Speech

August is tomorrow, July has gone by so quickly. John and Baron both spoke a bit at the end of the day, John about everyone working hard and being positive and Baron about how we are all growing strong as a family.

Cart lifting

Another lazy day off, not that there’s nothing to do here, just not a whole lot and the festival is pretty cool. Did a lot of shopping though. Even borrowed a cart from the grocery store to take the stuff back.

Crowded

Another long day of tours, after dinner I hung out with people on deck and waited for the time to pass.

Vikings

We had a very relaxing day off, slept in till 10, used the internet, got fair food and hung out at the Viking fair.

B and C

I have become spotted. While making lunch some oil splattered on my wrist and now I have some small brown burns, nothing that bad, I’m the spotted Caz now. Tours were from 1 to 9, a little ridicules, same 8-hour work day, just felt really long. We had 6 thousand people come on the boat. After work a handful of us made a trek to the grocery store, it was a fair walk but amazing prices and a great selection. There’s also a produce stall that’s close to the boat. I picked up a few things for myself, all that started with the letter C, chocolate, cheese and crackers.

Bremerhaven, Germany

Today was a very long day yet the morning flew by. We were only anchored for about two hours before we got underway, we arrived in Bremerhaven before noon, but we weren’t docked yet. We waited at least three hours to get to the lock and finally through it, I kept having to hold dinner back.

Canals come with ice cream

We made it to the canal this morning and had a nice smooth ride through. The past few days have been grey and rocky, it was nice to have it calm while I was frying corn dogs. When we got to the last lock the pilots were able to get us ice cream cones! We gave them sweatshirts in return.

Drew's Birthday

We spent most of the day anchored, the wind was so bad last night that we weren’t able to go anywhere, more of going backwards. It was nice that things were more calm for baking Drew’s birthday cake, but while making dinner we got underway and more rocking proceeded.

Tired

I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning and as the day went on I just got more and more tired. By the time I cooked dinner it had become a chore and I was two people’s worth of tired.

Burial at sea

Some days I just don’t have a whole lot to say. More clouds, foghorn blaring in the morning and a dead bird on the stern, Mitch tried to give it a proper burial but it didn’t weigh enough, it was stuck under the flag on a board so he had to jiggle it out.

Baker

Today was a good day on the inside even though it was gross outside, rainy and cloudy. The refrigerator was about to explode from leftovers so I put those out for lunch and spent the day making bread.

Richard's Birthday

We got underway at 4 am with C watch getting us off the dock. When I woke up to make breakfast around 6 the sun was already bright and sunny and we were among the small island on our way out of Stockholm. Today was Richard’s birthday, so all day everyone was really excited about having cake. Tenley always makes the cards for people’s birthdays and she did an amazing one for Richard, the front was just a drawing of his face, but it was his camera face. Richard’s camera face is hilarious; eyes wide open and mouth open in a big smile. She was having a hard time drawing it and Jesse came along and made the eyes more slanty and that did the trick.

Big winner

Finally our last days of tours here in Stockholm; John said that in our time here we earned a quarter of what we earned all of last season. We figured we did well because it’s the summer, school is out, tourism is high and all the other museums around here cost about the same price.

Shopping

Robin finally got to see the Vasa this morning; he said if he didn’t see it he’d keep the boat here. While he was gone we got fuel and opened up for tours, we did so well on tours this weekend that we are even going to stay yet another day. We’ll really have to boogie woogie to get to Germany.

I went shopping finally and after having looked at two other small stores this last one seemed the best choice. John and I walked all over the place trying to get to it. We thought we were on the ground floor so we’d have to go up one to the 2^nd flood or something to get to it, but that wasn’t the case. The lift was broken so we took some stairs outside, crossed over a bridge back to the building and then a bunch more stares to find the grocery store in the basement. When we were done shopping and went out we came out by busses and the train, at the water level, so up some more stairs, under some bridges and secret pathways to get back to the other side of the street where the boat was. Everything is so expensive here so I didn’t get as much as I normally do and the produce selection was very small, I hope Germany has better prices or at least a closer produce market.

