Thoughts on Music.
There are 4 people in my life with the best taste in music. EVER. They also have a degree of COOL that is incomparable.
Mike Wurn, Mike Prusaitis, Jesika Rowley & Ian Spain
Who I'm listening to lately: Lots of Postal Service and Merry Prankster and Heavenly. I'll be looking for some Adam Green cd's soon.
Yeah, I'm using real names now. So far I haven't pissed anyone off (that I didn't want to, anyway). Except NANETTE BROWN-CLAMPITT who is actually pissed that I'm not writing about her MORE.
I'll still use code names sometimes. In more delicate situations.
Oh! Nate wrote me. He and Sara are herding sheep or something in Spain. Moving around a bit. And I heard that a Semester at Sea boat was hit by a rogue wave off Hawaii. I think it was NOT a sailing vessel though.
I've been having really spectacular dreams lately. Happy, fun, and of True Love, even. I had a dream where my high school boyfriend Richard and I were married, and having trouble, and he was very calming and straightforward, saying not to worry so much and that I should focus more on friendship rather than romance. It was so vivid that I thought maybe he'd died in real life and come to give me some last words of guidance or something! I thought I should email him, but it would probably freak him out, so I didn't. Richard is a LOT different now than he was 13 years ago. I had fantasized about going out with him again a few years ago, but we are completely different people, and not compatible. But back then - well, breaking up with him is unfortunately a regret in my life. Anyway, in the dream I felt such complete love - not just for him, but, I don't know, just total, complete love and happiness and contentment. I thought even though it was a dream, I've now experienced that. It was nice.
Pinch its Cheeks
The Bristol to Stamford transit during the BLIZZARD OF '05!!! Woo hoo!
but first, a few good quotes from the crew...
Sam L. on Bristol, RI: "This town is so cute I could just pinch its cheeks!"
Canuck Sara the cook on Gumby Suits: "I love the smell of neoprene in the morning"
And the adorable Chris Mancini wrote a lovely song called "Penguins of the Providence", but it's too long to post here and I don't remember all of it anyway.
Back to the transit...
gumby suits, -20 farenheit, 2 on, 2 off. Need I say more?
but first, a few good quotes from the crew...
Sam L. on Bristol, RI: "This town is so cute I could just pinch its cheeks!"
Canuck Sara the cook on Gumby Suits: "I love the smell of neoprene in the morning"
And the adorable Chris Mancini wrote a lovely song called "Penguins of the Providence", but it's too long to post here and I don't remember all of it anyway.
Back to the transit...
gumby suits, -20 farenheit, 2 on, 2 off. Need I say more?
Teletubbies at the Tiller
Hmmm, so is it going to be today, or WHAT? Captain says maybe.
We went out for italian last night. Had an awesome pizza with goat cheese, garlic and italian sausage. "Leos" in Bristol makes a fine red sauce.
Now the idea is to stand watch IN GUMBY SUITS.
This is NOT what I signed up for. Yesterday we got a full rundown on what happens if we end up in the freezing Atlantic. I know all this information is good to have. STILL....
So we all have brand spanking new survival suits. We loook like orange teletubbies. Sinky Winky. Cap is looking for ski goggles for us to wear. Have I mentioned that the quarterdeck has no bulwarks and rests about12 feet off the water's surface? No better place to soak up that wind chill.
Sam said "If I didn't die on Bounty, I'm not going to die on this boat!"
Rhett at the La France Cafe brought us some more dvds to watch. I walked all the way to Blockbuster yesterday (1.5 miles) and couldn't find a copy of Captain Ron for sale. Nobody on this boat has seen it!
Some old salts were brought aboard yesterday to speak with the captain about best course options... I hear there's an "inside passage" over here, too. Long Island Sound to Chesapeake Bay or something like that. We'll to that, OR we'll go way offshore. I hate to say it, but at this point I'm not totally comfortable being offshore. It'd be different if I was on the Lady. Everyone's like "we're not going to make Alabama on time, going six knots the whole way" but I said once we got some good wind and following seas we might double that. This IS the same hull as the Lady, is it not? They say Providence has never topped 11 knots, but she's never traveled much, either.
So... if you find yourself standing on a wharf in Long Island Sound or near Baltimore, look for an old fashioned sloop with a couple of 3 fingered orange aliens at the helm. We'll call her the S/V Hazmat.
