Tuesday 29 June 2010

Picton Castle at anchor at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno; Tuesday 29 June 2010 בס"ד

Was my watch day today. At 0800 I hoisted the Ecuadorian flag up the foremast, then our first order of business was loosing the royals, tgallants, and headsls. I went up and got the main royal and main tgallant with Liam. After that, a domestics, and then I was assigned to grinder detail on the aftermost quarterdeck waterway. Did that for a while until we received a load of fuel via the skiff in small plastic drums, so no grinding since that makes sparks and sparks make boom. Engineer Chris had to siphon the diesel out and carefully into the tank, but he did it like a pro, which makes sense because he is a pro. After that, back to grinding until lunch. After lunch, the generator was shut down, which is normal, but that meant manual grinding with a rustbusting chisel and a wirebrush for a bit. Luckily, only did that for a half hour or so when Sire and I went with Nadja and Bob in the skiff to get a load of food stores. We went over and collected them and brought them back. Then I furled the fore tgallant, my new enemy from a few days ago since my near-death experience. This time was easy though (Liam just showed me cool photos he took from the main). I was about to head to the main when Paul asked me to give a tour to four young ladies who had swam over to check us out, and so I did. If I remember correctly, they were Lizzy, Kate, Ellen, and Jessie from the USA here with an ecology/Spanish educational program of some type. I even took them to the chain locker, which I think is a world record for most girls in the chain locker at one time with a bro (points for me?). Once the tour finished, a deck wash, a soogie, and then another skiff run for fuel. Load it in, hoist it out, and return empties was how it went, and we did it another time right before dinner. After dinner, cleaned the galley like always and got orders about how to take care of maggots in the slops. I have the 0300 night shift, so now some shuteye.

Belay that. Just typed up this log and as I finished, Nadja asked me to be the bow bunny (boat assistant) on a skiff run. I held the spotlight forward and pointed out hazards to navigation and also handled the bow line and fending. We collected the Captain, Mate Mike, Logan, and Jan, and I ran quickly ashore to dispose of some trash. Now I'm back.

Monday 28 June 2010 (GALAPAGOS)

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, Isla San Cristobal, Galapagos, Ecuador; Monday 28 June 2010 בס"ד

We arrived at our anchorage at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno at about 1300 on Thursday. The agents and customs officials boarded and we waited for them to conduct their business before the off-watches were permitted to go ashore to be cleared in individually by customs. The 8-12 had the watch, so I had Thursday and Friday off. By the time everything official was settled, it was approaching evening. A few of us had a light meal and some cervezas and at 1730 a parade of “Los Flores Y Las Frutas” went by us on Avenida Charles Darwin. It was a nice surprise, and after it finished we made our way to meet with everybody at a restaurant where our agents had arranged a reception cocktail party. Well, ain't no party like a Picton Castle party, and it wasn't long before it broke out into a massive dancefest on the streets. After that, we made our way to a local bar and continued our dance party til late in the night. I then got a room a hostel and crashed.

Friday morning I met with Mitch and Brad and we rented bicycles. First we biked to the nearby beach called La Lobería, which is a sea lion refuge. In Spanish, Lobo means wolf, but they call sea lions “lobos marinos,” and I think that makes more sense since they more closely resemble canines than lions. Oh well. At La Lobería, we saw many several of them and I got some excellent photos and videos. We also saw marine iguanas, although they were resting in the shade of the shrubbery ashore and weren't active. We then biked back through town to the other side to find a frigatebird colony, but all we managed to discover was the empty interpretation center. No matter, we were hungry and so we returned our bikes and went to a cevichería where I enjoyed a delicious fish ceviche, which is like a cold soup thing. It was phenomenal. We passed by a hardware store after and I stopped to pick up some electrical tape. Then I found a wifi spot at a hotel lobby and went online to upload photos and videos. I spoke with Corrinn, and after a long discussion, I chose to end our relationship, which was sad business. After this I started feeling very ill, and got a room at this hotel and laid down for the rest of the night.

I woke up still feeling ill and took the 0730 skiff back to the PC on Saturday morning since I had the watch. After domestics, we up and loosed all sail, and since it is just our watch this of course means I get to do quite a few of them. I was determined not to let my illness stop me from working, and so I carried on through the day. Almost all of my time spent priming and painting the port side focslehead ladder, which I made sure to do perfectly. After lunch, we had to up and stow, and I stowed the fore royal, fore tgallant, main upper and lower topsls, and mainsl. When I was busting up the fore tgallant, I had a serious whoa moment when WT and I busted the sail over top the yard and it came back aft towards us, very nearly knocking us both off. It took me quite a while to reposition myself myself since I was leaning back and footrope was forard and I was not clipped in so I was hanging on tight. Nadja and I managed to make it right, and then it was on to the next after that. After the stow, I continued my painting until I finished then helped Leonard prime part of the taffrail. We then cleaned up all the paint, and I was in the paint locker putting everything away as it came and cleaning brushes. The fumes were making me even more nauseous yet, but I continued on. We then split up into two groups, one with Paul for heaving line throwing technique and practice, and another with Nadja for small boats coxn intro. I first did heaving line throwing, but felt more and more sick and thought I might do some heaving and throwing up of my own. Then I listend to Nadja's intro, but when it came time to get in the skiff, I just couldn't and ran for the head. Instead of vomiting though, I had massive explosive shits. This unpleasant business persisted until well into the night, and sucked the lifeforce out of me. I did watch “Block & Tackle,” the video about how Paul and other PC crew got a massive tree in the Granada rainforest and pulled it out over a week's time using block and tackle manpower back to the ship. The wood from that tree is now the keels of the twin schooners being built in Lunenburg at the Dory Shop. I stood my night watch at 2200, and the shits had slowed down a bit by then but hadn't stopped completely. Spratt stood it with me because she had to be on call for skiff run if the Captain radioed in or just for the final 2300 run anyway. I woke Paul at one point when a big yacht anchored near us was swinging very close to our bow, but he said it was okay. I then went to bed after my shift.