More tours

We thought that we were going to leave tomorrow, but we can’t leave until Tuesday after we get fuel.

Vasa

The Vasa was amazing. You walk in and there is this huge boat in front of you, it sank in 1628 shortly after it was built, in 1961 after 333 years under the sea it was salvaged from the brackish water. We spent about three hours exploring the boat and the exhibits, there were 6 floors constructed around the ship so you could walk around and see it at different levels. The stern was ornately carved and when it was built it was painted with vivid colors.

Tours

Tours were really good today, very full, which was great because the owner is here.

Art museums

We roamed the city in the morning, had breakfast and by noon some museums were finally open. At the café for breakfast John and Baron had salmon quiche, Jesse had a sandwich and I had a slice of royal king cake, like lemon meringue pie but a softer custard and toasted almonds on the meringue. We went to the Medieval museum, in the 1970’s they were going to build a parking structure there but found remains of old houses so built a museum around it. They had a boat from the 1520’s and a little city built up around with older artifacts, even some original Jew’s harps, they had replicas in the gift shop and Jesse and Baron got one.

Then we went to the National Museum that was filled with the old artists. There were 6 Rembrants, a handful of Gaugain and Cezan, my favorite was a portrait of Marie Antoinette with her two children.

Stockholm, Sweden

For awhile we weren’t sure if we were going to anchor out or go into Stockholm tonight, we ended up going in. The way in was beautiful, like the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence Seaway on the way to the Great Lakes; lots of small islands with houses that everyone wants to life in. We docked in the center of town, old town that is really an island at 2100.

Discovery

We’re getting closer. Last night my net that I kept hard salami in collapsed, and in the processes of it getting cleaned up the people on watch also found a bag of onions, must have been from when Marcia was here.

To Stockholm

Finally got off the dock this morning, I made one more quick trip to the produce market to get dill, radishes, chanterelles and a watermelon. I made fish cakes for lunch, finally found a way that the crew actually like the fish

Not underway

Today was odd; we were going to get off the dock in the evening so we ran tours differently. We ran underway watches so that one watch wouldn’t complain that they worked all day. That part of the day was okay; the fact that some members of the crew were late for capstan and one didn’t show up till after dinner, made it so we couldn’t leave.

Malbork Castle

Richard and I went to the castle in Malbork today, it was well worth it. The train ride seemed a little long and for awhile we weren’t sure we were ever going to get there. Just minutes outside of Gdansk was beautiful county side, fields of cabbages and mustard seed, cows, and lots of very flat land. The castle was built around 13 something and is entirely made of brick, it was damaged by WWII like most things around here but has been mostly put back together. The only room still damaged was the church, there were pictures from the 1890’s and it looked splendid. There were a few fragments of things left behind, tiles from the carpet like floor, benches, frescoes and the alter. It was a beautiful castle and a really nice day.

Jesse and I went to dinner with Doug again, Jesse had wild boar that was amazing.

Learning

Had a great day off. Jesse and I walked around town, went amber shopping, and checked out the maritime museum and the medieval crane. For lunch we went to the produce market and got apricots, cherries and raspberries, Jesse also got some meat chunks on skewers with mushrooms. After a break and a bit of time on the internet Madzia showed up, it’s always nice to meet people after you’ve talked to them on the internet for over a year. At 8 we went to an organ concert in the world’s largest brick cathedral with Rich, Chris and Tenley, it was pretty amazing. After we walked over to a very exclusive bar, or so we were told, it was nautical themed and there where sea shanties in Polish, we could tell what two of them were and sang along in English.

No shopping :(

Another day at work. We had tours and boy were they ever slow. Tenley made a bunch of new sings that should be universal to let people know what direction to go and where they can’t go.