We went out for italian last night. Had an awesome pizza with goat cheese, garlic and italian sausage. "Leos" in Bristol makes a fine red sauce.
Now the idea is to stand watch IN GUMBY SUITS.
This is NOT what I signed up for. Yesterday we got a full rundown on what happens if we end up in the freezing Atlantic. I know all this information is good to have. STILL....
So we all have brand spanking new survival suits. We loook like orange teletubbies. Sinky Winky. Cap is looking for ski goggles for us to wear. Have I mentioned that the quarterdeck has no bulwarks and rests about12 feet off the water's surface? No better place to soak up that wind chill.
Sam said "If I didn't die on Bounty, I'm not going to die on this boat!"
Rhett at the La France Cafe brought us some more dvds to watch. I walked all the way to Blockbuster yesterday (1.5 miles) and couldn't find a copy of Captain Ron for sale. Nobody on this boat has seen it!
Some old salts were brought aboard yesterday to speak with the captain about best course options... I hear there's an "inside passage" over here, too. Long Island Sound to Chesapeake Bay or something like that. We'll to that, OR we'll go way offshore. I hate to say it, but at this point I'm not totally comfortable being offshore. It'd be different if I was on the Lady. Everyone's like "we're not going to make Alabama on time, going six knots the whole way" but I said once we got some good wind and following seas we might double that. This IS the same hull as the Lady, is it not? They say Providence has never topped 11 knots, but she's never traveled much, either.
So... if you find yourself standing on a wharf in Long Island Sound or near Baltimore, look for an old fashioned sloop with a couple of 3 fingered orange aliens at the helm. We'll call her the S/V Hazmat.
Icy Cold
Notes for today:
it's still cold in Bristol, RI. 4 degrees, I think.
Met a great guy named Noah here at the La France cafe. Check out his adventures at wholeearthadventures.com
The Beard says he's going to buy a sailboat and moor in Seattle. Why don't we start a new ex-Lady community at Shilshole?
Michael Kellick is on a cargo ship in Alaska. He's going to try and get hired for these Disney flicks being made in the Caribbean (word from Mark Griffin).
We are still waiting for a few more degrees to come our way. Like 60 of them maybe. I had to furl the inner jib and could practically break my fingers off by the end of that. Ever tried to take a shower in a balaclava and wool sweater? Don't work to well.
Love yas
it's still cold in Bristol, RI. 4 degrees, I think.
Met a great guy named Noah here at the La France cafe. Check out his adventures at wholeearthadventures.com
The Beard says he's going to buy a sailboat and moor in Seattle. Why don't we start a new ex-Lady community at Shilshole?
Michael Kellick is on a cargo ship in Alaska. He's going to try and get hired for these Disney flicks being made in the Caribbean (word from Mark Griffin).
We are still waiting for a few more degrees to come our way. Like 60 of them maybe. I had to furl the inner jib and could practically break my fingers off by the end of that. Ever tried to take a shower in a balaclava and wool sweater? Don't work to well.
Love yas
I'm down with L. Francis
I had first watch: midnight, 10 degrees farenheit. Icy deck. Freezing sleet and wind. Woohoo! Bring me that warmer horizon!
The alternator started smokin. Bristol, RI, here we come. Here we are. It's Herreshoff's hometown and he has museum here, but it's MLK day so I have to wait until tomorrow to check it out.
Chris is watching Kill Bill back at the boat. I found free internet! This is the first time that's happened since Peter Island in the BVI!!! I'm so freekin happy!
I'm going to go back to the sloop and find the leather punch and make myself a new sheath.
Pray for warmth!
The alternator started smokin. Bristol, RI, here we come. Here we are. It's Herreshoff's hometown and he has museum here, but it's MLK day so I have to wait until tomorrow to check it out.
Chris is watching Kill Bill back at the boat. I found free internet! This is the first time that's happened since Peter Island in the BVI!!! I'm so freekin happy!
I'm going to go back to the sloop and find the leather punch and make myself a new sheath.
Pray for warmth!
Sailorspeak
The crew is good. The cook has provisioned. I'm stoked to go!
