Back In Vic

Wow! I'm am back in Victoria finally, and am not sure if I will ever leave again! (well, yes I will, it would be very hard not to considering that I work on a boat) However, after having cancelled flights both ways and a hour delay at the last ferry (that I shouldn't have had to take if my flight wasn't cancelled) I have realized that I either have very bad karma, or someone is out to get me! On the up side my door was just knocked on and it was my bag that I had to abandon in Vancouver so I could catch the ferry (that ended up being an hour late)

Chartwork, Check

Exciting news! I got a call from Transport Canada this morning saying that I had passed my chart work exam. I felt good about the exam when I was finished writing it, but it's always nice to know for sure. That's one down out of 5 that I need to write for my 150 Tonne Masters Ticket (or actually I just learned that it should be referred to as a certificate of competency and it is a major faux pas to call it a "ticket")

It's a love hate relationship

So I love the snow, it makes the city look pretty and makes me feel like Christmas, however, not being able to drive into one's own driveway because you can't shovel it because the city is out of shovels isn't as much fun, good thing I have friendly neighbours. Also when your flights get canceled its kind of a bummer, and even if the snow makes me feel like Christmas, it definitely won't feel like Christmas if I never make it to where Christmas is, which is Calgary. Here's to hoping that the direct flight will prove better luck than the stopover in Vancouver....

Oh the weather outside is Frightful...

1100H

If you're from Victoria.... I however will take this opportunity to say that I did not grow up in this tropical island city and I can drive in the snow and no you should NOT slam on your brakes when you start to slide! and yes there are still two lanes even if you can't see the dotted line anymore...


I even hauled myself out of bed to be at my yoga class at 0730 to find that whoever had the keys to the studio couldn't get here, so the class had been canceled and they would still be running the 0930 class if I could come back, which I did. And still there were only about 10 people.

Now you are probably thinking that snow if Victoria, does not constitute of "real snow." Well you're right, it will probably be gone by the end of the day, which is why I'm not shoveling my driveway or the sidewalk! I passed at least 30 people out busy shoveling their drives on my way home from yoga. But why? I ask. It's gonna melt and you can get your car out already! Here's some props to the true Victoria who I saw on their bicycle at 730 this morning!


In any case, it started snowing last night and this morning I woke up to a beautiful blanket of white crispness, yes the crunchy kind, and I had to brush off my car (with my mitts, cause who owns a ice scraper here anyways?) Reminds me of Christmas. What a perfect day for the SALTS Christmas party! We are even going caroling in a horse drawn wagon!

1321H

Correction: I was just informed that the Christmas party has been postponed until further notice...

One Down and One to Go...

So, today was the final day of my "Simulated Electronic Navigation" course at Camosun. The thing with having a class that is a one week (five days) intensive, all day long class, is that you are taught new information on the last day and then expected to write the final (50% of your mark) the last three hours of class.... well I passed, no problems, and I felt confident during the exams as well which is always a good sign. Although I have to say that I have a beef with Transport Canada courses because there were definitely some people in that room who got their certificate who maybe shouldn't have.... I figure if I'm answering peoples questions on how to plot a LAT/LONG and do a simple 60D=ST time formula, then maybe they shouldn't be certified to do advanced radar plotting....just a thought.
So next week I have one more class and then I'm done formal school for a bit and onto more self study for some other Transport Canada Exams, the first of which is actually this coming Monday! Ack!

Other than being back in the school/reading/study mode I have been getting immense enjoyment out of a Bikram Yoga class that I started trying out. Basically it is yoga in a room heated to 105 degrees with about 50-55% humidity. It brings me right back to offshore when you are lying in your bunk and feel the sweat pooling....Okay I know that sounds gross and who in their right mind would voluntarily put themselves through exercise in a heated room, but I LOVE it!

Bay Street's First Christmas!

Hey Mom, Here you go. I only really decorated the fireplace room because I am working in the other one right now. I haven't got the outside lights up yet, but I hope to this weekend!

