradition of lighting candles for loved ones who have passes, so we light a candle for my Morfar (grandfather on mum's side) and placed it in the special holder with all the others. (which is basically this round iron ring with a large candle in the middle and spots for others around it) Anyways, this aunt of mine, Ija is here name, is a little odd... her apartment looks like a museum though with antiques everywhere, its gorgeous!
Next off to Gothenberg where I connected with a couple, 80+ years old, who are quite possible the most energetic of anyone here. They drove me all around the city, and out walked my grandmother (who is ten years their junior...) We went to the Universeum which follows a Swedish stream from Northern Sweden. It was great because I got to see all the wildlife and fish from up there. And since I won't get to that part of Sweden this was much appreciated! We also went to a place called the Feskekyrka (which means Fish Church). It has no biblical ties, other that the fact that it is built like a church on the outside. The inside however is a fish market! Beautiful fish, and every kind imaginable, including eels! and humongous Arctic Crab! We had lunch here, where I got a shrimp sandwich which definitely came with more shrimp than bread...
Too soon, back to Eslöv for New Years Eve. New Year's is huge here, everyone plans way ahead of time and goes to all sorts of fancy parties and such, and me, who just crashed in on everyone, of course didn't have any plans.... so I spent the evening with my grandmother and my great grandmother! woo hoo! But actually it turned out all right. I got a little nervous when they opened the champagne at 10 in case they couldn't stay up till midnight, but they both made it and we were given a fantastic fireworks show! Literally the most amazing show that I've ever seen. Everyone over hear just stocks up on fireworks and shoots them all off at midnight. Well actually they were going off right away when it was dark, but the real show started at about quarter to midnight, and lasted till everyone was burnt out. The sky above Eslöv was alight with hundreds of fireworks, 360' around me all I could see was colourful lights raining down. It sounded like a war had broken out, but it looked amazing!
Today I spent finding some of my grandmothers memories, including a duck pond... and a rock which apparently used to be able to have 100 men standing on it, but now holds maybe 5... We also drove all around the countryside, and despite the fact that I was repeatedly being told how beautiful it is in the summer when all the fields are full of flowers and the trees are green and everything is beautiful, I enjoyed it anyways, and fully appreciated the only barely "rolling" hills of the countryside. The fields were green and the hundreds of windmills were blowing and the sky was even blue! (like I said, I've been lucky with the weather, because later than afternoon the storm clouds rolled in and everything looked more than a little grey.)
So now I am looking forward to a trip back into Copenhagen to pick up my mother from the airport. She will be joining us here until I depart for Paris. It will be excited to have someone else who speaks my language, and I will have the added bonus of having her complete the generation gap. I now will have have my great grandmother, grandmother, mother and me here in Sweden!
Hope everything is great with everyone of you and I wish you the best in this New Year!
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