In the morning, Dr. Gary woke me and told me he wanted to check me out (he had been ashore Saturday). After a brief examination, he said I probably got E. Coli and gave me two pills of 250mg Cipro, one for 0800 and one for 2000. I took the first, and went ashore at 1000 and had a light brunch with some friends, but I felt shitty still so I spent the whole afternoon myself in the wifi loby, drinking Gatorades and using the internet. Now that the shits had stopped, my weakened body managed to get the “Panama Plague,” an ephemeral flu-like bug which had afflicted many of us on the passage here but I had been able to avoid. I managed to Skype with Alissa and Cliff, which was good. Later on, Karla go on but then Skype froze and I couldn't raise them again. At 1800 I met with friends for dinner, then we went back to a bed & breakfast where many had rooms for a mini rooftop party. I ended up crashing at around 2100 in Jo's room.

I slept in until 1000, then paid the bill for Jo, who left me money since she left early to return to PC to stand watch. I came down to the little breakfast bar downstairs where Paul, Shawn, Sophie, and Jehle were having coffee before going surfing at Puerto Chino. I had coffee and finished writing postcards and typed up my logs to date. I'm now going to look for friends to find the giant tortoises...

Found Paula, who was looking to go to Puerto Chino and we caught a taxi for that direction. First, we stopped and Paula picked up her sleeping bag she had left at the treehouse bar where she had stayed in El Progreso, a small village about halfway there. Then I was dropped off at the tortoise preserve Cerro Colorado. I checked it out and the tortoises were incredible. Very glad I did that. I then walked down the mountain to Puerto Chino and met up with Paula, Paul, Shawn, Sophie, and Jehle, and hung out with them while they surfed. They had told their cabby to return at 1530, and we headed back. On the ride back we talked about lots of stuff, including how Magic is my brother, which got to dinosaurs having dicks, which led to tortoises having dicks, and I asked the cabby, “¿Sabes si las tortugas gigantes tienen las vergas?” and he was like, “Claro, ¡las vergas que tienen son cuarenta centimetros!” and I was like, “¡Carajo! No mames.” Anyway, not to be too vulgar, but it was funny. Now going to catch late lunch/early dinner and then go online to upload all of this before heading back to the ship.

Oh darn, the island is having intermittent internet blackouts, so I managed to get some photos up but not the logs.

Thursday 24 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea (South of the Equator); Thursday 24 June 2010 בס"ד

Yesterday morning watch was cold and misty again. I can't remember anything out of the ordinary routine, and I forget if I stood helm or lookout. The reason I can't recal this is simple. At 1400, the ceremonial shellback initiations took place. It was a big deal, and absolutely wild, horrifying, and fun all at once. I paid my dues to King Neptune, and am now part of a long line of hundreds of years of nautical tradition. The Picton Castle is all about traditional seamanship, and this was no exception. After the ceremony, I did a lot of sail-handling, stood a lookout, cleaned the galley, and ground coffee as per usual.

This morning watch was cold but dry. I wore my thermals which I had retired after the crossing of the gulf stream, My only duty was wakeups, which are at 0615 for galley duty people, and 0715 for the oncoming 8-12s and the daymen. We did a major deckwash since it was filthy from yesterday's ceremony, and we heard an immensely loud shrieking coming form behind the starboard veggie locker on the aloha deck, which turned out to be a large seabird that got trapped in there. We freed it and it seemed to be okay and flew away. After deckwash was up and stow as we are just a few hours away from the Galapagos and need to steam there or sail two more days past them and catch the winds to take us back in the right direction. I stowed the main royal, main tgallant, and mainsl, and while on the royal yard, a massive frigatebird at least as large as Bob was flying alongside me and I saw a gigantic sea turtle float just feet away from port side. I just had one too many muffins for breakfast because Liam on galley duty wanted NO LEFTOVERS PERIOD and I'm now very full. Going to get some shuteye before we arrive.

Thursday 24 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea (South of the Equator); Thursday 24 June 2010 בס"ד

Yesterday morning watch was cold and misty again. I can't remember anything out of the ordinary routine, and I forget if I stood helm or lookout. The reason I can't recal this is simple. At 1400, the ceremonial shellback initiations took place. It was a big deal, and absolutely wild, horrifying, and fun all at once. I paid my dues to King Neptune, and am now part of a long line of hundreds of years of nautical tradition. The Picton Castle is all about traditional seamanship, and this was no exception. After the ceremony, I did a lot of sail-handling, stood a lookout, cleaned the galley, and ground coffee as per usual.

This morning watch was cold but dry. I wore my thermals which I had retired after the crossing of the gulf stream, My only duty was wakeups, which are at 0615 for galley duty people, and 0715 for the oncoming 8-12s and the daymen. We did a major deckwash since it was filthy from yesterday's ceremony, and we heard an immensely loud shrieking coming form behind the starboard veggie locker on the aloha deck, which turned out to be a large seabird that got trapped in there. We freed it and it seemed to be okay and flew away. After deckwash was up and stow as we are just a few hours away from the Galapagos and need to steam there or sail two more days past them and catch the winds to take us back in the right direction. I stowed the main royal, main tgallant, and mainsl, and while on the royal yard, a massive frigatebird at least as large as Bob was flying alongside me and I saw a gigantic sea turtle float just feet away from port side. I just had one too many muffins for breakfast because Liam on galley duty wanted NO LEFTOVERS PERIOD and I'm now very full. Going to get some shuteye before we arrive.

