Sunday 10 October 2010 (VANUATU)

Picton Castle at sea; Sunday 10 October 2010 בס"ד

On morning watch, two of our watchmates were ill and bunkridden, so our already small watch shrank to Rebecca, Nadja, and six trainees. It actually turned out to be pretty cool, because smaller watch means more to do. We chilled upon the quarterdeck for a while working out and telling stories. I cleaned the galley and did the hot water. I stood fourth helm steering WxN 1/2N, and during this time on the port bow we could see the orange glow of the volcano on Ambrym Island, Vanuatu, which was really awesome. I plotted our position fast at the end of watch and we were stood down. Woke up at 0800 for galley. It was Robert, Mitch, and me on duty for Sunday galley, and after cleaning breakfast up we had a very Fred lunch of rice and beans seasoned with Adobo, accompanied with fried eggplant that Robert cooked, which was a big hit. Around this time we stopped at Bwatnapne Bay, Pentecost Island to quickly run the Captain ashore to ask the Chief permission to visit after we'd cleared in at Luganville. Unfortunately, the chief had passed away since the last time the Picton Castle visited, but his son gave us permission. Afterwards, we set a course towards Luganville, Espiritu Santo. For dinner I cooked a pasta salad with garbanzos and other Mediterranean schtuff you might find in my kitchen back home. Robert fried up some marlin, and some of the grease that splattered on the stove caught fire at one point, before it was quickly extinguished. After dinner I created a forearm workout device recommended to me by both Rebecca and Bracken. It's an old bleach bottle and I filled it up with seawater for the time being, then put a jug sling on it and used a length of gangion shorter than the length of my shoulders to my feet made fast to the bottle and then to a stiff cardboard tube from a spent roll of canvas. The idea is to roll it up and down while holding it in front of you, and you will get jacked forearms. Bed.