Defrosting

I haven’t been much of a deck hand for the past few months and the past two days I have helped out a lot with moving the boat; I’ve lost a lot of muscle. Today was cloudy and grey, everyone worked inside, cleaning up information signs we put outside the boat and the line locker. I defrosted a freezer, mainly to see what I had and I knew things were stuck, ended up moving it to another freezer completely and putting the paint in the oldest freezer we have.

Gdansk, Poland and Feast

We arrived in Gdansk, Poland after lunch, and after the boat was put to bed we got stood down. Doug, Jesse and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things for our Fourth of July picnic. It was intense carrying things back, two watermelons, ribs, sausage, charcoal and zucchini. I put everything in the oven to make sure it was cooked all through, Chris started the BBQ and once that was going Dan put things on the grill and sauce-ed them.

It was a really great evening. There was even a cheese platter to start the night and apple rhubarb crisp with clotted cream ice cream to finish.

the 4th

Being underway we weren’t really able to celebrate the 4^th of July, but I did make BBQ chicken for lunch. If we are on the dock tomorrow we’ll do something then, along with three rig debts that are owed.

Today was really over cast and chilly outside but really hot in the galley.

Weather

It’s warming up, yet still really cloudy and somewhat rainy, making it humid.

Norway

The rolling has slowed down and we can see Norway off our port side.

Seaway

A very rocky and rolly day.

Sunshine

Yet another beautiful day, but this time it really started to heat up.

Scottish Highlands

Today was very beautiful, we passed by the Scottish highlands.

Gushing water

We were very rolly today, nothing to bad except when Chris went to make coffee, hot water gushed out all over the counter.

Into the Baltic

A very busy day for everyone, lots of tours, work party, I went shopping, cleaned and organized the galley. As soon as tours were over we started to get off the dock, fill the water just that much more and cast our lines off for Poland.

The galley is mine

The galley is once again all mine, I started the day off strong by making 12 loaves of bread. Jesse said he heard a kid knock on the mizzen down in the tweens and say. “It’s the mizzen.” Jesse thought the kid was really smart, but then realized he had said, “It’s amazing.”

The galley is mine

The galley is once again all mine, I started the day off strong by making 12 loaves of bread. Jesse said he heard a kid knock on the mizzen down in the tweens and say. “It’s the mizzen.” Jesse thought the kid was really smart, but then realized he had said, “It’s amazing.”

Produce market and day off

We took an easy day off, but did some work in the morning. Jesse, Doug and I went to a Friday market where they sold lots of produce and since that’s mostly what I need it was perfect. The first guy I ended up talking to helped us immensely, we got things by the case and he delivered it. At first he wasn’t going to, but with us having bought so much he was willing to oblige.

After everything was brought to the boat and I put it away Jesse, Chris, Tenley and I went to the museum, they had a ton of natural history exhibits. At the end of the night Doug took Jesse and I out to dinner, Thai food.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

We arrived in Belfast in the morning and I was able to finish cataloging all the charts just after lunch. Marcia is cooking tomorrow while I have the day off, but I’m going shopping to at a produce market in the morning. Then I’ll be cooking again.

Never ending charts and chocolate cake

More time organizing charts in the morning and the afternoon was spent baking cake for Sam’s birthday and hanging out on deck. It was so calm today, the water almost glassy.

Charts!!!

I can’t believe how much more there is to do with the charts, no more updates, but lots of organizing. There are a lot of bags of old charts for other places that live in the laz, we’ve brought them up and are putting them in the right section, number order and I’m writing down information about the edition and when it was last corrected.

To Belfast we go

We got off the dock and everything was grey and damp, we are headed for Belfast.

Kingsale

Jesse and I went to Kingsale today, he went here last time he was in Ireland and really liked it. We walked around the town and had a great day out in fabulous weather.

Day off

Finally had a day off in Ireland, it was almost torture to see the other watch off running around having fun. Jesse, Doug and I went to the Butter Museum in the morning; there was a video from 1995 about how the butter industry got started. Ireland has always been big on dairy products and making butter, in the ‘60’s they started to actually think about their butter and exporting it, they made the brand Kerrygold and got started from there. In the museum there were all kinds of styles of butter churn, ones you swing or spin, glass ones for the table and even one they found in a bog. Doug had a good time remembering his childhood, he grew up on a farm and they got big chunks of butter from the dairy everyday.