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Tuesday 22 June 2010 בס"ד

The dark half of morning watch was uneventful... just slacking lines from the misty drizzle in the cold. At sun up we stowed the royals and tgallants, and I had fourth lookout. By then the weather had gotten a bit nicer.

In my free time I read more Alan Villers' “The Set of the Sails,” finished all the whippings I had remaining on my splicing rope, worked out, played chess, and took a shower and an hour nap.

Afternoon watch started with deck sweep and paint locker cleanup, then a 1630 splicing workshop on the sailmakers' eye splice, which is the same as an eye splice except tucked with the lay instead of against it. At 1700 I took the helm steering due South (we were steaming), and at 1730ish Paul had me swing to due West. I was then relieved and we had all-hands bracing as we tacked around. There was a lot of rapid calls and orders as we did it, and the 4-8s were upon the quarterdeck. I tended the spanker sheets, topsl braces, and spanker clew inhaul and outhaul both at one point or another as we jumped from one to the other. At 1800, we had dinner and I ate fast to relieve Roselyne from lookout. I reported a large weather system spanning from dead ahead to broad on starboard bow. I was soon relieved because we were going to tack more, and to the quarterdeck I went. Once all the tacking was complete, it was back to the usual business. I cleaned the food buckets in the galley, scrubbed down bulkheads, and showed Robert how to do the coffee grinding. When we were relieved, we were informed that we're 7nm from the equator, and everybody is excited and nervous as the veteran shellbacks prepare our punishment.

Shawn just came down to the forepeak and reported that a fore tgallant sheet parted, and so I'll go check out if I can help.

Monday 21 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Monday 21 June 2010 בס"ד

This morning I did a lot of sail-handling aloft on the mizzen. We first took in the spanker, and then I perched myself upon the boom and Liam and I put the gasket round the bottom. Shortly after we set the spanker again, and I went aloft to free the hanks that get caught on the gaff throat. Then Nadja told me to coil the bottom gasket, which must be done while sitting from a craneline holding on to a jackstay. All that while in the pitch black darkness made for a tough time but after a few minutes I thought I had gotten it. As the sun came up, we took in the spanker again, and when Nadja saw my coil, she told me very directly that, “it was the worst fucking coil [she]'d ever seen.” While I'm sure she's seen her fair share of bad coils, I agreed that it was terrible. I went aloft to free the hanks when we set the spanker once more, and then in the early dawn light redid my terrible coil properly. At 0600, I went to work holystoning, and I stood fourth lookout where I sighted a vessel off starboard beam. After watch I slept until lunch.

After lunch, I played chess on my computer and checked out the videos I had taken. Took the watch at 1600 and cleaned up the paint locker before another 1630 workshop on how to chainsplice. Did that for about thirty minutes, then went to stand second helm, except Paul told me we were going to up and loose all sail (we were steaming through some headwinds up to this point), and that a non-aloft-goer should steer, so I found one and then laid out on the main course and unfurled the mainsl. Then I took the helm and learned how to steer full-and-by, which means keeping the sails full while steering by the wind, or as close to the wind as possible without backing the sails. The tightest I could get her was WSW, but I held it easily enough. Was relieved at 1830 so no official log, but then ate dinner and helped clean the galley and grind the coffee (left handed of course) as per usual. I should note that for most of today it was quite chilly, even though we're at about 1°N and it's the soltice.

Sunday 20 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Sunday 20 June 2010 בס"ד

Yesterday's summary... Morning watch had me pretty much chilling out until sunrise, when I got down to holystoning. I taught those who'd not yet done it how to do it, not that it's hard to explain, being that you just rub sand across the deck with canvas-wrapped blocks to sand it down. It's a great tricep workout, and appparently good for surfing training because it's similar to how you'd paddle out to the break. After that I stood fourth helm steering first SxW, and then SwxS. Stayed up after watch doing this and that, including several games of chess against my computer (only one of which I won). I then participated in the bad beard contest with Dave and Liam, not that it was a true contest but merely a way to go crazy with designing our beards before we anticipate they'll be shaved off at our upcoming shellback ceremony. I shaved “FR” into my right check, and “ED” into my left, although it kind of just looked like I messed up trimming.

For afternoon watch I was first lookout, but we had a workshop at 1630 from the captain on how to do a long splice, which is not hard, but might take another go or two to perfect. It was Donald's birthday, so he got the day off (because we love our cook) and galley crew did Sunday work and made an excellent line up of pizzas, cake, and Donald gave all who wished a beer from his personal stash. So, pizza and beer it was! I helped clean galley, had a coffee grind dance party, and ended the night with a glass of wine with Spratt and Jo, who were treated for excellent galley duty.

Today I got my 0615 wakeup because it was my turn to do Sunday galley. Adrienne and Julie were with me, although Julie got the 0800 wakeup because she's 12-4. Adrienne and I made awesome berry pancakes and with help from Nadja, pretty much rocked the breakfast. The 0800 breakfast was delayed about 45 minutes though because at the turn of the watch we ceased to steam and set all sails. Julie and Adrienne pretty much ran the galley end of things for lunch and dinner, while I ran the scullery side and did hold runs for ingredients. For lunch we had chili and spaghetti, and for dinner we had shepherds' pie and chocolate chip cookies, which was a big hit. Between meals, I managed to get four great videos of A) a red-footed booby named Juan Pedro on the taffrail, B) me in the headrig showcasing us under full sail, C) me aloft with Dave at the fore tgallant, and D) a pod of pilot whales that visited us alongside. Cleanup was easy and all went well. A mini-party in the forepeak after and a swig of rum (my first underway). I should note that I am a polliwog and we're nearing the equator. We're pretty sure we're going to bathe in slops and possibly have our heads shaved, but who knows what the veteran shellbacks will do to us in the centuries old tradition of equator crossing?