Releathering jaws for Dizney:
Do not remove boom. Remove old leather and the two rusty plates holding the port side of the jaws together (big crack). Cut new leather, seine twine it into place, let it rain, let it freeze. Leather is now (kind of) molded to jaws. Do not bed nails or bolts. Just get that shit on there. Scream bloody murder at copper nails for a whole day. Take a day off. Hmm- on the cracked side the nails go in better! A little TOO easy (cracked, sitting in the rain for a year on the hard......you know what I'm getting at). Bolt metal plates back on and cross fingers? Bend on sail and voila! Movie-perfect.
So tomorrow we leave. Dizney sent us 3 bottles of champagne after harrassing us all day about the satellite phone not being hooked up and ready to go.
We watched Master & Commander last night and ate ribs from a place called "Smokey Bones".
We told a lot of "Ant" jokes. You have to think of words that have the word "ant" in them. Like this: A drunk and disorderly ant? "BelligerANT". A non-profit ant? GrANT. You get the picture.
I really have NO time for emails. Providence, RI is not conducive to public email access.
Suppposedly we're going to Norfolk, VA for showers and fuel.
Releathering jaws for Dizney:
Do not remove boom. Remove old leather and the two rusty plates holding the port side of the jaws together (big crack). Cut new leather, seine twine it into place, let it rain, let it freeze. Leather is now (kind of) molded to jaws. Do not bed nails or bolts. Just get that shit on there. Scream bloody murder at copper nails for a whole day. Take a day off. Hmm- on the cracked side the nails go in better! A little TOO easy (cracked, sitting in the rain for a year on the hard......you know what I'm getting at). Bolt metal plates back on and cross fingers? Bend on sail and voila! Movie-perfect.
So tomorrow we leave. Dizney sent us 3 bottles of champagne after harrassing us all day about the satellite phone not being hooked up and ready to go.
We watched Master & Commander last night and ate ribs from a place called "Smokey Bones".
We told a lot of "Ant" jokes. You have to think of words that have the word "ant" in them. Like this: A drunk and disorderly ant? "BelligerANT". A non-profit ant? GrANT. You get the picture.
I really have NO time for emails. Providence, RI is not conducive to public email access.
Suppposedly we're going to Norfolk, VA for showers and fuel.
Almost outta here
The internet access here is painfully slow, so I'm kind of writing to people/everyone in hopes that they might check the blog!
We don't sail until Saturday now - it's been a long week of maintenance/prep. We tuned the rig, and I've been working on re-leathering the jaws WITHOUT REMOVING THE BOOM FROM THE MAST, THANK YOU! Damn ALL copper nails!!!
The digital camera that Yuri sent is awesome, thanks again, Yuri. Everyone loves it and is using it and we're setting ourselves up for premium tech abilities.
Our last crew to arrive was Richard "Rusty" Rice, who has crewed aboard Niagara, Lady WA, Adventuress, Zodiac. He showed me pictures on his computer of Halie on Niagara, plus old pics of Captains Gary and Mason and Evil.
The crew is sleeping on board for the first time tonight. We have a lot of ideas: We've already laid out plans for a series of movies called Sailortown, with a Tom Waits style chantey opener, of which we will also have a kazoo version where we dance around with knees locked. The second version is the secret handshake for our new tall ship sailors union, or "Guild" as we prefer to call it. Tomorrow is our first day off. DAY OFF! Did you hear that? Yep it's true. Only one week and I get a day off! Sahhh weet!
Chris Mancini's jokes"
Why does snoop dogg carry an umbrella?
For Drizzle!
Why don't italians like jehova's witnesses?
Italians don't like NO witnesses!!!!!
gots to go.
We don't sail until Saturday now - it's been a long week of maintenance/prep. We tuned the rig, and I've been working on re-leathering the jaws WITHOUT REMOVING THE BOOM FROM THE MAST, THANK YOU! Damn ALL copper nails!!!
The digital camera that Yuri sent is awesome, thanks again, Yuri. Everyone loves it and is using it and we're setting ourselves up for premium tech abilities.
Our last crew to arrive was Richard "Rusty" Rice, who has crewed aboard Niagara, Lady WA, Adventuress, Zodiac. He showed me pictures on his computer of Halie on Niagara, plus old pics of Captains Gary and Mason and Evil.