At noon we meet Richard, Grant, Tenley and Chris at the bus station to go to Blarney Castle. It took a long time to get to the top of the castle, it was very skinny corridors, and a tiny spiral staircase, but mostly it was crowded which I hadn’t really expected. The castle was made of stone and it used to have wood floors, but not any more, so on the ground floor you could see all the way to the top, through three rooms. Finally we got to kiss the Blarney stone, you lay on your back and stretch you neck down a hole and kiss a blue grey stone that’s in the castle’s wall.

Spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the grounds, there was a poison garden with lots of poisonous plants, hemlock, wolfs bane, rhubarb. At an area called the Rock Close there were a lot of rocks related to the Druids, it use to be their settlement, wishing steps, a rock that looked like a witch, stone circle and a fairy glade.

After dinner a bunch of us went to see more Irish folk music, this time it was really good.

More weeklys

Turn to was really late today, got to sleep in and take it easy. I didn’t have to make dinner, so in the afternoon I went over some more chart things with John, got new weekly updates to do. After we were stood down we went to the bar for dinner, hamburgers and sausages.

Cork, Ireland

We arrived in Cork, Ireland before lunch, from Cobh harbor where we were anchored to Cork was beautiful. I spent more time at the computer continuing to organize more lists about charts and the bar across the street invited us for dinner tomorrow night.

Potato scrubbing and inventory

I spent the morning with Marcia, washing potatoes and putting grilled cheese sandwiches together and the afternoon in the office breaking my neck staring at the computer. John had me reorganize and fill in data for the chart inventory.

To Cork

Got off the dock this morning with no trouble, headed for Cork, Ireland.

22 people

I believe this was the slowest tour day I have ever seen, we had about 22 people all day. Not only were we in a bad location, you couldn’t see us from anywhere really, there was no advertisement done and it was raining.

Lazy

Some of us had hopped to rent a car and go see some castles, but it was impossible. Ended up spending most of my day online, finally got to upload some things.

Falmouth

Everyone had the day off because some people came to film something on the boat. At the end of the day we found out that it was some documentary where they try and find relatives of people from the past and interview them while talking about some historical event.

In the morning Richard, Baron, John and I went to Pendennis Castle, King Henry VIII built it to protect Cornwall against foreign invasion, Elizabeth I built ramparts and it was even used in WWII as a training facility. We got to the castle a little early so we walked around the perimeter, next to the ramparts, there were lots of people playing with their dogs, so we got to pet a lot of puppies. The Castle was pretty good, we managed to get in free and explore the grounds, most of the things buildings were newer, from the early 1900’s.

Richard went into town before we even looked at the WWI stuff, John and Baron went to the beach and I headed into town as well. I met up with Chris and Tenley at the maritime museum and we explore that together. They had a great exhibition about lighthouses, how they got started, again by King Henry VIII and how people lived in them. Usually it was three men and sometimes they didn’t get along. Lighthouses also had round furniture, round cupboards, round benches and curved beds. There were a lot of boats hanging from the ceiling and as you worked your way up you could see more of them. Down in the basement you could see into the water and watch the tide come in or out.

The main town area is filled with shops, one devoted entirely to olives, a candy shop with fudge milk shakes and the Chain Locker, a bar where news of Nelson’s death first reached England.

Doug took Jesse and I out to dinner to a Nepalese restaurant.

Charts

We were docked before we even got a wake up. It was funny to wake up with everything quiet and still, the engines didn’t wake me up nor hauling up the chain from being anchored last night. I’m almost done correcting charts, I only have two left, after that it’s only weeklys.

Slave

More slaving in the galley, I thought I’d get more of a break with Marcia here.