Friday 18 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea (Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone); Friday 18 June 2010 בס"ד

A very, very active day. Morning watch had me on first helm, riding huge swells, but keeping on course like it was my business. Then we were taking in and setting and taking in and setting all the fore-and-aft sails every so often. I learned how to holystone the deck and did a bit of that as well. I went aloft to furl the main lower topsl also. After breakfast, I took a nap til 1030, then hung out until lunch, then took another nap accidentally (the weather is snotty and so I went to my bunk and passed out). Afternoon watch started with taking in and setting fore-and-aft sails still. I stood second lookout, but was twice interrupted by sail-handling (we braced sharp on a starboard tack) and then did a quick muster to explain the weather and the ITCZ. Liam and I had to go out on the headrig after dinner to sea-stow the outer jib, which was wild because it was just before the sun set, and the ship was pitching like wild and it was kind of squally and crazy. I then had to help take in the inner jib and went out again to ful that with Nadja. I helped a bit with the galley, but then had to put lashings on the boats atop the galleyhouse. After watch, I had a nice chat with Joanie about Shabbat and what I would normally do ashore, and after came down to my bunk to find a nice surprise.

Thursday 17 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Thursday 17 June 2010 בס"ד

Morning watch was much different than on 12-4. Besides the fact that both of our daily shifts have sunrise and sunset, our duties for the morning watch involve doing a deckwash, holystoning the deck, and squeeging down the exterior bulkheads, pinrails, and everything else that gets salty once the sun is up. I stood first lookout with Roselyne, and taught her the basics. I did the deckwash and wipedown, but not holystoning this time. We did a bit of handling the fore-and-aft sails, and Ollie told me that he was interested in following me around for his documentary, which I said was fine with me, although I don't know when or what he'll film. After watch, I got to enjoy breakfast, which is new. I worked out a bit, took an hour nap on the hatch, did some reading and became the new trainer for Spratt and Bob, and did some working out with them. I then spent some time sketching ideas for new additions to my collection of one. Basically, I had tons of free time during daylight, something I didn't get much of on 12-4. I stayed up until my afternoon watch, which pretty much started with an hour of good downpour. We set and struck the staysls more than once, spent lots of time slacking lines, and collected rainwater in buckets to fill the casks with. After dinner, I quickly relieved Joanie from lookout (there is only one dinner aboard so the 4-8s eat fast and relieve the helm and lookout so they can eat too). When she came back, we set the headsls, the staysls, and the lower topsls. I was told 4-8 was the watch that got the most sail-handling, and they weren't kidding! After all the excitement, we cleaned the galley and I took advantage of grinding the coffee beans to get a good left arm workout (my left arm has been smaller than my right since my fractures years ago, and could never catch up to being even again). Got relieved from watch and came to the brocave to catch the second half of Zombieland. Now off to bed.

Wednesday 16 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea (Pacific Ocean); Wednesday 16 June 2010 בס"ד

A very busy day began with all-hands for 0800. We started with breaking into duties with our new watch groups; the 4-8s went to lash down the hold. I worked in the hold with Brad for an hour or so doing that (and lost a few gallons of sweat in the process) and then laid in on deck with various jobs. We had to exchange a lumber delivery since we received untreated wood and Pitcairn needs treated wood, so there was a lot moving wood to and from the ship to shore. After lunch, we waited a bit for all of the customs and immigration business to be taken care of, then we were underway at around 1530. Once out of the harbor, 4-8s took the watch and I was put on first helm. Paul (the mate of my new watch) told me right off the bat, “Fred, don't slouch!,” and so I put my A-game steering to work. It was awesome because I had to manuever around many vessels anchored offshore, and Paul would give me new courses frequently. While on helm, we simultaneously caught two fish, which very much excited Mate Mike and Paul. I was relieve and wrote in the log, but made a sloppy transcribing error and heard about it later (although that was my only mess up of the day). I helped scrub the hawsers and Nadja taught me the best sea-bucket technique, so I became bucket man. Of course, I slowly got soaked as the buckets kept coming over the bulwark, but it was okay. We then had dinner and afterwards I helped clean the galley. I made a pot of coffee that Shawn later told me was very well-done. Pretty much did that for an hour and then had a quick muster to discuss how things work on 4-8. I did final shipcheck, and we were stood down. I stayed up an hour to do forearm workouts with my squeezer things, and now off to bed.

Tuesday 15 June 2010

Picton Castle alongside at Isla Flamenco; Tuesday 15 June 2010 בס"ד

A triple entry because of not having my log...

Sunday was on-watch day for us 12-4s. Besides constant chafe duty (the surge was eating away at our mooring lines at an insane pace), WT requisitioned me and Katie for the first part of the work day to organize the hold with him and put away new odds and ends that are for us or for Pitcairn. After lunch, Katie and I cleaned out some of the DC reefers, which had various layers of frozen food goo in them. WT and Ollie went to catch a puddle jumper plane to Boca del Toro with the mainsl for sloop Mermaid. Nicksa had already left, and I was upset because I wanted to see him off and say goodbye, but that's how it goes I guess. I wish him well on the Danmark and in future endeavours. My night hour was 0500, but I was hleping combat the chafe before, during, and after it.