Its Christmas Time!

Okay, for all of you out there who believe that Christmas should not start until the end of December, humbug on you! As a kid we always used to decorate the first weekend in December, after a HUGE housecleaning of course, it was like the reward for cleaning the whole house top to bottom, and hauling all the boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations up from the basement... sneaky sneaky pull a Tom Sawyer mom.... "It's fun!"
Okay, actually it was, I remember my friends being shocked at the transformation that would occur. We even changed our doilies and tablecloths; we added trim in the kitchen and bathroom! Although we didn't go as far as my Swedish relatives who change their curtains for the holidays, and one of my aunts even sets aside an entire room of her house and makes it into a little winter wonderland complete with fake snow and a train set!
Back to the point. I got Christmassy today and listened to Christmas music all day (there is already a radio station playing only Christmas music; 106.5fm) and I put out the few decorations and lights I had. I made rye bread, chocolate chip cookies, sweet almonds, shortbread, and drum roll please....swedish MEATBALLS! I officially feel like Christmas, I have a poinsetta, I have lights inside, and I'm getting ready to put them up outside too, and my house is clean, except the room that I started refinishing woodtrim in (don't ask me why I decided to start this project now). I have been procrastinating this for a while now, and I finally got the scraper out and bought a sander and I'm ready to keep plowing away tomorrow.


Have a Happy Holiday Season Everyone!

I'm on a roll!

Wow, it's been a while since I have updated my blog. However I will have to make this short as my computer is acting up... first it was the disc drive and now it's the space button on the keyboard. I have to hit it really hard to ensure a space every time and it makes for tiring typing! Wow!

November on the Island

O.k. today marks halfway through November and I was in SHORTS!! And I still have flowers blooming in my garden, not just blooms left, but still blooming! Despite that I have been thinking that it seems to be getting colder every day, and then thinking that I was a wuss for thinking that, didn't I grow up in Prince George??!!



I was very thankful today to wake up and see blue skies and sunshine. My much neglected yard has needed some attention and today was a perfect day for it. I managed to get the majority of my leaves piled up and ready for pick up...I'm pretty sure that Victoria spends as much money on leaf removal as Prince George does on snow! I also took a load of cuttings, etc, and the last of the random objects lying around my property to be mulched/recycled/garbage.

Paint Colours and Reno's

Finally back on the blog, for those of you far away, here are some pics of the paint coulours before and after (the green and purple are the after shots) I still haven't gotten around the scraping off all of the last persons messy paint job, but at least the house is clean and not robin's egg blue anymore!

Victoria, Hardy, Ukee

O.k. so I've dropped the ball on the whole blog thing...but life is less exciting when I'm not trapezing around the ocean... Well actually I guess I still am, just in a less exotic and tropical setting. However something that I have realized is how lucky I am to have the chance to sail around the the coast of BC and specifically a chance to come to the west coast of the island every year. After spending time in these tiny, (and often times wet) west coast towns of Port Hardy and Uclulet and seeing all the tourists, foreign and local, coming here for their holidays... I learn to forgive the weather and enjoy the beauty for what it is. It's so easy to forget that what I spend my everyday doing and seeing is a holiday for the rest of the world.
We leave on our last summer trip on wednesday, its hard to believe that this summer season is already over, the fall goes by so fast...

Tahsis

O.k. So Tahsis. A beautiful little spot on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I stayed in a cabin in Daffodil Bay (and don't let the word cabin confuse you, it was really more like a house, but it was made of logs and not my house, so therefore I am going to call it a cabin) In any case, we caught some fish, dug some clams, picked some oysters, paddled some kayaks, and had a fantastic time. Pics are up in my web albums.

New Fun From Facebook

Or at least its fun when you are so beyond tired, but you drank too much coffee that day and can't sleep....Create a Cartoon Image of Yourself...or at least you can try. Here's mine:

The Prince Update...

Haha, just kidding, no I didn't find my prince charming... however I have had a couple weeks with Prince George just hanging with my family and my dog, etc.