The crew is sleeping on board for the first time tonight. We have a lot of ideas: We've already laid out plans for a series of movies called Sailortown, with a Tom Waits style chantey opener, of which we will also have a kazoo version where we dance around with knees locked. The second version is the secret handshake for our new tall ship sailors union, or "Guild" as we prefer to call it. Tomorrow is our first day off. DAY OFF! Did you hear that? Yep it's true. Only one week and I get a day off! Sahhh weet!
Chris Mancini's jokes"
Why does snoop dogg carry an umbrella?
For Drizzle!
Why don't italians like jehova's witnesses?
Italians don't like NO witnesses!!!!!
gots to go.
Baseball meets Hanukkah
My friend aboard a favorite boat of mine had this to say about my other friend, who is currently volunteering aboard the same boat:
"Steve is so good that after 5 of the HC crew got dimissed today and they wanted some fill in crew Steve is going over for the transit to San Diego. He is aces. He came to the P party as a parinoid prospective parent. stuck a banana in his jeans wrapped a condom around it and carried a EPT test in his pocket. I forgot to mention that he put hand lotion on the banana. Thanks again."
I said:
"Sounds like he's just what the boat needed!"
New England is COLD right now. Getting ready to sail soon. One of our crew, Ian, had some good Krunch stories to share from last summer in Baltimore when Krunch was on Clipper City. Another crew, Sam, was in Key West with Bounty last month and ran into - you guessed it - everyones favorite curly haired smooth talkin canadian, "BASEBALL" at a Hanukkah party with the crew of America. Small world it is!
"Steve is so good that after 5 of the HC crew got dimissed today and they wanted some fill in crew Steve is going over for the transit to San Diego. He is aces. He came to the P party as a parinoid prospective parent. stuck a banana in his jeans wrapped a condom around it and carried a EPT test in his pocket. I forgot to mention that he put hand lotion on the banana. Thanks again."
I said:
"Sounds like he's just what the boat needed!"
New England is COLD right now. Getting ready to sail soon. One of our crew, Ian, had some good Krunch stories to share from last summer in Baltimore when Krunch was on Clipper City. Another crew, Sam, was in Key West with Bounty last month and ran into - you guessed it - everyones favorite curly haired smooth talkin canadian, "BASEBALL" at a Hanukkah party with the crew of America. Small world it is!
Good GU
Physical exhaustion! I haven't been able to sleep more than 2 straight hours all week. Eagerness? Anxiety? Not sure. I'm wrapping things up here, plus doing things like going to dinner with my dad and using that gift certificate for a massage. THANKYOU MISCHKA! Mischka at New Seattle Massage is a great massage therapist. I can look both ways now! We were scheming on how to get a certain movie company to hire her for on-site therapy.
My plane leaves early tomorrow, right when we're supposed to have the first snowy, icy day of this winter. Then, of course, I connect in Chicago and deplane in Boston, finally. It's already freezing here and I'm pretty sure it's a teens bit colder in those places. If I end up stranded in Chicago or Boston, my uncle The Trucker will arrive there a few days later and rescue me. Then put me to work collecting cargo from Brooklyn's finest warehouses. I'm praying for warmth!
But buying for ICE. Dad bought me neoprene gloves and a wool full-face/head covering. I bought some GU and those hand warmer packets. Hope the GU is good.
Uhh... I watched "Troy" last night. That crazy Brad Pitt. He's a good actor though. The lug rigs were interesting. Some of the fight scenes looked very well choreographed, and some sucked. I liked how if something unexpected happened the two giant armies would look at each other and shrug their shoulders and pretty much say "shall we continue the fighting this time tomorrow?" and stroll back to their domains.
Yikes I promised to call Princess of Mars cuz she might stop by tonight... plus I still have to phone my mom. I don't know when I will have internet access again. Hopefully within the next week. If not, then it might be a few weeks.
Love, Kim
My plane leaves early tomorrow, right when we're supposed to have the first snowy, icy day of this winter. Then, of course, I connect in Chicago and deplane in Boston, finally. It's already freezing here and I'm pretty sure it's a teens bit colder in those places. If I end up stranded in Chicago or Boston, my uncle The Trucker will arrive there a few days later and rescue me. Then put me to work collecting cargo from Brooklyn's finest warehouses. I'm praying for warmth!