Anchored

Shortly after the anchor came up this morning the anchor had to go back down because we got something caught on our props. Baron dove to get it off and we were under way shortly after. At capstan, Robin said that Bob, the owner, thinks it might be best if we go back to Europe for next season as well, instead of doing East coast with ASTA.

Tracie

Tracie showed up last night and left before we even got off the dock at 1100, she came to pick up money and give it to Bob so they could pay some bills for us. After we were out awhile and sailing around the Isle of Wight there were some amazing white cliffs, made of chalk called the Needles. Where we ended up anchoring are some amazing cliffs as well.

HMS Victory

Eight of us went to see the HMS Victory today, she was Nelson’s flagship at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. We took 2 buses and a hovercraft ferry to get to Portsmouth to see her; we managed to get into the museums for free because Chris had military ID. The boat was amazing, 5 decks, lots of guns and plenty of signs in English finally.

Tours

A slow tour day, only about 250 people.

Shopping

Yet another work day. I helped out with more chart corrections and Marcia in the galley. After dinner we ran out to the whole sale place again, we’d thought of more stuff to get.

More shopping

This morning Marcia and I went shopping, we ended up at a whole sale place. We got flour, eggs, produce and other random assortment of goods that were needed. In the afternoon I made cake for Don’s birthday, German chocolate and I re-packed all the fish into Ziploc bags. I counted the fish, we have exactly 333 fish in the freezer, that means we probably received about 400, so they were about 8 cents each.

Cowes

We arrived this afternoon in Cowes. I spent most of the day in the great cabin correcting charts, more sailing directions and then things about safety and radio numbers. Some of them I literally had to cut out and paste into the books. Normally you get updates once a week and do them, but since we’ve never done them, we are doing all of them now, it’s kind of fun.

British Coast Guard helicopter

Today was fun for me, didn’t to much galley work or deck hand. I helped Marcia with lunch, we made falafel, I’ve had hers before and knew they were great, but it’s such a strange thing to me I had no idea how to make it. Dried chickpeas soaked over night in water, ground them up, squeezed the water out of an onion, added parsley, garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne and baking powder. Mixed it all together, formed balls and fried, I guess deep frying underway can be possible.

After lunch I helped John with chart corrections, in Plymouth they said we had to have them. Baron and John had been working on the charts and now they are on to sailing direction books, highlighting, making notes, correcting in them. There are also little cards to write on to say what pages you have corrected. Not only are their ones that come out every year since the publication, but weekly ones as well.

While making corrections in the great cabin we heard a helicopter, Chris went to check it out and they said they wanted to practice dropping a man on the boat. John and I went up on deck to watch. We moved our yards around so they had easy access to the quarter deck, and eventually the man was slowly lowered down. Before he left we gave him some shirts and fish even, because we have so much of it. They also took the boat’s email so they can send us pictures, too bad we weren’t sailing.

Fish heads, guts and all

Today was exhausting. I didn’t have to get up and make breakfast though; Marcia did it, eggs, bacon and potatoes. I admit that she is better, she knows how to serve a crowd, I’m just worried about not having enough for the whole year. I took Jesse to the store to help me carry things; we got more free bread, even croissants this time.

Our fish arrived, it was amazing, about 45 kilos for 45 euros. I showed the guy around the boat, Baron asked if the other crate of fish on the dock was for us and we got it as well! In the long run we got two and a half cases of fish, he also later came back with pickled, smoked and dried herring, smoked salmon, anchovies in garlic and a few other fishy things. All of that for only 45 euros, but there was a lot of work we had to do to the fish.

Baron and I went on to the fore deck with the crates of fish, a cutting board, bowls for guts and heads and best of all, a hatchet. The heads got whacked off in three stokes and I pulled out the guts and flopped it into another bin. Some of the guts were crunchy so we concluded that crab was their last meal, there was also some starfish among the fish. It took us at least an hour just to behead and de gut. Then we got a few more hands, Jesse, Laura, Richard to start washing and then cutting off the fins and tails. They were stacked on trays, wrapped in cling film and into the freezer they went. Everything was done by 1600, we had gotten them around 1000, six hours of work for all that fish, there are at least 300 fish.