It's been crazy adjusting back to life on land, really busy (I bought a house!)and really relaxing (thank you SALTS for the massage and pedicure!) and I have to say that after last offshore I was missing the boat and the life terribly, but this time I'm not as much and I think the difference is that I know that I will be going back and that those people (because that really what you are missing) will be around and in touch and thats an exciting prospect.
I realized when I came up here that all my close friends have now moved away (actually closer to Vic, if not in Vic) which is good, except when I come back here to visit. It did allow me however to spend some quality time with the fam: bbq's, going to the lake, camping, getting my wisdom tooth out (wait that wasn't so much fun!), walking the dog, movies, etc.

The weather was great, sort of, until it started pouring rain at the most unexpected moments. For example, when my sister and I had pitched the tent (with no tarp of course) and spent a beautiful afternoon laying in the camp chairs and swimming (yes, swimming in the northern lakes, it was that hot! and remember I'm used to the warm waters of the south pacific, and the somewhat cooler waters of Hawaii...)then just as we light the fire it starts pouring cats and dogs on us as we scramble around trying to get the tarp up and the wood out of the rain. No joke, we watched the rain come over the lake like a squall in the middle of the Pacific!; or the next night when all of a sudden we get these thundershowers and lightening...out of nowhere! (we were not camping anymore at this point)

Next up, back south for Cirque, Salmon, Storage Lockers, and Sailing... I'll keep you posted.

Where I've Been

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All Hands

A little somethings I was having fun with on leg seven of this past offshore. I saw a spread in Irving Johnson's Book, Sailing to See call "All Hands" and wanted to try it out for myself. For those of you who would call themselves a land lubber we give a call of "all hands ...." to perform various tasks around the boat, most often "all hands on deck to raise sail"



Click on the slideshow to view my picassa albumns and see the pictures in larger format.

Home Sweet? Home

I have returned! We came home to an amazing amount of support on the dock and after a lovely ceremony and being lovingly mobbed for an hour or two I packed up all my things and am officially off the boat until the end of July. It was fantastic to see everyone's face once again and I look forward to spending time with every one! Love to you all, Sarah.

PT At Last

Wow, so excited to be in Port Townsend again. I have very nostalgic feelings toward this place since I first visited it last offshore and so enjoy its artsy, nautical, laid back lifestyle. The last passage was a fantastic one, even if it did have want for a little more wind, we ended the passage with a four or so days of great sailing and some of the calmest waters that I have ever experience offshore (save for PNG maybe...) Looking forward to a few slow days enjoying and soaking up the last of our time out here. Can't wait to see you all!

Made it, and leaving again...

Hi to everyone whose following my travels,
We made it to Hawaii finally, and I haven't had any time to write or update or upload pictures. It has been incredibly busy here, a lot of work to do, and three work days full of refinishing, painting, etc. We didn't quite finish it all up, so the days inbetween the legs were full of finishing up all the work that was left over. I had a fantastic time with my sisters and was so excited to be sailing with them for the first time all three of us were sailing together. Oh yes, we crossed the entire Pacific Ocean as well, almost ran of out of fuel/food, stopped at Midway (an off limits island) managed not to get shat upon by the 2 million albatross that live there and I performed in a sweet awesome band called Scupper 2 Scupper (more on this later, and yes to all you leg 3'rs of 03/04 who remember this sweet awesome band, I know I ripped you off and I know I infringed on your labels copyright.)
Off ot Kauai now maybe I'll get a chance at a computer there, but most likely not, see you all in a month in Victoria!

love Sarah.

Pictures From Himeji and Kyoto

After much Anticipation! my sisters arrived in Japan and we spent a couple of days just hanging out and visiting castles and temples and gardens! We had a lot of fun and now its time to leave for the warmer waters of Hawaii!

The Three Sisters
Himeji
Scarf Lady on the Path of Philosphy
Girls in Scarves
Bridge Shot
Nanzenji Temple Garden

Leg 5 Over...