But buying for ICE. Dad bought me neoprene gloves and a wool full-face/head covering. I bought some GU and those hand warmer packets. Hope the GU is good.
Uhh... I watched "Troy" last night. That crazy Brad Pitt. He's a good actor though. The lug rigs were interesting. Some of the fight scenes looked very well choreographed, and some sucked. I liked how if something unexpected happened the two giant armies would look at each other and shrug their shoulders and pretty much say "shall we continue the fighting this time tomorrow?" and stroll back to their domains.
Yikes I promised to call Princess of Mars cuz she might stop by tonight... plus I still have to phone my mom. I don't know when I will have internet access again. Hopefully within the next week. If not, then it might be a few weeks.
Love, Kim
Ringing it In
What a difference a day makes. This day would be last Friday. I decided on that East Coast job, as opposed to the new local foot ferry that was going to hire me as a glorified waitress who momentarily throws a dockline. Thursday night on the Bainbridge ferry a drunk guy sat next to me and said he'd been in Seattle all day taking care of some "legal" business, and then proceeded to ask me for my number. I thought "This is a sign... I shouldn't take the local job". Then the next morning, the much more promising offer came (blue water sea time, PotC work). Yippee! And my whole attitude has changed.
Man, have I been in a BAD MOOD for 4 months! There was one week in August, hanging out on the Lady, and laughing with Captain "M"ahvelous, that everything was just stellar, but since then, I've been pretty pissy. This wasn't fully realized until after the joy of having a new boat job to go to REALLY set in.
So on with the New Year and Fresh Starts. I've erased all of last year's posts after printing them and filing them in my little Treasure Chest (can't learn from history if you totally forget about it!), and I've changed my blog to being archive-free. I'm forcing myself to Live In The Present, plus I don't want things I said on an emotional whim in the past to be taken so seriously. This blog is here because I like to write about what I'm thinking or feeling or experiencing at the time. But thoughts progress, feelings change. What's a mind worth if you can't change it?
In other news, it was Captain "G"roovy's 50th birthday this weekend. Myself, MarkO & Streams, Ta, the Sigmeister, Nan, Big Brian and a seafaring couple named Marilyn & Larry all gathered round (with fire extinguisher ready) one of our favorite Lady captains while he used all the breath he had to put out the fire. Streams made a killer cheesy-rice pasta lasagna and Ta made a chocolate cake from scratch. A few of us spent the night up there in PT, and Ta made Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal for breakfast. I'm completely sold on this style of oatmeal now. In the morning, before the Sigmeister attacked me, I read the preface to a '58 Bowditch and learned the history of navigation and a short biography of Nathaniel B.
If I had known that I'd be going up to PT more than an hour in advance, I would have contacted Macke, Johnsson & Sparkle, but instead I drove around to their respective dwellings and found them not home or maybe asleep. Sparkle's tancook whaler is looking pretty sweet these days. The cockpit is redone and beautiful. I hear he is buying an old BMW motorcycle as well.
Last day at work. Guess I should actually WORK, then!
But before I go, I should say that only 5 posts will remain on this blog, then they will disappear into limbo. AND... Strange Girl has emailed me from Auckland! Here's a good part of her update:
2JAN04
So, we've finished our first 2 trips that were as different as night and day. The first (or Xmas cruise) was a 5-day trip that had a wet and rainy start which was followed quickly by a Xmas gift sunshine that lasted throughout the trip. The voyage crew was lively and the boat was full. We ate well and had a HUGE holiday meal that was well-received and enjoyed by all. Big turkeys and lots of mashed piotatoes and stuffing. Due to a unseasonally cool Auckalnd summer, it was too cold to linger on deck for long, but the cozy main salon down below made for many a late night of conversation, wine and laughter.
Each day the boat took VC nad some permanent crew ashore for hikes or lounges on the beach and hills in Hairaki Bay. Teh city of Auckland has a huge land mass area and for the captial of the country? it is simply massive. It spans a great deal of the Hairaki Bay which is like a very shiort trip into another world -- very similiar to my last summer discovering the Channel Islands of the coast of Southern California. So close, but SUCH a another world. Unlike Cali, Hairaki Bay islands have been discovered by the greater population of Aucklanders and I've heard numbers 1 in 4 people in the area have access to a boat. There are a lot of boats out there, but there is so much land and water that I've yet to feel crowded. Many nights if I hadn't known that only around the leeward tip of an island anchorage was the pointed peak of the Skytower looming over Auckland, I would have thought myself lost in the tropics - well a very cold version of the tropics.