We also got off the dock around lunch time and are headed for Cowes, UK.

Free bread

Just another day in the galley, my last full day for a while I guess being in charge. Marcia will be more in charge for the next month; I’ll get a mini vacation. Maria took me to the store today, well one of them was closed so we asked at a bakery next door, we ended up getting a huge black trash bag full of bread, just a little dry. Then to the grocery store for some odds and ends and the fish market, we wanted a hole case of sole that we had had for dinner last night, they said they’d deliver it in the morning.

Marcia

Today was a really odd cooking day having Marica around, watching what I was doing, she’s here to give me advice, help me out and make a better cook out of me.

When Jesse and I were walking back from the showers we noticed Tres Hombres, the boat that Jojo left us for. Later we found out that they had just gotten in from a 43-day transit from the Caribbean. They have no engines and tiny generators so they don’t have any refrigeration; they made a lot of their own salted meat, pickled vegetables and canned fruit. Unfortunately they ran out and for the last two weeks its been rice, beans and lentils.

Brussels

Jesse and I got up early to go to Brussels with Tenley and Chris, the train took about an hour through mostly countryside. The first thing we saw in Brussels was this amazing church on a hill, Cathedrale des Sts Michel and Gudule, the two patron saints of the city. It had amazing stained- windows, an intricately carved pulpit, reliquearies of various saints, hands, skull, hips, and a crypt with the remains of an 11^th-century Romanesque chapel.

Then we walked over to the museum area of town, the Library had a small museum in it that was free. Some really old interesting text, but we couldn’t read what anything was. They did have a very teeny tiny bible, smaller than your fingernail and a page from the Egyptian book of the dead. Next was the museum of royal art, paintings from the 15^th to 19^th century, they had a lot from the Brugele family because they are from here and Rubens. I recognized some of them from my art history textbook, the styles and the names of the artists. Best of all was turning around and my whole body getting goose bumps because I saw Death of Murat by Jaques Louis David.

Chris was dying to go to a bar that was in one of his favorite tv shows, so we searched around for the Delirium Café. It was a really cool bar, lots of tin beer signs on the walls with circle drink serving trays on the ceiling. Some tables were old barrels while some booths had parts of the copper brewing vats as little roofs. I actually had three beers, all very girly and sweet, my favorite was mango, but the cactus and apple were good as well. Their beer menu was really more of a catalog because it had a selection of over 700 drinks.

Our last stop was to the Grand Place, the center of town, a big old square with the Hotel de Ville and the guildhalls. The Hotel de Ville was built in 1402 but wasn’t finished until 1444 so the building is not symmetrical with the right side being shorter. The Guildhalls that surround the rest of the square are adorned with gilded statues and symbols related to their trade. The wheelbarrow represents the grease-makers, the swan for the butchers and the golden tree for the brewer’s headquarters.

When we got back to the boat Marcia was there.

Bruges

We had an amazing day off. Richard, Jesse and I spent the day walking around, the morning in Oostende and the afternoon in Bruges. In Oostende we walked around killing time until a nautical store opened, there were lot of stalls set up all around the boats, folding ceramic knives, leather scraps, stripy shirts, candy and other nautical nick knacks. We ended up going to a bakery and getting some giant meringues there and then to a square where lots of booths were set up, mostly clothing but there were two big rotisserie meat trucks. We got lunch from there and got some fruit at a grocery store and it made an amazing lunch. I had a big hunk of ham, Jesse a sausage and a meat dumpling and Richard had some chicken and roasted potato nuggets. On the way back to the boat we passed three seafood stalls that looked amazing, things to eat and dried fish hanging out. There was also a gelato place that I’m sure we will return to.