Well this leg is officially over. It is hard to believe that another one has flown by so quickly. I am definately excitedly looking forward to this next one, and as always, sad to see some great people leave the boat. My watch was amazing this leg. Way to go PORT WATCH!
Some highlights to look forward to now? My sisters are coming! Cannot wait to sail with them for this passage, it is gonna be a long one... Also back to the warmer waters of Hawaii. It is funny really that in the warmer weather we shower more because its nice out and the water is warm, (we definately need to because of the ridiculous amount of sweat...)but in the colder weather we just think its okay to stay dirty longer because why again?? In any case I am in desperate need and am excited that my sisters have booked a hotel. I love the bathhouses dont get me wrong, but the whole concept of a private shower is still a luxury!

A Couple of Pictures From China

Susan and I at the Night Market


The Great Wall


Me at The Great Wall


Gill and Susan eat Street Meat


My Lovely Port Watch

Back In Shanghai

I'm a real man now, I've climbed the Great Wall. Interesting statistic...if you took apart the wall and re-built it 5 metres high and one metre wide it could circle the Earth. I climbed the part from Jinshanling to Simitai. It was beautiful and not crowded at all so I think I got some great pics...although I can't actually view my blog in China because of some censorship laws I think so I will wait until Japan to post more pictures.
Shanghai is a great city, full of life, but so polluted...my lungs feel coated with grime and I'm sure that the life span here must be shorter because of it. The Yangtze River is disgusting as well, we even saw a fetal pig float by with the umbilical cord still attatched... gross. The water is this sick grey brown and when pumping the head or washing the decks down with it, you can see the discolouration as well. I'll be glad to head back to Japan where everything is a lot cleaner. It has been impossible top find shower or laundry facilities here. A lot of people have rented hotel rooms, so I stole a shower from one of the girls' room, so at least now I feel cleaner.
But don't get me wrong, China is great, and it would be fun to come back and travel around for a while and explore some of the south and western parts...maybe in the summer...

Shanghai to Bejing, thank goodness....

So we finally made it to Shanghai. The passage over was a little longer than expected, and more than one catastrophic event happened, I think there was almost one for every day at sea! The first morning out I noticed that the anchor had loosed itself and was hanging inboard by the lifelines....oops, good thing it was the windward anchor and not the leeward one which would have fell into the water instead of the boat.
Then, the stove broke... so we rigged it up with a fire-bucket over the stove pipe so it would stop blowing itself out, although I think that even after that it still isn't cooking quite right and Katie and Gillian are most likely beyond frustrated, but they are putting on a very good face!
Then, forestay broke...I was actually on watch for this too, and it wasnt the forestay exactly, it was the bail (big 1-2in steel ring) that snapped in half. I was standing back in the stern as per usual, and we heard something and notice the main gaff jump, we all immediatly looked up and couldn't find anything wrong, even under scrutiny of the binoculars, but no wonder we couldn't find anything, we were looking at the wrong part of the ship. It was waaay up forward the stay that holds the masts forward that had come down and was now trailing along in the water. Jordan finally noticed about an hour later as he went aloft to untangle a flag halyard on the foremast. That took a bit to fix, and we couldn't go anywhere in the meantime, we had to back off our engines and just heave to while we rigged up some temporary forestays.
Then there was the maze of fish boats and deep seas to navigate through. We were all on watch for a part of this. My top numbers where more than 60 boats visable to me on deck, plus another 20-30 being monitored electronically! Did I mention this was all in the middle of the night! The fish boats where especially scary beacause they didn't really pay attention to anything like right of way or collision regulations, they would just dart out in front of you in all directions trailing nets, to boot.
Then, the hydraulic lines broke, I was actually asleep for this, but Bonice's long will attest to all the mess than this made.
Now, just so you don't all think that I am a lazy but...I was sleeping because I was sick and so exhausted I couldn't function anymore. I left Okinawa with a mild sore throat that went away, but the next day it started developing into more of a chest infection and then a head cold and then standing watch for four hours in the middle of every night eventually just took it all out of me. So it was a good thing that Jordan was able to stand watch for me that night. But don't feel sorry for just me, all the crew had been sick to some degree or another on that passage.