At 0800, we were stood down, and I went with Niko and Jo to drop off laundry in La Boca. My Spanish was in good form, and was chatting with the cabby the whole time. We returned (after stopping to check out spearguns) to PC to drop off Jo, then Niko and I went to Super99 in Albrook to get stuff for Pitcairn gifts. However, we got there early and went to a little coffee shop first until it opened. Inside, I ran into Joanie and helped her with a translation issue. I told Niko not to speak very loudly, because he usually does, which is okay except he's on crutches speaking super gringo English, and if I were a crappy mugger, it would still be an easy mark for me to nab us. We returned to PC with our goods, then we and Liam took a ride to Panama Viejo and checked out the ruins. The actual ruins park was closed on Mondays, but we bribed a groundskeeper $10 to sneak us in. It was pretty cool and we hung out there for a bit, then caught a cab back to the hotel I stayed at before. The cabby we had also turned out to be a cop, and he was definitely the stereotypical corrupt type you'd imagine and he very much wanted us to go to a brothel where he probably got kickbacks from. We opted to stop at a quiet bar a block away from the hotel and had gigantic beers on the super cheap. I got a room again and Liam and Niko returned to the ship and said they'd get in touch with me if everybody decided to go out. I hung out in my room, showered, and went online for a bit. Time was going by, and I was beginning to wonder if I'd hear back from them. At 2000, I was starving and just about to go out to eat when the phone rang just in the nick of time. The plan was to meet at Plaza Catedral in Casco Viejo, which isn't far from where I was. I met up with about 10 or so of my shipmates and we had a lovely dinner outdoors in the plaza, complete with classic Latin American architecture all around and a guitarist to set the mood. Of course, we enjoyed multiple garafes of sangria, then I went back to my room and passed out.

Today I woke up at 1100 and check out of the hotel, then mailed many postcards I had written. I had lunch in town, and purchased a machete before going to retrieve my laundry and return to the ship. I got back at around 1300, organized all the stuff I now had, and threw on my work clothes and laid in with the 8-12s on watch. I helped unload lumber, massive quantities of beer, wine, and other spirits bound for Pitcairn, and a ton of food for us into the hold. I saw the galley stove needed to be refilled, and did that, and lent a hand here or there as needed. Soon, everybody on watch asked if I could run to the duty-free store across the street and grab them something, so I got out my ledger and started taking orders. Unfortunately, by the time I got everybody's order and money, I learned that you can only buy one or two bottles per person, so me doing a run for 12 wasn't going to happen. It also closed five minutes before I was ready to go there. Oh well. We watched The Usual Suspects on the hatch after dinner, and now I'm about ready for bed. I just learned a new watch roster has been posted, and I'm going to be a 4-8 starting tomorrow I guess. It seems to be by shuffle instead of rotating whole watches. This should be neat, although I had grown fond of 12-4.

Saturday 12 June 2010

Hotel Bahía, Panama City; Saturday 12 June 2010 בס"ד

Yesterday I got a wakeup at 0615, but I guess I was very tired because I instantly fell back asleep and was woken again at 0700. Of course, I was quite embarrassed, and to make up for it I stayed an extra hour past 0800 when I was officially relieved to help finish the breakfast dishes. I then packed a day bag and headed to a nearby pub to meet Liam, Jimmy, Donald, and Nicksa to watch the South Africa vs. Mexico game of the World Cup. Even though it was still early, that didn't stop us from enjoying a few cold ones. Nicksa went back to PC afterwards, and the rest of us took a cab into the city. Jimmy and I both wanted rooms, and so the cabby took us to a few places before we found one that we liked. We checked in, then the four of us went to the Albrook Mall, which is MASSIVE. We had lunch, then split up for an hour to do some shopping. I picked up some bins, a collared shirt, two baseball hats, a Panama hat, a flask, and postcards. We met up at 1400 and Jimmy and I returned to our hotel. I went online for a bit and at 1600 I set out on my main mission; to get the black rose. I got to a place at around 1645, and was done by 1800. I'm quite happy with the results. I went back to the ship to meet with some people, and we went to dinner at a nice restaurant in the city. A lot went to clubs after, but I was exhausted and returned to my room.

Today I made a quick run to the PC to grab some stuff at about 0730, came back to the room and slept some more, then went out shopping for things I needed. I got materials I think I need for making a model ship, a forearm/grip exercise squeezer thing, and some supplies from a pharmacy. I had sancocho (the Panamanian national soup) for lunch and un bistec con patacones for dinner. Came back to the hotel, and did a lot of research online and updated my sites. Now just did quite a bit of working out, and ready for bed. I'm getting an 0630 wake up call and I want to be at the ship by 0715, since I work tomorrow. I don't think I'll be getting a hotel again for the rest of my stay here. I should note that I've been speaking Spanish 95% of the time, and I'm not too rusty at it, although I definitely don't hold a candle to Liam (who lived in Spain for 10 years). I've already picked up quite a few Panamanian idioms that I never heard before, and I guess my accent is at least semi-legit, because I asked quite a few people. I also saw two ladies wearing Magen David necklaces (one was the cashier at the ferretería, the other the hotel receptionist), and there was a mezuzah on the door of the steak place I went for dinner. So, not so much for crazy adventures yet, but depending on how much longer we're here, we'll see.

IMPORTANT PHOTO INFO

Howdy friends,

Of course I have a photo album and videos from my voyage on Facebook, but seeing as how not everybody has a Facebook account, I've made a Flickr album of the same photos and a YouTube account with the same videos. The links to them are:

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fredbeforethemast

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/fredbeforethemast

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/mikebendavid

I hope this is helpful for anybody who couldn't otherwise see my uploads.