The "bush" as it's called (forest/woods), have ancient palm ferns that tower over you as you hike through, usually straight up the hill (at a 30-degree angle). The combination of lots of rain and alternating sunshine makes for clean air, lots of rainbow and colors and hues to the skylines that I think no camera may ever capture. This seems to be a land of rainbows, which I'm learning is a codeword for a shitload of rain - all the time.
We got a paper to check movies times for our one night off in between holidays and read about the Boxiung Day Tsunami. Being so close to SE Asia, this news has hit NZ hard, as well as the rest of the world I'm certain. It's a left us all in awe of the power of the ocean that we plan to sail on for the next year, grateful that if the boat was in blue water, we'd never even notice a ripple if it was to pass under us and again in awe and deep sympathy for those lost and still dealing with the aftermath. Simply unimaginable.
Still the boat sails, and after a quick reprovision, (called re-vittling here) we headed back out for our New Years trip, with a smaller group and quicker crew. We sailed through a full day of cold rain and then we're allowed some rainbow weather for the rest of the trip - no sunburns. We had a nice quiet night watching fireworks from several different ports and then had some actual sunshine. We docked today and are re-vittling and then heading back out tomorrow morning for the Bay of Islands, the Northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. I hear it's MUCH warmer up there- closer to the equator and beautiful. Although there's very little of even Auckland that's I've found ugly.
Happy New Years and best wishes and love to you all!
Man, have I been in a BAD MOOD for 4 months! There was one week in August, hanging out on the Lady, and laughing with Captain "M"ahvelous, that everything was just stellar, but since then, I've been pretty pissy. This wasn't fully realized until after the joy of having a new boat job to go to REALLY set in.
So on with the New Year and Fresh Starts. I've erased all of last year's posts after printing them and filing them in my little Treasure Chest (can't learn from history if you totally forget about it!), and I've changed my blog to being archive-free. I'm forcing myself to Live In The Present, plus I don't want things I said on an emotional whim in the past to be taken so seriously. This blog is here because I like to write about what I'm thinking or feeling or experiencing at the time. But thoughts progress, feelings change. What's a mind worth if you can't change it?
In other news, it was Captain "G"roovy's 50th birthday this weekend. Myself, MarkO & Streams, Ta, the Sigmeister, Nan, Big Brian and a seafaring couple named Marilyn & Larry all gathered round (with fire extinguisher ready) one of our favorite Lady captains while he used all the breath he had to put out the fire. Streams made a killer cheesy-rice pasta lasagna and Ta made a chocolate cake from scratch. A few of us spent the night up there in PT, and Ta made Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal for breakfast. I'm completely sold on this style of oatmeal now. In the morning, before the Sigmeister attacked me, I read the preface to a '58 Bowditch and learned the history of navigation and a short biography of Nathaniel B.
If I had known that I'd be going up to PT more than an hour in advance, I would have contacted Macke, Johnsson & Sparkle, but instead I drove around to their respective dwellings and found them not home or maybe asleep. Sparkle's tancook whaler is looking pretty sweet these days. The cockpit is redone and beautiful. I hear he is buying an old BMW motorcycle as well.
Last day at work. Guess I should actually WORK, then!
But before I go, I should say that only 5 posts will remain on this blog, then they will disappear into limbo. AND... Strange Girl has emailed me from Auckland! Here's a good part of her update:
2JAN04
So, we've finished our first 2 trips that were as different as night and day. The first (or Xmas cruise) was a 5-day trip that had a wet and rainy start which was followed quickly by a Xmas gift sunshine that lasted throughout the trip. The voyage crew was lively and the boat was full. We ate well and had a HUGE holiday meal that was well-received and enjoyed by all. Big turkeys and lots of mashed piotatoes and stuffing. Due to a unseasonally cool Auckalnd summer, it was too cold to linger on deck for long, but the cozy main salon down below made for many a late night of conversation, wine and laughter.