Off to Bruges we went, we took the train, only took 15 minutes. Walked around and finally found the main city with lots of pointy spires. We just walked around aimlessly looking at things, old churches and buildings, little shops, canals, lots of general cuteness. The only church that was actually open was called Our Lady and had a statue made my Michelangelo, it was of Mary and baby Jesus, it looked very similar to his pieta in St. Paul’s. We looked at a lot of chocolate shops and finally chose one to buy a few from, we got a hedgehog filled with hazelnut, lemongrass, Havana that tasted a bit smoky and red wine vinegar that was a favorite. Jesse and Richard also found a beer shop that had a wall of all the 780 beers made in Belgium.

Rigging the main coarse

The main coarse is finally back in her right full home. I made samosas for lunch, it took awhile but was fun and really well worth it. After lunch I walked around, to the grocery store, asked some bakeries about where to get flour and saw and old church and bell tower.

Rigging the main coarse

The main coarse is finally back in her right full home. I made samosas for lunch, it took awhile but was fun and really well worth it. After lunch I walked around, to the grocery store, asked some bakeries about where to get flour and saw and old church and bell tower.

Belgium

We’ve been flying like a rocket ship, this morning we were only 40 miles away from Belgium. We picked up our pilot at 1500 and by 1900 we were docked. Getting in was horrible, very tight squeeze and the wind was pushing us down, after squeezing through another skinny lock they wanted us to turn around. Robin gave it a really good try put with the wind pushing us on to the dock and to many other boats around we couldn’t do it.

The English Channel

It’s a good day at sea, well the English Channel really, sunny, breezy and a bit cold with emerald coloured water. I made broiled grapefruit today, not everyone ate theirs, which meant there was more for me, I had people save the rinds so I can candy them.

Zach and Andrew

Zach and Andrew showed up today, we thought that Zach might end up sailing with us, but last night they went to the Circus to see Cookie and Maisie, he’s running away to join them for 2 weeks. But he did bring a new coffee pot like promised.

This was our last day in Plymouth, we got off the dock around 1900 and we’re heading for Belgium as fast as we can. Another busy tour day with the usual things of people going the wrong way, under lines and asking silly questions. I helped out during lunch so that people could actually eat.

I also finally heard from Marcia, she’s come in Belgium to relieve me of my cooking duties. At first I had really mixed feelings about it, I’d got back to being a deck hand and that would be it, but I talked to Robin about it and I’ll just be a day man. I’ll help out in the galley, learn from Marcia and still make bread and on days I’m not doing that I’ll be the official leak seeker because I’m good with NP1.

Shopping

Today was a good tour day for the boat, about two thousand people went through. I also finally go to go shopping, everything was really crowded because it was Lord Mayor’s Day. The Mayor goes out into the town with a parade and shakes people’s hands, shows the public who he is. There was lost of family fun things set up, kid friendly this and that, best of all there was a big thing of tarps set up like a big club house.

CG inspection

Back to work we go. This morning when the coast guard guy came to do our inspection we thought we could open up shortly after, it wasn’t until after 1300 that we opened for tours, and it was a really slow day. The coast guard was around forever, inspecting every crack, apparently there are a few things we need to fix up within the next month.

Adventure in the whaler

Today was a great day off, Richard, Jesse and I took the whaler and paddled across to the other side. There was a small tower thing that we wanted to check out, it was really quick to get there, Richard and I paddled while Jesse used a make shift rudder. We explored that part and then went off for Drake’s Island. It was an amazing find, some old abandoned army barracks or something that looked like the secret garden.

Approaching the lock.

On the other shore.

Turret.

Richard handling the bow line.

Seagull chick.

Seagull eggs.

Richard and Jesse to the rescue.

Tide going out.

Old barracks.

The hoe.

Pirates 4

Took an easy day off, have big plans for tomorrow. A big group of us went to see Pirates 4 in theaters, it was good, not enough boating for us though.

Plymouth Gin Distillery.

Bottles.

Gin and tonic bottles.