Cheers from Panama City,

Fred

Thursday 10 June 2010 (PANAMA)

Picton Castle alongside at Isla Flamenco; Thursday 10 June 2010 בס"ד

What a day! Woke up at 0345 from my spot on the galley house above the scuttle wedged between the boat skid and the three boats up there and an 8 or 9ft drop. It was nice except my arms and legs went numb a few times for reasons unknown. At 0400 we weighed anchor and I again was in the chain locker, which I don't mind at all. I was there with WT and between flakes we had a good chat. We then steamed for the Canal (no way to sail here because of regulations and also the wind is opposite of ideal). A pilot boarded followed by line handlers and we on deck just stood clear of them as they did an incredible job at tossing the lines to the electric mules on each side of the locks. We were moved in, the gates closed, the water filled up, raising us about 30ft or so each time, and then we moved to the next one. It was quite a thing to behold this feat of engineering. After the Gatún locks, we made it to Gatún Lake, where we were surrounded by dense jungle. While here we took advantage of the fresh water and had our first and probably only fresh water power shower. There was really no work to do except for the 4-8s were posted to double lookouts forward, so I joined them on the focslehead and enjoyed the scenic ride. We swapped out our pilot and handlers at the end of the lake for new ones, and though only Liam had gotten a chance to converse with the first grop, quite a few of usdid with the second. However, the first group was classy and cool and professional; the second had the pasacables trying to sneakily sell us cheap Panama baseball hats, coins, keychains, and even some sex stamina enhancement herbal remedy things. They did this in the breezeways mostly, to stay out of sight of the pilot. I did speak with a few, but beyond a few basic questions about what we do, they were much more concerned with me hooking them up with some of our women. So, what the hell, it's good Spanish practice, right? Apparently we had a super fast transit of only eight or so hours (we expected fourteen). We came out on the Pacific side and steamed out to Isla Flamenco. We pulled in to the yacht club we were going to stay at, but there was a broken down large boat in our slot, so we dropped anchor right there pretty much blocking access to the harbor, and waited for it to move. When the call came to weigh anchor again, Mate Mike sent me to the chain locker with Jimmy, and I was to train him to flake chain properly. It's not terribly hard, but it's filthy work and if you do it wrong, all hell breaks loose next time we drop anchor. We pulled out of the harbor, then swung back in after they made space for us. I helped on the stern line and quarterspring when mooring, then taught Roselyn how to make chafe gear fast with marlin hitches and Chinese fingers. 12-4 has the watch tonight, but I'm galley so I only had to clean after dinner and do breakfast tomorrow. No night shift for me. I learned how to do a sounding with the lead from Logan at 2030 (low tide) and then did a workout. I also lashed my watch to my right as the watch band broke. We'll see how that holds. Tomorrow I'm off to Panama City, which looks like a metropolis from here.

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Picton Castle at anchor at the mouth of the Panama Canal; Wednesday 9 June 2010 בס"ד

Woke up at 0530 to weigh anchor at 0600. Had a good morning workout pumping on the windlass and we shifted our anchorage to a location closer to the canal for smaller ships. Once there, we got the order to loose all sails to dry, and I scrambled up to the main royal and loosed it myself. THe crew of a ship nearby was watching in awe from their superstructure, and even though they're quite likely much saltier than me, it felt really cool to be admired by sailors. We broke into ship work afterwards. I spent a good deal of time on the martingale stays removing tar from the dolphin striker and then once the bulk of it was off, I spot painted it. Since it was mostly spotty, I practically repainted the whole thing. While I was doing this, the mates and Logan were working on positioning the port bower anchor under the headrig so that is is inboard of the beam, since usually it is catted outboard because of its size and shape. We then got the order to weigh anchor yet again, and I went into the chain locker with Bard to flake out the anchor chain, which was caked in Grade A Panama sludge. The ship then moved to a new anchorage closer to the canal. After lunch, we hoisted the rescue skiff onto the hatch, cockbilled the yards, and stowed sails. I had a part in all of these, and other than occasionally not knowing where something lives, I'm starting to feel generally useful and not standing around like a clueless idiot when I receive orders. Took a nap on what little hatch is still exposd, and after dinnerwe had a few people for a movie night in the skiff. We watched "Around Cape Horn," a classic that I've now seen several times about a voyage on the Peking in 1929. It's 2000, and it's all-hands quiet since we're waking up at 0345 for 0400 muster.

Tuesday 8 June 2010 (PANAMA CANAL)

Picton Castle at anchor at Colón, Panama; Tuesday 8 June 2010 בס"ד

Yesterday day at 1115 I got my wake up for day watch and came out to see the Panamanian coast off port. I stood first lookout, and reported several small sailing vessels, a container ship, rocks, and a floating tree. Afterwards, I laid in to some painting jobs, but soon it began to downpour and we had all-hands called to get ready to drop anchor. I almost won six cases of beer from the betting pool that Shawn organized a few days back to do a 6-pack buy-in for the exact time we drop anchor, Price is Right rules. I missed it by twenty minutes! We received some new trainees who were unable to leave from Canada also. 12-4 had first anchor watch and I stood my night shift at 2200. The plan is to work all day tomorrow getting the boats inboard and rigging inboard and the yards cockbilled, as we can't have things protruding from the hull. Nothing of note happend on my shift; just listened to Spanish/English chatter on the radio. Slept on the hatch.

Had all-hands wake up at 0715 and we worked hard all day. Hoisted the monomoy on to the galley house, and other than a loosing, flashing, and stowing off the sails, I spent most of the day painting bulwarks and bulkheads. We found out we're probably bumped back another day for our transit, so we ended work and did skiff runs to a nearby yacht club (although we weren't cleared into Panama so we were not able to leave the confines of the club). Did some internet and beer and now I'm back. Tomorrow we have all hands at 0530 to relocate to another anchor zone, finish work, get inspected, and prepare for an 0300 transit start Thursday morning.

