Sunday 30 May 2010 (Part 2) (BONAIRE)

Picton Castle alongside at Kralendijk, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles; Sunday 30 May 2010 בס"ד

Woke up at 0940 to find us along the west coast of Bonaire moving south of Klein Bonaire towards Kralendijk. We came quite close to the pier before the pilot boarded, and we all got ready with the hawsers and mooring lines. I was at the stern and so helped with the stern line and spring. Once alongside, I helped put on chafe gear to the hawsers. We then squared the yards and loosed all sails. I loosed the main royal and tgallant with Paula. The 12-4s have first port watch, and so once everybody else was stood down from duty we got to work. I, with about half of the watch, removed all the pins on the portside pinrail and then tediously scraped off the varnish from the wood. I learned how to sharpen a scraper and that I should do so every 5-10 minutes, which is knowledge I wish I had back at 801 Olive. The other half of the watch worked on the Mermaid's mainsl on the pier. Niko and Mitch had galley duty, and so at one point the had a few of us go into the hold and dig out the BBQ, which was practically Cape Horn-lashed onto the overhead in the starboard aft corner by the wood pile. It was quite difficult, but we did it, and I lost about a gallon of sweat in the process. After some more scraping, we had an ice cream break, which was a great treat. We then had a brief swim call, which got all the varnish scrapings off me, and right after, we that weren't working on sailmaking had to stow all sails. I personally furled the fore royal, tgallant, lower topsl, and course, and then the main upper and lower, and then the spanker. It made my feet feel pretty raw, but I still felt like a champion. After all the stowing, we had a nice BBQ on the pier. I was talking with Meredith about how I definitely made the right choice signing up for PC, because right now I feel like I'm doing what I was meant to be doing. After the BBQ, we all helped move the sailmaking equipment aboard, and broke into night watches. I have the midnight shift, and for that I should make sure all chafe gear is good, the skiff alongside is okay, that no unauthorized personnel try sneaking on board, and help any wayward Pictons upon their return (in case they're drunk), in addition to the usual ship check and log report. I've set up my hammock on the aloha deck and am going to get a few hours sleep after a long, hard, and greatly satisfying day. I love life.