Tapas

Everyone was tired today. The crew cleaned the tween deck today, scrubbing, painting, shinning things up and general spring cleaning. It was amazing the transformation the great cabin went through, everything appeared to be white but in fact it was actually grey.

I spent the day baking and making food for the next two days. I’m on port watch with John, Baron, Doug, Rich, Sam, Grant, Tenley, Chris, Mitch and Jesse and we have the next two days off. The other watch always gets stiffed if they don’t have the cook and scrounge around for food, so I made two hotel pans of stuff, one for each day for lunch. They’ll have cereal for breakfast, or if we had enough eggs I would let them make their own and for dinner leftovers from lunch and a few things that are in the fridge now. A lot of people have been going out to eat as well and most of the off watch will be away during eating hours.

Doug took Jesse and I out to dinner, we had tapas, I haven’t been this full in a really long time. This is also the first time in ages that I haven’t set my alarm, I’ll actually get to sleep in.

Working on the yards.

Patching the capstan.

Baron's Birthday

Baron’s birthday was yesterday but I made his food today, rhubarb pie. His food was more complicated so I was in the galley all day. Lots more coats of oil both on the cap rail and the deck, the whole rig is being tarred and neatened up, and work on the bilge is still being done, looking for leaks and futzing with the baffles.

French bread.

Jesse oiling the cap rail.

Tino tarring shrouds.

Laura sanding stairs.

Chris' Birthday

Today was Chris’ birthday so I made the meals by what he requested and for his cake, chocolate with peanut butter frosting, it turned out great. In other news, the co’jack is back in her place, not exactly finished with though, they painted over the raw wood, the whole after side of it is wonky. Lots more sanding, oiling and painting. The mates and Robin are still working on the main coarse, it’s all glued together, just giving it some shape.

Relaxing before capstan.

Army Navy Surplus

I was really glad to have a day off, got to sleep in a little, but people were meeting at 0830 to go to a army navy surplus. It was easy to find on the bus and was a good store, Brooke and I both ended up getting jackets, Doug and Jesse got bright coloured light foul weather gear; Doug’s was an old police man’s jacket. A lot of the crew ended up going there today.

Brooke and I decided to walk back along the coastline because while we were waiting for the boys to finish shopping Richard appeared out of no where on a path. Robin and Jesse wanted to go to a car boot sale and Brooke and I ended up there anyway on our walk.

Chris, Tenley, Mitch, Brooke, Jesse and I ended up going to Gog & Mgog’s for lunch where the boat got a discount, I had fish and chips with mushy peas and Jesse had steak and kidney pie.

We then walked around the city a little, church, Poundland and some thrift stores.

Surplus store.

Plymouth sound.

Car boot sale.

Tenley loves land.

The Hoe.

Painting

The crew spend the morning making a lot of saw dust and wood chips, sanding the red covering board and the cap rail while Robin and shaved away at the main coarse. The afternoon was spend cleaning up for the reception tonight.

Drew sanding.

Where the Mayflower steps use to be.

Brooke sanding.

Richard.

Chris.

Mayflower steps.

Cannon.

Cliff side.

Plymouth sound.

Tenley and Grant painting.

Tino sanding.

Late day

Everyone stayed up really late and partied hard so this morning was really slow.

I went to the grocery store after lunch, oh my gosh, it was so beautiful; John and I drooled at the deli counter. I found most of what I needed, but not yeast, they had it in small packets, but that just won’t cut it for me. We asked at the bread counter and they had blocks of compressed yeast, I’ve never worked with it before but I’m willing to give it a try. About 2 cups work for 2 pounds, not a bad price at all.

Finding flour on the other hand might be tricky.

For dinner I made a great big salad that got devoured very quickly.

Over the next few days the crew has to complete certain things so that we can all get a few more days off. All they were suppose to do today was paint the hull, but Robin wanted the co’jack up so that took up a lot more time and they had to work till 8 pm. I felt bad for them, knowing how it is, so I made butterscotch brownies.

Matt cutting line.

Grant crawling out onto the yard.