Monday 7 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Monday 7 June 2010 בס"ד

Got my wake up at 10 to the hour because of our time shifting, and I stood first helm steering SWxS. An elaborate prank was devised by some on our watch to nip the quarterdeck brace coils with rotton cotton and pull a secret line led to the breezeway to cause them all to fall to the deck after the 4-8s have relieved us. Also a green glow stick was put on the focslehead on port side to appear to be an oncoming ship. While I admit I didn't come up with any of these, I'm curious to hear about their reception tomorrow. I am hower, quite tired and don't wish to wait up for it. I did 200 pushups this watch while hanging out on the quarterdeck, and I sighted a ship one point on the starboard quarter right before we were stood down.

Sunday 6 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Sunday 6 June 2010 בס"ד

Morning watch was pretty cool tonight. Besides cleaning the galley and studying for the derby, I spotted two ships before the lookout did and two more ships while standing fourth lookout. I think Rebecca is noting my lookout abilities, which I'm proud of, and she said maybe I'll get to so some heavy duty coastal lookout stuff at some point, which would be awesome. I feel like I'm really good at lookout because A) when I was a lifeguard in WLE I took it quite seriously and never took my eyes off the water, so I'm okay with keeping a constant eye and not getting bored, and B) nerdy as it might sound, it's a lot like my favorite game of all time, the Silent Hunter sub simulators, and when I spot these ships in real life now I'm planning a trajectory for how to approach and sink them with torpedoes. I know it sounds nerdy, but I love those games and I love lookout and I love being at sea.

Today, being Sunday, had no ship work, although I did mop up the aft superstructure head, which takes in water from the scullery sinks draining. The seamanship derby began at 1500, and started with intro skits by watches and a fair amount of bribing the judges (I contributed some rum). We then had a pinrail race, where the mates name something and the first person to touch it scores, a line coiling time trial where we had to coil all the thrown down lines as quickly and neatly as possible, a knot-tying event, a compass-boxing event, and a bucket race where we filed buckets up with seawater and emptied them into a tote. It was good fun, and we then ended with a welcome power shower. Afterwards, the Captain told us about Panama and the canal transit. We had dinner made by crew, which had some excellent sushi from a fish caught earlier in the day. I worked out with Jo and started with some new people, and Zachman gave me his own version of the rose. I read some more, and now ready to go to sleep for a bit. Night watch will start twenty minutes later and end twenty minutes later after our four hours is up since we're retarding the time by one hour for time zone change.

Saturday 5 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Saturday 5 June 2010 בס"ד

Woke up for morning watch extra-tired and I don't know why. I had tried sleeping on the hatch, but after an hour or so some spray hit me and woke me up, so I returned to my rack. Shawn told me I was very difficult to wake, and I felt disoriented a bit. I drank two coffees (usually I just have one) and helped clean the galley before standing third lookout, where I saw nothing. Rebecca says we're about 30-40nm off the coast, and about 300nm or so from Colón. Today at 1900 we're meeting together to work on stuff for the 512th annual Caribbean seamanship derby, which will probably take place tomorrow. Alex told me Logan had a magazine, and so I asked him and he loaned it to me. I think last night at 2000 I saw the Southern Cross for hte first time, but it's not out during our watch.

I woke up on my own at 1030 feeling quite lively, although soaked from head to toe in my own sweat. I spent all of day watch inventorying thimbles, rings, and other hardware taken out of the sole until my turn at helm for the final hour. I was steering WSW, and it wasn't difficult except we would occasionally surf down a huge swell (the seas are coming from astern) and ride it down and momentarily veer a point or so off course. While on helm, I saw a ship one point forward of the port beam and reported it to Rebecca twenty minutes before our forward lookout did. After watch, power shower, and got Jo to draw another rose based on one from the magazine. We had a 1900 muster for the 12-4s to wok on the derby stuff. Afterwards, I was hanging out amidships and we feathered out the yards, which I laid in for. Just read some more. Oh, also I reorganized my sea chest.

Friday 4 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Friday 4 June 2010 בס"ד

Morning watch started with about an hour of telling Yo some Fred stories, then the usual cleaning of the galley and stoveblacking. I stood third lookout, and had nothing to report. Nothing else really happened after that, and at 0400 we were stood down. Polaris is getting lower on the horizon.

Shabbat Shalom. I got a breakfast wake up today, because I told the 4-8s I'd like one as we left Lunenburg, but after a day at sea I Gave up on waking for breakfast. However, my name was never removed from the list, and from time to time I still get a wake up. I didn't realize why this was happening though, and fell back asleep only to wake up at 0900 panicking that I was late for watch. Anyway, day watch started with painting a backstay turnbuckle and wirebrushing some other turnbuckles on the mainmst. I stood third helm, steering WxS and then WSW. I finished with cleaning brushes at the paint locker. At 1600, there was a power shower rigged up, and I got nice and clean. At 1630, we had another workshop on A) how to cut and eat coconuts and waternuts, and B) short splicing. I had no trouble learning the shortsplice. I did some working out and got a sharpie rose from Jo as a test run. I might stay up til night watch, or I might not.