Now I am in Bejing, after leaving Shanghai last night on the overnight train. Today I saw the Forbidden City (beautiful and just as elaborate, and intricately overdone as Verasaille, or at least it kind of reminded me of that) Tiananmen Square, some shopping markets, the night market (where we bought dinner) the Bejing Opera, and tomorrow we are off to the Great Wall. Highlights of the trip were definately the hot shower that I go to have today (first shower since the bath house in Okinawa, and no China has no such thing...)
But really its a lucky thing we got here at all. I hadn't been into Shanghai yet, between trying to rest and ships keep the first day and half in Shanghai, so I let other peopl buy my tickets and arrange hostels... that'll teach me for not taking responsibility for my own travel arrangements. We ended up going the wrong way of the metro, finding the right way (which turned out to be the wrong way, and we should've gone to the first way) because we ended up at the wrong railway station, and had to book it in a taxi to find our train, and then make it with minutes to spare, pheww! sigh of relief.

Lessons learned:

1) always wear shoes to the head (Jose...)
2) always bring your own toilet paper
3) be prepared to detach street vendors from your person if you don't want to buy what they have offered
4)Chinese beer tastes like "Perrier Natural Springs"
5)if you go months in flip flops, your feet will change shape, and your runners won't fit, and then you will get blisters, so bring bandaids....

Waves at the Fifth Level

Well as you can gather I am still in Okinawa...we have been waiting for the weather for what seems like forever, but it has also worked in our favour as well with a myriad of things that have come up. I have spent more time at the hospital than I ever wanted to, but everyones got the drugs they need, and the sore throats and weird tropical skin things that offshore is so famous for are all well on their way to healing.

The forecast lately has been for 4-6 metre seas (12-20 feet) abd 30-40 knots of wind...we do NOT want to be out in a gale like that, but things are starting to calm down now, so hopefully its off to sea tomorrow.

I have enjoyed Japan thoroughly and am excited to return at the end of this leg, but I am definately looking forward to being back at sea and something new in China. We get to sail up the Yangtzee River into the heart of Shanghai, which will be unbelievable if my imagination comes true.

Some notes on the Japanese:
- they are extremely organized (there are four different kinds garbage cans and even your monorail tickets end up in the trash, Paris could learn from this!)
- everything is very quiet (a downtown busy intersection sounds like a quiet suburban one in Canada, they really know how to make mufflers I guess)
- they are fastidiously clean (and I, a dirty sailor, am cleaner for it as well)
- when it come to presentation they cant be beat ( I dont even mind all the excessive packaging beacuse their disposal system is so good)
- everyone dresses very well (or at least what the magazines say is well...)
- they live longer, and look younger (our engineer lisaon is 70-somthing, and I wouldnt have guess him a day over 45)

Okinawa

Made it to Japan finally and am definately fed up with japanese keyboards already, however the rest of the country is amazing so far, and I have definately had some different cultural experiences already.

The first night I went out to eat we found some really traditional Okinawan style food, which is different from Japanese. It would be comparable to a Japanese/Chinese blend. Some of the more distinct dishes I tried were：rafute - a local dish once served in the Ryukyu court which is pork (complete with fat slab still on top) in a sauce of ginger, brown sugar, soya sauce, and awamori. Awamori is the local firewater 30%-60% and has a Habu snake coiled in the bottom... another dish was mimiga - raw pigs ears sliced very thinly and marinated in vinegar. You mix this one around with the vinegar, ginger and bean sprouts and cruch up; it is served cold.

The next day was shower day...Japanese style. I visited the local bathhouse. It was great, and I think it would be very healthy for north american body image ideals. It is definately one of the best experiences I have had and will do it again. There were all these hot pools with jets (including a bedae style one) and electrodes, along with a cold pool and three different hot rooms, wet heat, dry heat, and a salt scrub/exfoliation sauna. Before you go into any of these though, you must clean yourself thoroughly at one of the little vanity stations along the wall. There is a very small stool) quite slippery once you are soaped up... along with shower head, tap and bucket, water temperature control, soap, etc.