Each day the boat took VC nad some permanent crew ashore for hikes or lounges on the beach and hills in Hairaki Bay. Teh city of Auckland has a huge land mass area and for the captial of the country? it is simply massive. It spans a great deal of the Hairaki Bay which is like a very shiort trip into another world -- very similiar to my last summer discovering the Channel Islands of the coast of Southern California. So close, but SUCH a another world. Unlike Cali, Hairaki Bay islands have been discovered by the greater population of Aucklanders and I've heard numbers 1 in 4 people in the area have access to a boat. There are a lot of boats out there, but there is so much land and water that I've yet to feel crowded. Many nights if I hadn't known that only around the leeward tip of an island anchorage was the pointed peak of the Skytower looming over Auckland, I would have thought myself lost in the tropics - well a very cold version of the tropics.
The "bush" as it's called (forest/woods), have ancient palm ferns that tower over you as you hike through, usually straight up the hill (at a 30-degree angle). The combination of lots of rain and alternating sunshine makes for clean air, lots of rainbow and colors and hues to the skylines that I think no camera may ever capture. This seems to be a land of rainbows, which I'm learning is a codeword for a shitload of rain - all the time.
We got a paper to check movies times for our one night off in between holidays and read about the Boxiung Day Tsunami. Being so close to SE Asia, this news has hit NZ hard, as well as the rest of the world I'm certain. It's a left us all in awe of the power of the ocean that we plan to sail on for the next year, grateful that if the boat was in blue water, we'd never even notice a ripple if it was to pass under us and again in awe and deep sympathy for those lost and still dealing with the aftermath. Simply unimaginable.
Still the boat sails, and after a quick reprovision, (called re-vittling here) we headed back out for our New Years trip, with a smaller group and quicker crew. We sailed through a full day of cold rain and then we're allowed some rainbow weather for the rest of the trip - no sunburns. We had a nice quiet night watching fireworks from several different ports and then had some actual sunshine. We docked today and are re-vittling and then heading back out tomorrow morning for the Bay of Islands, the Northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. I hear it's MUCH warmer up there- closer to the equator and beautiful. Although there's very little of even Auckland that's I've found ugly.
Happy New Years and best wishes and love to you all!
2005!
I just accepted a job on the East Coast- going south and staying down there for a while! I leave Seattle next week and the boat sets sail next weekend.
Sunshine Mountain sent me new digital camera (so awesome) so I'll be able to post lots of pics after this first big offshore voyage!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
goodbye 2004! Good riddance to quite possibly the worst year of my life!!!!
At the beginning of the year, I read a horoscope that read "2004 will be a difficult year for you". NO KIDDING! No other year has presented more negative personal challenges with "friends", family, relationships, than this past year. I've learned to not give everyone the benefit of the doubt if I see red flags, to trust my instincts, to not put people on pedestals and instead to realize that I'm not always perceptive of sociopathic behavior.
I've learned to NOT take the number #358 bus again. Ever. They should seriously hold Narcotics Anonymous meetings on that bus. Last night we had a police escort even.
And my New Years Resolution is to LOOK FORWARD, not back. I read an article about a girl who's gone on lots of boring dates. She said "I learned that the next date would be 2 hours of my life that I would never get back" which sounds cheesy, but true. And why not think of every hour that way?
To sea! To sea!
Sunshine Mountain sent me new digital camera (so awesome) so I'll be able to post lots of pics after this first big offshore voyage!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
goodbye 2004! Good riddance to quite possibly the worst year of my life!!!!
At the beginning of the year, I read a horoscope that read "2004 will be a difficult year for you". NO KIDDING! No other year has presented more negative personal challenges with "friends", family, relationships, than this past year. I've learned to not give everyone the benefit of the doubt if I see red flags, to trust my instincts, to not put people on pedestals and instead to realize that I'm not always perceptive of sociopathic behavior.
I've learned to NOT take the number #358 bus again. Ever. They should seriously hold Narcotics Anonymous meetings on that bus. Last night we had a police escort even.
And my New Years Resolution is to LOOK FORWARD, not back. I read an article about a girl who's gone on lots of boring dates. She said "I learned that the next date would be 2 hours of my life that I would never get back" which sounds cheesy, but true. And why not think of every hour that way?
To sea! To sea!