Thursday 3 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Thursday 3 June 2010 בס"ד

Woke up today at 1115, since I didn't have to stand morning watch. Work today started with doing some touch-up painting on the skiff, followed by wire brushing and corrosealing the port windlass brake. I stood third helm, steering WxS, and it was quite erratic, swinging as much as a point in either direction of course in as little as two seconds sometimes. So although I had a snake in the wake, there was no worry about being taken aback since we're no longer sailing close-hauled but rather have a nice strong breeze from astern. We've been making 7kts or so, which is great speed. After helm I varnished some capstan bats, then we were stood down. At 1630 we had an all-hands workshop on the hatch taught by the Captain. The subject was eye splices, with the west coast taper and the sewn taper. Everybody received their own length of three-strand manila rope to keep and work with. I did quite well, having practiced before. Worked out a bit after dinner, and trying to figure out about my black rose.

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Picton Castle at sea; Wednesday 2 June 2010 בס"ד

A triple entry... Let's see how it all began. Monday port night watch started at midnight , and other than Jimmy telling me that Chibley had boarded the Doña Luisa I (a container ship on the other side of the pier) and watching a few drunk shipmates stumble in, the watch was uneventful. During my shipcheck, I found [person] on the forepeak ladder, drunk as a skunk, and I helped [person] to the aloha deck, where we had a DDMC before [person] passed out.

In the morning, I stitched up my shorts which had torn and then went to rent a bicycle. I got one for US $10, and went around town. I used an internet cafe and bought one hour of time for US $3. Then I went back to the ship, swapped out my laptop for my hammock, and started biking south along the west shore. I saw the sea salt mounds, slave huts (which were unbelievably small), a multitude of divers pulled over everywhere, and a lighthouse at the southern tip. By the time I had made it there, I was super thirsty and drank all of my water bottle already (only ½ liter). I am used to biking in sweltering heat for hours, but always near somewhere I can pull off real quick to grab a Gatorade. On the south end, there is one road and NOWHERE to buy anything, just painted rocks that name dive locales. I was starting to worry that I might die from dehydration and exposure, but every time I started slowing down, a bird actually flew next to my head and chirped me on. At first I thought it was trying to attack or something, but I soon realized he was my special little buddy and I'd say “Alright little buddy, I can do it” and I'd bike on. After about four and a half hours total I came into Lac Bay, a windsurfer's paradise. I stopped there and had three waters and a gatorade and brought some for the road. I left shortly after, and started easting towards Kralendijk. Along the way I saw several packs(?) of wild donkeys and herds of goats. I had been looking for a place to set up camp, but there is not a single tree on the south end of the island and it's completely flat except for cactus clusters, so when I made it back to Kralendijk, I got a cheap hotel room. I took about twenty showers to get all the sweat and grime and tar and oil and paint and grease and filth and salt off of me, then met up with many shipmates at a pub called Little Havana. The place was quite happening, but only because we were there making it so. I had several pineapple juice & rums, went back to my room, and passed out.

The next morning, that is, Tuesday 1 June 2010, I checked out of the hotel at 1000, returned my bicycle, bought two books on the local creole called Papiamentu (which is not hard to understand since it's based off Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and English) and returned to PC to wait for Dave, Davey, and Julie, who had gone diving. We had made brief plans to meet at noon and rent a Jeep to explore the north end of the island, and so we did. The Jeep rental was US $64 for the day, so US $16 per person plus US $5 gas per person. We headed up to the north shore first, but decided to try and aimlessly drive on the dirt roads. Needless to say, it was was fun, and we got the itch to do more. But we did make it to the north shore, where we stopped to check out old Arawak caves for mystical stargazers, a crazy “boka” in the coast, and eventually drove across the desert-like shore to the entrance of the National Park, which we opted not to enter. Instead we turned south for the village of Rincon, and then towards the flamingo reserve lake. We pulled over on a sweet mountain top that overlooked the village and then again at the flamingo lake. Dave had been driving to this point and then I took over. We left the lake, went to the south end by the oil place, and then drove up a mountain. At the top we found the sickest spot on a massive cliff, and climbed up it a bit for photo ops. We must've been there twenty minutes chilling out when out of nowhere bees started attacking stung me in the face. We all scurried back down as fast as we could, but it wasn't easy because the rocks are quite jagged. I stabbed a good hole in my right foot in the escape. Luckily it didn't hurt or bleed to much. Anyway, we got in the Jeep and took off. After this, it's going to get hard to adequately put into words just how extreme things got, but I'll do my best. We basically were racing down the sketchiest dirt roads, stopping only to do power slides onto even sketchier dirt roads, and then stopping only to drive through the bush. Of course, there were massive amounts of cactus and shrubs and brush flying everywhere, and we nailed huge puddles getting us all soaked inside (we had the top down), and we were airborne more than once. We went in places that seem now entirely inaccessible to people or animals. And we did it extremely fast. I am surprised the Jeep, (which already sounded like it was going to break down any second when we got it) didn't explode. At 1900, we had made it back to PC and gave the Jeep a serious rinse and interior cleaning with buckets and foxtails, since it was absolutely caked in nature. We returned it at 2000, along with Cheri, WT, and Donald, who also rented a Jeep. Theirs broke down just driving nicely on a paved road, so we were happy not to have had that one, because A) we weren't covered for damage on the dirt roads, B) we didn't have a phone to call anybody if we did break down, and C) even if we did, we were so far off the road it would have been impossible to explain to anybody where we were. Anyway, we chilled on a pier for a bit, then I went to the cafe to use the internet again, and I came back to PC. I set up hammock on the aloha deck, but at 0330 I moved back to my bunk.

Today we had all-hands muster at 0800 and shortly before I found I was galley duty for the day. We left Bonaire at 1000, but I was washing dishes and cleaning out the coolers, so I didn't do any sail-handling. Davey, Tammy, and I spend the day doing galley, with the between lunch and dinner break spent reading “The Set of the Sails.” Finished at 1945, and now writing these entries.