It was lovely and I do not think I have felt this clean since before I left Victoria!!!

Monkeying Around at Tarzan Falls

I've had some fantastic days here in Guam. It's been such a treat to be somewhere that English is spoken fluently, I can find food brands that I recognize, and I'm not worried about my personal safety at all.
If there is a downfall to Guam its that you really can't get around without a car, hitchhiking only takes you so far.
I've had two really fabulous days with some memorable moments inbetween.
The first day: We rented a car and decided to drive around the southern half of the island and find some adventure. Initially we were going to head to Talofofo Falls, but after finding out you had to pay $20 to get in, we decided to find our own fun. The southern drive is extremely scenic and beautiful with some definite "aahh" moments as we came over the edge of different hills with pretty views. At one lookout that we stopped at, we decided to try and "summit" the hill next door, so 4 of 6 of us headed across the road to look for a way up. We found one in the end with much scrambling and grabbing of grass and tree trunks as we lost our footing as the ground slipped out from under us or into large but hidden holes. We did make it to the top (after a wasp sting or two and some serious grass cuts) and the view was amazing, you could feel all the wind just blowing past you, almost to the point you could just fall into it and it would hold you up on the top of the hill. Coming back down was slightly more treacherous as we slid on our feet...or our butts most of the way down again.
Next stop was Tarzan Falls. Another fault of Guam is non-visible road signs. The sign for this turn off was brown (blending in nicely) and only about 1x2 feet big. We were a little nervous as we looked at the stats of the hike down to the falls. There were 1.4 miles, 300ft elevation change, and 3 hours! In the end we figured out it must have been 3 hours total, with a stop to swim. It essentially a road down to the falls, although I didn't dare take the rental car offroading.... and an amazing set of falls over cliffs of slate-like looking rock. It did remind me of Tarzan actually. We pranced all around and showered/rinsed off in the fresh water (since he no longer have a hose at the dock anymore since we are now moored alongside the outside of three barges and have quite the traverse across and not enough hose to make the distance). Overall great day!
The second great day was yesterday. I spent most of the day with another Sara (in my watch) and we drove out to the northern most point of the island, fantastic limestone cliffs and then down south and did a beautiful hike out to Sella Bay where there is a freshwater stream flowing out into the ocean, some pretty snorkeling, shade and palm trees and wild orchids everywhere. This one felt really special becuase it wasn't in the Lonely Planet, we picked it up from a local dive magazine. It felt more secret and "local" than some of the other more touristy spots. The day was capped off with Vietnamese with Karen as well and then a great chick flisk called "P.S. I love you" It was a gooder! To anyone who gets the chance I highly recommend it. A good laugh/cry-er!
Now the last day will be spend lounging around the Sheraton pool, unless of course we get kicked out and maybe one last matinee before we take back out to sea.

Photos

K, So I put some photos from the last leg on my picassa web albums...It's so much of a pain to upload them here right now, even the fast internet is being slow....

Well so far so good....although I started last leg good as well. We've made it to Guam after sailing the majority of the way from Micronesia. It's such a great sound when the engines turn off. Silence! We were also on a starboard tack which means that I wasn't falling out of my bunk most of the time. I was blessed with some beautiful clear skies at night and could see both the southern cross and the big dipper in the same sky. This passage was filled up with lessons, now that most of our trainees are feeling more up to combating their seasickness. The more time you spend at sea I think the quicker you get over any queasy feelings...although this is not true for everyone unfortunately.

Arrival in Guam reminds me a lot of Hawaii. It is definitely the most north American style place we've been yet, which is good and bad. At first I had hesitations coming here because I didn't want to ruin my south pacific ideal, however, there are some amazing beaches and surf spots and hikes to check out, not to mention some amazing coral dives that I've heard about. In Micronesia I did a couple of wreck dives, and while great, I think I appreciate coral/critters more than decomposing artifacts. The dive in Chuuk could also be slightly tainted by the poor organization of the dive charter. It was a bit of a gong show with about 8 divers to one dive master and one light going inside very dark wrecks. The dive master would go in first and then leave before everyone had a chance to see inside, so if you were last then you didn't get to see much...

It's nice to be docked, although we are a ways away from town (about 10k) so hitch hiking is the preferred method of choice right now, although we're looking at renting a car. Can't wait to fit in some last warm water snorkelling and diving before heading north to China! I'm literally taking the slow boat to China. One trainee also had a brilliant idea, of getting a bucket of dirt and slowing scooping out a bit everyday, that way he could say "I dug a hole to China!"

Hello From FSM

That's the Federated States of Micronesia, for those of you who are wondering where abouts I am these days. We are currently on the island of Chuuk, and although the lonely planet warned us of sketchy characters in and around these parts, we had to come here to clear in through customs and wanted to take advantage of the mecca of diveable wrecks (about 60) that are around here. I am planning some diving on Saturday. A few more warm water dives will be wonderful before heading into the northern parts of the Pacific. So far so good though, all the people seem overly friendly...although the cat calls and whistles are less than appreciated, mostly you can ignore them , or at least get used to them and tune them out. Like any place though, the bigger cities always have more problems and when you get to some of the outer islands, the whole group mentalily of a people can change entirely, hopefully we will have a chance to explore at least one of the outer islands before we leave Micronesia.
The passage over her from PNG was great. We turned North on the compass which was momentous in itself. It was slightly longer than expected, but mostly because we were delayed leaving PNG for two days waiting for them to round up enough American cash for us to leave with.... The new group of trainees are fantastic and really excited to be onboard. Our first passage was 6 days. A good length, long enough for them to get sea sick and then get over it. It's better if they can get over it the first time so that the next time we go out and they start to feel sick they know that there is and end to it. A wise skipper once said: "there are three stages to sea sickness, first you feel sick, second, you think you might die, and third you think you might now die!" I was not sick this passage.
King Nepute came to visit this passage as we crossed the Equator...as is his duty to meet everyone who crosses his line and turn them from greenhorn to shellbacks. As I was already aquainted with Neptune I was part of his court this time. King Neptune made a dramatic appearance out of the whisker shrouds, trident first and all the trainees trembled in fear as they bowed to this green and baggy wrinkle bearded "god" The trainees all had to prove their worth to Neptune by passing his challanges ( licking peanut butter off a clear plastic board, blowing raw eggs through a hose, eating raw onions, witholding the most tabasco sauce poured onto their tongues drip by drip, and pushing noodles with their noses through slop filled decks). They were also glamourously made up with a special paste in their armpits by his highnesses wife and concubine Amphitrite and Nautilis. Fun was had by all and the decks warranted a thorough cleaning once he'd left.
I have officially done more night runs this leg than I have in my entire SALTS career (when I say night runs, I mean actually staying up for the full 4 hours of a watch shift and taking the con, so to speak) I really enjoy them mostly, although it takes a bit to figure out when you can catch up on the sleep that you've missed between all the other things that fill your day, like meals, dishes, sail handeling, teaching, reading, etc. The best nights are always when the stars are out. I was on 2000 to 2400 and then 0400 to 0800 this passage and was thrilled to be able to see both the southern cross and the big dipper in the sky at the same time for a period on one of my last nights. The sea at night is beautiful. I love being inside this snowglobe like dome of stars and having them be your light on the water. We haven't had even the moon lately to light our nights, so it's been very dark and peaceful.
Everyone is looking forward to the comforts of Guam and an Americanized port. It's odd really. We come out on the water to try and get away from all that, but the minute that we have a chance to get back to it, we take it. It's really comforting to have the ease of home for a little while, but I'm sure that we will all be glad to move onto China as well.